needed: gardening advice on sweet potatoes

I recently picked up a sweet potato in the store, and it had vines starting to grow from it. I usually find that they burn all of the new growth off, but they must have missed parts of this one as it is starting to grow...7 vines counted so far.



I would like to start a sweet potato vine indoors and have been able to find info on how to do this, but I would like to know if I can take just a part of the potato to start it in the water, or if I have to use the whole tuber so that I can put it in point down as the instructions say. It would be tough to hang this heavy potato with toothpicks too! It is a super huge tuber, as it was supposed to go with supper one night, but I really want to see what it will do plant wise, as we have never had this opportunity before!



I plan on planting it, when it gets roots, in a 5 gallon pail and keep it through at least some of the winter if not all winter. Our spring will not come until about mid-May, so I can't just put it into the garden right away! We have successfully grown a full sized tomato plant indoors before and were able to harvest from it all winter. I would like to see if we can not only have a plant, but if we can actually get something (besides just a vine) from it!



Does anyone out there have experience with this kind of plant? Have you started one of these before? Is the care much different from a regular potato? Are there any problems/tips that I should be aware of? My family is eagerly awaiting any advice that anyone has.....



Thanks for helping me out!