On Mars it's done in reverse....

Seed potatoes are usually available mail order or at garden centres. That way you get named varieties and disease free certified stock.

I grow potatoes from the ones that sprouted in the pantry. Like you, Kitasei, I cut them up and put 'em in the ground.

You can "chitt" any potato, it is simply letting the eye sprouts grow. You don't have to cut small potatoes. Best left in a cool but not cold place like a garage, covered porch, cool basement. Grocery potatoes may have been treated with a growth inhibitor, or might have picked up diseases from the large scale intensive commercial farming system, but you can still grow them if you choose.

You can buy "seed" potatoes online, but it is difficult this year because of high pandemic demands and issues. Good local nurseries carry named potatoes for planting. Box stores may carry boxes of 6-8 "seed" potatoes.

Maine Potato Lady store, has a LOT of info about growing potatoes and different types.

To avoid potatoes that may have been treated with a growth inhibitor, be sure to purchase organically grown potatoes.

When sprouts get ½ inch long, get them into some light...this is chitting...getting short sturdy green sprouts instead of long gangly white sprouts.

I always remove all sprouts before planting. The new ones will develop better when in the soil. My harvest is on average 1:20.

My experience is similar to Windberry's above, the most developed sprouts tend to be less productive than the tiniest of eyes when planted. Not sure why this is the case for me but that's the pattern here........and what? no one liked my Mars joke? come on now...

vgkg, Have you dug up planted spuds to observe that effect?

Windberry lives in a likely excellent potato growing area...so likely to get really good yields.

Last year it was fairly warm/hot in my area in the part of the season when the potatoes were setting on and sizing up. The yield was reduced. I planted some very shriveled and chitted potatoes on August 1st. These bore a crop like none other as they set and sized in September and October.

There could be something to planting unsprouted potatoes, but never saw instructions to peel off sprouts before. I need to test this out....could be a here thing, maybe not.

Yes Wayne that has been my experience, well sprouted eyes once planted seem to struggle more to develop nice sized potatoes compared to tiny eyes planted in the same row right next to them. I even toss my leftover potato parts which show no apparent eye growth into a vacant spot just to see what happens and they also produce a nice crop. For well established sprouts it may just be a matter of transplant shock? while the new eyes adapt more quickly to the soil and weather conditions?

Here is my harvest from one potato planted. I always use my own seed potatoes from the previous year's harvest. As I said already I remove all sprouts before planting. Usually I grow only four or five plants, it is all I want. My garden is 100% organic, looks like they like that.

That's impressive, windberry.

I'll remember to remove the sprouts this year. Learn something new . . . .

Don't assume that the term organic means it hasn't been treated with growth retardant. It just means synthetic chemicals weren't used to treat the potatoes. There are organic grower approved chemicals that can be used to treat the potatoes instead. Hydrogen peroxide and some essential oils are approved to treat organic potatoes with.

vgkg, I don't feel like it is shock on the chitted sprouts as they usually come up fast and hit the road fast.

I think I should say more about my approach. First of all, as I already said, my garden is organic. I have added a lot of organic amendments to my very sandy soil over the years and I mulch a lot.

For planting potatoes I dig a trench about 20-25 cm deep (less than a foot) in the mid of April. I am in zone 5. I place my seed potatoes, sometimes cut in half, at the bottom of the trench about 2 feet apart and cover them with about 5 cm of soil. After about three weeks I will see the tips of sprouts showing and cover them with some soil again. Now they grow fast. Soon it is time to hill them again. And finally again.

The plants are big and need support. I bang four stakes at the four corners of the row and tie a string around. So they are "fenced". I don't like them sprawling on the ground. I harvest my potatoes when the tops are almost completely dead. In my hot and dry summer climate I water abut once a week, but the mulch heaped on top of the soil helps to keep moisture.

windberry writes, "For planting potatoes I dig a trench about 20-25 cm deep (less than a foot) in the mid of April. "

I find that 9 or 10 inches of a trench is way too wet here in my climate in April. Even in my pretty well drained and highly amended soil it is too damp. And yes, I only cover them about an inch deep...so they are not soggy.