Storing potatoes

[CARS]

I just finished eating a store-bought baked potato because when I went to get ours, they were in too bad of shape to eat

They made it a few months in a sack in our cellar but there must be a sure-fire way to keep potatoes longer. I fed alot to the chickens today. Id rather feed me

What works for you???

 

[Catalina]

Did they sprout or get mushy or ?

The UofM extension says

Curing/Storage: Potatoes are cured while in storage. Curing promotes suberization (the build-up of a waxy, water impervious layer) and prolongs storability. Potatoes are cured at 50-55 F and a relative humidity of 90-95% for 2-4 weeks following harvest. After curing, tubers are prepared for long-term storage by reducing storage temperatures 1 F every 5-7 days to prevent reducing sugars to accumulate. Relative humidity remains at 90-95% during this period. Potatoes grown for seed or fresh market use are stored long-term at 38 F while those that will become fries are stored at 45 F and those used for chipping at 50-55 F. Potatoes that will be stored long-term require a sprout inhibitor be applied either in the field or once in storage, after tubers have been cured. Before potatoes are removed from storage they are gradually warmed to 55-65 F for 2-3 weeks (2).

The advice my Dad gave me - Don't wash the potatoes and store them in a cool, dark place in 5 gallon buckets. I'm still using ones that I harvested last year. My storage room is a little bit too warm and some have started to sprout, but they are still OK to eat.
My Dad has potatoes that look like they just came out of the ground - they are beautiful!

 

[CARS]

Did they sprout or get mushy or ?

Yes. Both. But not wet-mushy. Just soft and shriveling.

The advice my Dad gave me - Don't wash the potatoes and store them in a cool, dark place in 5 gallon buckets. I'm still using ones that I harvested last year. My storage room is a little bit too warm and some have started to sprout, but they are still OK to eat.
My Dad has potatoes that look like they just came out of the ground - they are beautiful!

I didn't wash them either :/

We were thinking of keeping them in buckets covered in dirt but who wants to carry dirt down in the basement??? Maybe a try of dirt would be easier?

 

[journey11]

Hi CARS,

Some varieties are better keepers than others too, so be sure to look into that--your ag extension agent is a good place to find out what does well in your area.

What I do, I try to harvest mine while the ground's dry of a late afternoon and I let them sit on the ground along side the rows overnight to let the skins dry a bit. Never wash them until you are ready to use them. If you break the skin, it invites decay. If you have any that have been cut or knicked while digging, separate them out and use them up first. I let mine lay in a single layer on the basement floor for a couple weeks to cure, then I move them into wooden crates or milk crates for storage. Note what Catalina said about temps and humidity, that's important. I don't keep track of mine, I just try to keep it "about right". You also want to keep them in the dark so they don't turn green or try to wake up and sprout early. Don't keep them near apples (most things don't keep well near apples). Apples give off ethylene gas that causes early ripening and aging in other fruits/vegetables.

There's a quote in my family passed down from my great-great-grandmother on my mom's side. She would say "always use your best potatoes first, then you'll always have the best" --was kinda her theory of approach to all of life I'm told. But at any rate, if you do that, then you can always save the rejects for seed potatoes!!

 

[CARS]

I never thought about the variety. I have been using Yukon Gold potatoes for the last couple years. They are a thin skinned and taste like butter

Thanks for the replies so far. It looks like I am doing it right, something just didn't work out :/

 

[ducks4you]

Didn't somebody here suggest storing veggies in your attic in the winter to keep them cool and dry?

 

[journey11]

Didn't somebody here suggest storing veggies in your attic in the winter to keep them cool and dry?

I've heard that's a good place to store winter squash, or under your bed. I don't think anything I put in my attic would make it...too many mice up there!

An unheated basement is great (my wood furnace is down there, which makes it a good place to store out of season clothes and JUNK, but not food). A dark corner of the garage is good too, if it doesn't fall below freezing. Mine does. So I'm getting dh to help me build a real root cellar this spring!

 

[ducks4you]

I'm going to do that NEXT year--gotta get DD's trash out of my attics, first! --but MY old house ha unheated attics on the 2nd story that you can walk into, so it would be very convenient for me to store them there.

 

[freshfood]

I bought a great book last fall: Root Cellaring Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel

It talks about different methods of storage, a number of different ways to make a root cellar or equivalent (including some that don't require either building or digging!). They cover the different varieties and the different storage requirements (temp, humidity, air flow, etc.). they tell how long various types of fruit, veggies, nuts, etc. will store...it's got a ton of info, ranging from very specific to very general. You don't need to spend tons of money or get bunches of equipment, but if you want to go that route, it tells you about that, too. An excellent book. I got it in paperback for 14.95. It's one of the Storey Publication books...all you BYCers will know them!

Anyway, I found an area in my unheated basement that used to be a root cellar (my house is early 1800s) and though the door of it is gone, I used a suggestion from the book and stored half a dozen potatoes in a bucket of damp sand...they've been there all fall and winter. I just went down and checked them this morning...they are in absolutely perfect condition, except the ones near the top were TOO near the top - they've started to sprout. I will most definitely store all my potatoes this way next year, but I will bury them deeper! Yippee!!!

 

[simple life]

I read that book last year and I just dug it out and started to reread it again because we finished cleaning out our cellar and organzing it for storing vegetables and I wanted to read it again to see if I missed anything.
My house was built in the 1700's when all the cellars were essentially root cellars with dirt floors and stone walls so this year I will put it to good use.