Storing Potatoes

[Hinotori]

My uncle farms potatoes. He mostly does 50 pound boxes. You can get a 100 pound mesh bag if you ask him. They are to awkward to handle so we do the 50 pound boxes. The boxes are not air tight. Big hand holds and in the center of the lid there is a big hole left open for air. We get 2-3 boxes in the fall when the spuds are running to last us the year. Even with the back room being about 55 degrees, they will last the two of us from september until april at least (depending on temperature) as long as I check up on them and remove eyes if they start forming. Cool and dark are important, as is airflow.

Those boxes work great for storage after the potatoes are done. We never throw them out. I think everyone in my family has all their stuff stored in those, lined with black garbage bags.

Great grandma had a wooden slatted bin out in the barn storage for her potatoes.

 

[Emerald]

As many as you can without destroying the integrity/strength of the tote. The more airflow, the better.

Thanks Bee! I knew I shouldn't have listened to Mother Earth News, they had an article about potato storage and said they need to be in closed boxes...

could you point me to that article.. all the ones I've read recently in MEN says nothing about putting them in closed boxes? Your post caught my eye due to my first harvest of potatoes is just around the corner and I was wondering how to cure them properly and store them.. My aunt and uncle just had them in huge bins in the lowest level of the barn and then once in a while we filled the bin in their basement from those bins. (and the early summer cleaning of those things ) But I was young and really don't remember much on what we did with them to cure them.
I'm one of those read and read and search and research just to make sure kinda gals.
I have the archive discs and all the paper magazines stretching back to the early 80's.. in fact their latest one had a whole article on storing crops in the house. but no info on curing the potatoes.. I've cured my onions wrong and had to dehydrate them all in November due to sprouting and rotting problems. so now I really do the research cuz that is too much work to grow this stuff and have it go icky.
I know that the staff at MEN will put in a retraction or fix it online at least if they have wrong information. they are good that way.

 

[~gd]

I would expect the cure to vary by size and type. I would expect a huge Resset baker to be different from the tiny red wax potatoes that we boiled in salt and served whole skins and all. Season/temperature plays a part too the ones we dug when the weather was warm and dry just sat on the hills in the fields until the soil under the potatoes was dry. Fall harvest went on the floor under cover until the soil could be brushed off.

 

[Emerald]

Thanks GD.. I have purvian purple and was waiting for them plant to die off and was going to just dry them in the shade(as long as it was warm) and brush off the dirt and store in the basement on a shelf with a piece of burlap over them.. I have grown potatoes before. but only about enuf for two or three meals and in big flower pots. so didn't even have enuf to store.

 

[k15n1]

I used cardboard boxes, with about 3 layers of taters. That worked, but the humidity wasn't high enough so some of them were very wrinkly by march. I cooked them up anyway and no one made a peep.

 

[Emerald]

If I see the ones I buy getting softer or trying to grow I just spirooli them - steam them- dehydrate them for hash-browns. boy just has to pour water out of the constantly on tea kettle and let them sit for about 15 20 minutes and then he fries them.

ETA: forgot to say that potatoes are rather cheap around here. about 20 minutes north of me are acres and acres of potatoes growing.. so we don't grow too many ourselves. but I want to start doing more and even planning to try sweet potatoes next year.

 

[Denim Deb]

Took me a minute to figure out what MEN you were talking about.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We've tried for over 3 years to grow potatoes, and just yesterday, Hubby made our first successful harvest. Oh, there's barely much there: maybe 15 pounds total (some small russetts but mostly small red pontiac), and most of them less than a thumb in diameter, but still, it worked. It was really dry here, and our research last night explained that when the weather gets above 80 degrees, potatoes pretty much stop growing. That explained the size since it was in the 80's by April this year.

The potatoes are spread on cardboard on our dining room table. There's no place on our property (house, garage, or workshop) where we have high humidity and is 40-60 degrees to store them. Plan to make these little potatoes last so hoping just putting them in wire trash cans or milk crates would work. Thoughts?

Meanwhile, next year our potato area is 4 beds, each 4x4 so 64 SF. Considering Hubby and I only eat potatoes about once a week, and my Teen likes potato skins 3-4 times a week ... do you think 64 SF would provide enough small red potatoes for our little family for about 9 months?

 

[k15n1]

The potatoes are spread on cardboard on our dining room table. There's no place on our property (house, garage, or workshop) where we have high humidity and is 40-60 degrees to store them. Plan to make these little potatoes last so hoping just putting them in wire trash cans or milk crates would work. Thoughts?

Meanwhile, next year our potato area is 4 beds, each 4x4 so 64 SF. Considering Hubby and I only eat potatoes about once a week, and my Teen likes potato skins 3-4 times a week ... do you think 64 SF would provide enough small red potatoes for our little family for about 9 months?

Milk crates are great, if you can get them.

Potatoes yield very highly per area, so it's a good crop for a small garden. But you're the only one that can answer how many you need for the year. For root-cellar storage, figure you'll have to go without for a few months in the early spring, so you only need to grow 6-7 months worth. Figuring out how much food you use on a yearly basis is part of the fun of SS! Weight the potatoes for a couple of weeks (call it A) and figure A* (52*7/12).

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I have also read that it is best to let the plants die back and then let them dry in the ground as long as possible before harvesting. That works well for us because summer is always dry here and I usually try to harvest them before the first rain. Then I bring them inside to let them dry more before storing them. I have actually kept them in plastic buckets before and they did fine until spring, when they started to grow and that made them get soggy. I guess I got lucky. I agree that milk crates would work well. I will probably just store mine in an open cardboard box this year, as that is what I have readily available.

Potatoes may be cheaper to buy than grow for yourself, however I have read that the nutritional value and the flavor is much superior if you grow them yourself. Personal experience has verified that. I never liked potatoes much, but now I cannot wait for the harvest every year.