You can plant up to 2 potato eyes in a 5 gallon bucket and up to 3 potato eyes in a 7 gallon bucket.
In a 10 gallon bucket you can plant 5 potato eyes.
When potatoes are ready to harvest the top part of the plant that comes out of the ground will yellow and die which means the potatoes are done growing and the potatoes are ready to dig up and harvest.
Potatoes should be buried with the sprouts facing up and potatoes are best grown in rows.
Dig a trench which is 6 to 8 inches deep and plant each piece of the potato with the cut side down with the eyes pointing out every 12 to 15 inches apart with the rows spaced 3 feet apart.
The month that you plant potatoes is May and then harvest them around August.
You should stop watering potatoes once the leaves are starting to lose their bright color and lean over and become dry to the touch.
Once the top part of the potato plant has died then the potatoes no longer need watering as they are done growing.
Deep water the potatoes at least once a week.
Potatoes can handle partial shade although to do their best at growing potatoes need full sun.
The more sun the potatoes can get the better and six to eight hours of sunlight per day is best for potatoes.
You need to leave potatoes in the ground until the plants have died but it is best to wait 2 to 4 weeks after the plants have died to dig up and harvest the potatoes to toughen them up.
Potatoes take around 90 days from planting to harvest time.
Before planting potatoes you should add fertilizer to the soil.
When planting potatoes you should add some low nitrogen, high phosphorous fertilizer to the soil.
Add 2 tablespoons of the fertilizer and then cover the potatoes and fertilizer with 2 inches of soil and water the soil well.
The best fertilizer for potatoes is 4-3-2 NPK fertilizer such as chicken manure pellets.
Miracle grow is also a good fertilizer for potatoes if you can't get chicken manure.
The fastest way to get potatoes to sprout is to place the potatoes in a zip lock bag with a damp paper towel which speeds up the sprouting process of the potato eyes.
This is a method known as chitting which is a common way to encourage the growth of sprouts on potatoes before planting them.
A potato only needs one eye or sprout to grow into more potatoes although if it has more than one eye the potato will grow into other potatoes much better and you'll get more potatoes.
A potato should have at least one sprout or one eye before planting but if it has more than one eye or sprout that would be better as it will also result in more potatoes growing.
You can grow potatoes from store bought potatoes as long as the store bought potatoes have eyes on them or sprouts.
Simply cut the sprout off the potato with part of the potato and plant them in some potting soil or other well draining soil.
Be sure the sprout side is faced upwards and then cover with dirt and water.
You can plant store bought potatoes with eyes but need to cut the eyes off the potatoes with part of the potato intact.
Simply take a knife and cut a slice of the potato off with the eye and then plant the potatoes with the eyes facing up in around 6 to 8 inches of dirt.
Potatoes sprout eyes as a way of germinating and growing new potato plants.
You an cut the eyes off the potato with part of the potato intact and grow new potatoes from them.
Potatoes sprout the eyes when they are stored in a space with a temperature of 68 F which makes the plant or potato think it's spring and time to regenerate new potatoes.
You cannot plant just the eyes of the potatoes as they will not grow properly.
In order for the potatoes to grow from the eyes they really need the energy that is in the potato so you should cut the eyes off the potatoes with part of the potato intact.
Then plant the cut part of the potato with the eye and then water.
Be sure to bury the potato eyes at lest 6 inches deep.
To grow potatoes from the potato eyes dig a trench that is 6-8 inches deep.
Next plant each piece of potato (cut side down, with the eyes pointing up) every 12-15 inches, with the rows spaced 3 feet apart.
If your space is limited or if you would like to grow only baby potatoes, you can decrease the spacing between the potato plants.
You can expect at least five to six new potatoes for each potato you plant.
There's something so magical about pulling up a potato plant and seeing so many new potatoes attached to the small one you planted months ago.
A potato that has grown eyes is still safe to eat so long as it's firm to the touch and its skin isn't shriveled.
Sprouts, however, are not edible and should be removed and tossed.
Small new potatoes can be ready as early as ten weeks.
However, full sized potatoes take about 80-100 days to reach maturity.