I am a bit confused by the concept that planting whole potatoes rather than sections that are sliced into pieces with one or two eyes would lead to bigger potato fruits.
I had thought that the genetics of the individual eye would carry forth whatever gene would leads to larger potatoes.
I can see why planting a whole potato would carry more eyes and, therefore, more plants and fruit, but the size of the individual potatoes that result should still be driven by genetics and nutrition, not by the planting of a whole large potato.
Often, I have seen the bulk of the whole potato simply rot after the plants have formed. Once those individual plants have set forth roots, the original remaining potato would no longer serve a function and lead to rotting and possibly even attracting pests and disease. Chitting the potato to develop large eyes that are rooted or ready to root would seem the better alternative to merely sticking a whole large potato in the ground.
Sufficiently large sections containing heathy, large eyes should contain the genetic material to determine fruit size. I do follow the British practice of leaving the original potatoe in the sun to launch the chlorophine and sugar buildup and the shade and a bit of moisture to develop the eyes, but after that cut them into smaller sections, unless growing specifically for small "new" or spring potatoes as in the deliciously sweet red or white varieties. But, for those large bakers, I select the biggest I can find and then follow the routine above. Years ago, having tried the route of planting the whole, large potatoes, it was not unusual to dig down later into a stinking mush of insect laden rotted mush. Could having the new buds relying upon that original large potato for nutrition even slow the need of the plant to send out roots?
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