The great potato question...

Planting potatoes is an adventure in education. There are many a potato rule for planting and I had to check more than a few sources before I felt comfortable enough to dig in. Thanks to all the gardeners who put up with the beginner questions. Anyways here is the most useful information I found:

1. If your potato has more than 2 eyes or sprouts cut it in pieces to increase your yield. If you follow this rule with larger seed potatoes you can get 2-4 mounds per potato.
2. Plant your potatoes about 12" apart. The closer you plant the potatoes the more competition they will have for nutrients with neighboring potatoes, if you want big potatoes give them space. Likewise if you want smaller potatoes plant the hills closer so that the competition for nutrients works for you.

3. Wait until your potatoes have started to sprout before putting them in the ground and plant them with the sprouts facing up. No one had an exact idea of how big the sprouts should be before they went into the ground. I have an idea that mine (shown in the picture) had gone a little too long; the potatoes actually started to feel like raisins.
4. I also heard once you cut your potatoes up you should let the cut marks dry to prevent molding in the ground. I didn't have time, so I'll let you know how they turn out.
5. The consensus seem to be for potatoes to be planted 6" in the ground for optimal growth.
6. I also hear things about mounding your potatoes and don't know if they are talking before or after they start growing above ground. I looked into the mounding phenomenon and think I have narrowed down the reason for doing so, it has to do with how potatoes grow. The sprout comes out of the potato until it finds sun above ground. The sprouts use the energy from the potato for this initial growth stage. Once above ground the sprout takes its vitamins from the sun, soil, and water which it uses to send further shoots back into the ground to create potatoes. I think the mounding must help more potatoes to grow because it allows the shoots to keep growing up and down (more space and nutrients). The mounding may also help with water drainage (if you water potatoes too much they get scabs). Needles to say I didn't mound...yet. I'll see what happens.

If you have helpful hints for potatoes please feel free to add them, I know I can always use the help.