I wouldn't cut it. Simply because each cut portion (with eye) will grow into a plant and a 5G container is barely sufficient room for a single plant, let alone multiples. At a minimum I would opt for a 10G container.

You can certainly cut it leaving a couple eyes on each piece, but use (2) five gallon buckets for your experiment.

Do you have something with a wider diameter and a little less depth than a 5 gallon bucket? If you have something closer to 20" diameter you could get 3 seed pieces in there comfortably. You don't need the full depth of a 5 gallon bucket for potatoes... About 15" is enough.

I would cut one that size in half. I try to keep them hen’s egg size since any larger and you may get a handful of goo from the rotted seed potato when you go to harvest. Be sure there are at least a couple of eyes in each half. You can dip the cut side in lime.

Thanks everyone. I decided to cut it in half, and I’ll let it sit for a few days to scab over. I do have a wide & deep nursery container. I may use that or 2 smaller large containers, one for each half.

If it is a 5G nursery trade container, then it is only 11 inches deep. And in reality, only holds 3.8 gallons. IME, this will barely accommodate a single potato plant. Even a true 5G container is not much better......or deeper. If you have the option available, go with something larger.

I planted in 2 large tubs. They’re black (blow molded), so will block out light (but will get hot). I planted shallowly, and IF they start to grow (fingers crossed), I plan to add soil as they grow. Should I pinch off the lower leaves when adding soil or just cover them?

Just cover them but leave the top couple inches exposed.

To cut or bot to cut

With that size potato i would jot cut it. Unless it can xave 2plus eyes on each half. Then i plant them about 2 to 3 inch apart. This way you can ha the stems fsr apart so the tubers on em will have room to grow.

I planted them on March 14th and haven’t seen any above-the- soil sprouting yet. How long should it take? Each piece had at least 2 eyes. Thursday will be 2 weeks.

3-4 weeks in suitably warm (above 40F) soils.

How deep was it put under the soil? What is the soil temperature?

I planted them quite shallow, maybe ~2” deep. The weather has been all over the place with some days in the upper 40s but mostly in the 50s, 60s an low 70s. Nights have been cool mostly, in the 40s with a few 30s and some 50s (no frost or freezes).

Maybe I planted them too soon? Although right now it’s 71 and sunny.

Soil temperatures can be very slow to warm in spring. My soil never freezes but it is still too cold to plant any hot season crops until late May or early June even though the weather is agreeable. Not that potatoes are a hot season crop but only to note that you cannot always align air temps with soil temps :-)

I'd give them another couple of weeks before coming to any conclusions.

I agree. The soil temps are likely cool enough that they are just biding their time. I say this a lot, but gardening teaches us patience (or tries to anyway.). Things grow on plant time not our timetable.

Update: one of them has just barely popped through! I see green sprouts. So excited!

Update: today is 2 months since I planted. They’re huge with tons of foliage. And they’ve started to flower. I need to google again, but I think I’m supposed to wait for the plants to start to die back before harvesting. I’m excited. I’m also growing peanuts for the first time. This is my year to experiment.

Pinch off the flowers so the energy goes into the potatoes.

Pinch off the flowers so the energy goes into the potatoes.

NHBabs - I'd never heard of pinching off potato flowers so the plants would put more energy into the tubers. I just did some searches and there were indeed a few sources that recommend to do just that but there were many more that stated it makes no difference. I doubt that the flowers take much energy but if the variety is prone to producing the potato fruit pods then those may rob some of the plant's energy.

I like the potato flowers and so do the pollinators so I'll keep mine.

Here is a picture from a couple weeks ago. The plants are a foot taller now and have been hilled up a second time and mulched now. These are Kennebecs and Red Pontiac and they are just now producing flower buds that have yet to open. My Yukon Gold in another bed are not producing flower buds as is normal for that variety.

Yes, it is more pod formation that saves the energy, so I just pull off the flowers when I am squishing potato bugs. Lonejack, you are so far ahead of my garden! When I left a week ago no potatoes had sprouted.

Thanks for the clarification. I've only had one variety that produced the pods. I think it was either some type of fingerling or German Butterball.

I planted my potatoes on March 18 this year which is a little later than normal. I usually harvest Yukon Gold by mid June and most others in early July. That is if I need the bed space for something else like beans or fall carrots. If I don't need the beds soon I'll wait a bit to harvest some of them.