Potato storage, help!

[secuono]

Last year, my crawlspace failed as storage, many potatoes started to mold and rot, fast. I still have survivors in a drawer in my fridge! DH hates that.

Googled how to store them, yet again, and I really don't understand how a regular person in a modern house can create all of these temperatures and humidities for spuds and still live in the same building!

So! I've left them in their 30 gallon grow bags where they grew all season, a bit afraid of them rotting on me again. I love potatoes, I don't want to loose so many again.

I just woke up to the thought of leaving them in there unless needed. Would that even work?!? Could I harvest all winter from the dirt bags?

I can't ask on FB, as groups have gone to heck in an express delivery box and everyone is useless, clueless and nasty. I hate it there.

Since they need humidity, should they stay out in the open as they are? I'd guess that I can't move them under my porch to dry, or can I? I'm worried rain and snow will rot them, as Va winter weather is absurd and unreliable at best. If I move the bags, should I wrap the sides in plastic to hold humidity? I'd move them once dirt has dried, so the plastic wouldn't be holding sopping wet dirt. Is there issues with them going through freeze and thaw cycles? Should I insulate the area from excessive wind? Last year, it got down to 4F. A lot of trees and shrubs died to the roots or completely, a lot of tip damage on mature trees all across the state, too. It was weird to see one foot of death on evergreens all around the plant.

If I can keep them in bags outside, should I harvest them all up and redistribute them more neatly and evenly in one bag of dirt vs the three they're in now? It'd be the same dirt, just cleaned up of any rotting spuds, weeds and whatnot.

Please help!

 

[flowerbug]

Last year, my crawlspace failed as storage, many potatoes started to mold and rot, fast. I still have survivors in a drawer in my fridge! DH hates that.

Googled how to store them, yet again, and I really don't understand how a regular person in a modern house can create all of these temperatures and humidities for spuds and still live in the same building!

So! I've left them in their 30 gallon grow bags where they grew all season, a bit afraid of them rotting on me again. I love potatoes, I don't want to loose so many again.

I just woke up to the thought of leaving them in there unless needed. Would that even work?!? Could I harvest all winter from the dirt bags?

I can't ask on FB, as groups have gone to heck in an express delivery box and everyone is useless, clueless and nasty. I hate it there.

Since they need humidity, should they stay out in the open as they are? I'd guess that I can't move them under my porch to dry, or can I? I'm worried rain and snow will rot them, as Va winter weather is absurd and unreliable at best. If I move the bags, should I wrap the sides in plastic to hold humidity? I'd move them once dirt has dried, so the plastic wouldn't be holding sopping wet dirt. Is there issues with them going through freeze and thaw cycles? Should I insulate the area from excessive wind? Last year, it got down to 4F. A lot of trees and shrubs died to the roots or completely, a lot of tip damage on mature trees all across the state, too. It was weird to see one foot of death on evergreens all around the plant.

If I can keep them in bags outside, should I harvest them all up and redistribute them more neatly and evenly in one bag of dirt vs the three they're in now? It'd be the same dirt, just cleaned up of any rotting spuds, weeds and whatnot.

Please help!

does this help?

Best Way to Store Your Homegrown Potatoes So They Don't Rot or Sprout

Tired of sprouting or rotten homegrown potatoes? Learn the curing and storage tricks that’ll keep your homegrown harvest fresh for months—no cellar needed.

www.rasnetwork.org

 

[secuono]

does this help?

Best Way to Store Your Homegrown Potatoes So They Don't Rot or Sprout

Tired of sprouting or rotten homegrown potatoes? Learn the curing and storage tricks that’ll keep your homegrown harvest fresh for months—no cellar needed.

www.rasnetwork.org

Well....yeah. idk what to do....

First floor-


Laundry room/mudroom, AC vent closed off, door mostly closed. Too hot for storage, but fine for curing.


Crawlspace
4ft into the dirt on one side, zero on the opposite. Probably humid enough, but on a 65F morning, it is 61F inside.
no clue how warm or cold it'll get in winter.
Google says low 40s in winter. My old house, crawlspace froze solid, so, yeah. This one is better built and insulated, but idk how cold it'll get.
It won't be useful currently, as its too warm. Maybe weird spikes are fine, idk. Maybe it was just a freak occurrence that rotted so many, idk.





Maybe I'll try both and see which works best.

 

[digitS']

Perhaps a "potato clamp" would work for you.

Here's a link to explain

LINK.

 

[ducks4you]

Have you considered pressure canning potatoes?

The Easy Way to Can Potatoes

Follow this step by step tutorial to learn how simple Canning Potatoes can be. Having canned potatoes on hand means your favorite soups, stews, side dishes, and roasts can be ready in a flash.

www.sustainablecooks.com

 

[Alasgun]

I use the crawl space too and can successfully store them, with some exceptions!

In Alaska my crawl space is low 60’s thru out the year and the furnace is down there so in the winter it stays pretty constant.

However: the outside temp will vary from 40f down to -15f. To create a more stable yet cooler space i went to the corner opposite the furnace and using 2x4’s walled in a 6x8ft space. My wing walls sit on the ground and are attached to the floor joist above. In this wall i framed a door for access. Then i covered the outside of these walls/door with 2inch pink board. Inside i hung a battery touch light, which i’ve never replaced the battery in!
Now here’s the key to my temperature adjustment. I picked a corner of the house with an air vent!! You should have several of them around the crawlspace and they supply air for the furnace or just ventilation.
In the center of the vent i drilled a 1/4inch hole thru which i put a 1/4in rod. On the outside of the vent a little wing is attached to the rod for easy adjustment, on the inside the rod passes thru a piece of pink board cut to completely cover the vent.
Once taters are in the cellar i’ll screw the vent wide open to cool it down and as the temp drops i’ll adjust it a bit to keep it the temp as close to 40/45 as i can. None of this is air tight so there’s still air flow, im just “slowing it down”.

We keep the potato's, onions and pumpkins in here. When it warms in the spring and the temp creeps up i move the remaining produce to a dedicated refrigerator out in the shop. My Rube Goldberg affair allows us to keep these thru the year, with some effort!

It’s simpler than my contorted writing style might suggest and if anyone’s interested i can post pictures. I would imagine being in Virginia you would have more moderate winter weather which could make this an easy option?

I keep a remote indoor/outdoor thermometer down there and the display sits on a table where i can see the temp at a glance. Once i’m done “screwing around” getting the temp where i want it, it gets very little attention unless the temp drops a bunch and requires a little tweek.
I’ve been using this for the last 6 years with no complaints other than at 75 i dont like crawling in the crawl space!

Mike

 

[secuono]

Perhaps a "potato clamp" would work for you.

Here's a link to explain

LINK.

Interesting. Never heard of that.

 

[secuono]

Have you considered pressure canning potatoes?

The Easy Way to Can Potatoes

Follow this step by step tutorial to learn how simple Canning Potatoes can be. Having canned potatoes on hand means your favorite soups, stews, side dishes, and roasts can be ready in a flash.

www.sustainablecooks.com

Man, I learned about fridge pickles near the end of making a ton of WB pickles, and I swore off water bath canning them! 1.5 years and fridge pickles are crisp and perfect.

I think I might try making flakes sooner than trying to can them. But we'll see.

 

[flowerbug]

Perhaps a "potato clamp" would work for you.

Here's a link to explain

LINK.

wow, that sounds very complicated and i'm not sure i could do it from the written description alone.