I never cut potatoes. Old and sprouted or new. Why cut them? I plant 16” between potatoes. I’m a registered master gardener. We don’t all agree on everything. Try different things on your own. Learn from your own failures and successes. But remember there are many things that can change the results like weather and soil, as well as how you water and more. Good luck and have fun!

No clipping them would limit growth, just plant them very carefully.

I live in Virginia, I usually have vole problems, but not this year. However this year I lost about 15% of my potatoes from little black biting ants. They ate deep into the potatoes, leaving only the pealing in some. Still, had a tremendous crop this year unlike last year. I tried something new. I fertilized the ground with 10-20-20 before planting, tilled it in, and I planted seeds 20 inches apart. I averaged 10 nice size potatoes per hill. I have never experienced ants eating potatoes though, I cut my seed potatoes, but I did not cure them and I watered the plants during a short dry spell. I wonder if the ants will create even more of a problem in the future. years.

This year I had my first real issue with ants eating potato tubers. In Florida, we have fire ants. And they eat potatoes. I lost a solid 30% of sellable potatoes this year due to ants burrowing in and eating out a large section. I’ve always had small bug damage on the potatoes themselves, but this year was something different. Depending on how much you’ve planted, DIY home organic solutions can work, but if larger, it may not. If organic isn’t a thing, bug-b-gone for vegetable gardens works on ants, including fire ants. If your garden is larger, like mine, there may be a farm organic solution. I haven’t looked yet, but most of my solutions for it come from Arbico organics.

Are they actually causing damage to the plants? Are there aphids on your plants? The ants might be there farming the aphids.

As long as they don’t look soft or rotten they should be okay.

We always look for the soil to crack then we would dig.