Potatoe storage help needed!

[Carol Dee]

@digitS' asked how we stored all thosespuds in another post. Well.... last year we had nearly as many. We put them in plastic milk crates. Layered with newspaper and put them in a cool, dark & dry place. Oops, TOO COOL. They all froze solid. Will this method still work if we place them in a cool, dark, dry NO SO COLD place?
What methods have worked for you?

 

[thistlebloom]

I hope I'm not wearing this out, because I've posted it somewhere a couple times, but I store mine in the garage, where water in jugs freezes solid when we get into the coldest days of winter. But I have a plastic box, that was originally a tack trunk, about the size of a truck bed toolbox that I keep mine in. I insulated it with 2" foam all around the sides and on the bottom of the inside. I throw a couple of shipping blankets over the lid. It holds about 300 pounds worth.

I keep the potatoes separated in paper grocery bags (this year I used square boxes my sister got from HD and left at my house) I like the boxes, which also should help insulate them.. I used to sort them by variety and size, using the marbles up first and moving on to the nice big ones, but this year I decided to stop being so, umm, anal about it and just have them all divied up in separate boxes. That just makes it easier for me to get to them, and if there's a bad one it gets noticed quicker.

It works great and last year I had good potatoes into April.
I harvested about 500 pounds last summer and stored the extra 200 pounds in trash cans that I thought I had insulated adequately.
They mostly all froze and it was demoralizing. Not doing that again.

 

[Nyboy]

whats wrong with frozen potatoes?

 

[journey11]

Those Kennebecs are good keepers. They always make it longer than the Red Pontiacs I plant with them, so I use up the reds first. And the small potatoes first too, as was mentioned. They dry and get wrinkly faster than the biggest ones. And any that have been cut or scraped. I like to can the small potatoes especially. Boy, do they taste wonderful and we like to add them to our canned green beans. I've dehydrated potatoes for hashbrowns and scalloped potatoes too, but I don't prefer it since it is a bit more tedious than canning them. For the conditions you are planning to store them under, you should be able to make it to about February before they really start to sprout and wrinkle. Try to keep them between 35-50 degrees. I'm sure you will be bringing mashed potatoes to every potluck you attend this winter.

 

[Smart Red]

I have a corner in my basement with part of two outside walls. I block off that area of the basement with insulation between studs to keep that end cool and dark. That's where my spuds and flower roots spend the winter. I used up and/or planted the potatoes that were left once planting time came around.

 

[Carol Dee]

whats wrong with frozen potatoes?

They go to mush as they defrost. UGH.

 

[baymule]

My problems storing potatoes are opposite from yours, Carol. I harvest the end of May and then try to figure out how to keep them from turning to rotten goo. I put them in laundry baskets and kept them in the dining room this year. The AC kept them cool and the few that are left are now looking kinda wrinkley and have a few sprounts, but are still edible.

Do you have a basement? Or an unused room in the house that you can stack some potatoes in? What about plastic milk crates, they stack well and have enough holes in them for good ventilitation.

 

[Carol Dee]

I hope I'm not wearing this out, because I've posted it somewhere a couple times, but I store mine in the garage, where water in jugs freezes solid when we get into the coldest days of winter. But I have a plastic box, that was originally a tack trunk, about the size of a truck bed toolbox that I keep mine in. I insulated it with 2" foam all around the sides and on the bottom of the inside. I throw a couple of shipping blankets over the lid. It holds about 300 pounds worth.

I keep the potatoes separated in paper grocery bags (this year I used square boxes my sister got from HD and left at my house) I like the boxes, which also should help insulate them.. I used to sort them by variety and size, using the marbles up first and moving on to the nice big ones, but this year I decided to stop being so, umm, anal about it and just have them all divied up in separate boxes. That just makes it easier for me to get to them, and if there's a bad one it gets noticed quicker.

It works great and last year I had good potatoes into April.
I harvested about 500 pounds last summer and stored the extra 200 pounds in trash cans that I thought I had insulated adequately.
They mostly all froze and it was demoralizing. Not doing that again.

Thanks Thistle. Yeah it was a bummer when the whole bunch froze last winter.

 

[Carol Dee]

My problems storing potatoes are opposite from yours, Carol. I harvest the end of May and then try to figure out how to keep them from turning to rotten goo. I put them in laundry baskets and kept them in the dining room this year. The AC kept them cool and the few that are left are now looking kinda wrinkley and have a few sprounts, but are still edible.

Do you have a basement? Or an unused room in the house that you can stack some potatoes in? What about plastic milk crates, they stack well and have enough holes in them for good ventilitation.

YES, we have used and plan to use the milk crates. We do have a room off the main basement that is cool and dark. Will probably use that this time. The stairwell was TOO COLD.

 

[Carol Dee]

Those Kennebecs are good keepers. They always make it longer than the Red Pontiacs I plant with them, so I use up the reds first. And the small potatoes first too, as was mentioned. They dry and get wrinkly faster than the biggest ones. And any that have been cut or scraped. I like to can the small potatoes especially. Boy, do they taste wonderful and we like to add them to our canned green beans. I've dehydrated potatoes for hashbrowns and scalloped potatoes too, but I don't prefer it since it is a bit more tedious than canning them. For the conditions you are planning to store them under, you should be able to make it to about February before they really start to sprout and wrinkle. Try to keep them between 35-50 degrees. I'm sure you will be bringing mashed potatoes to every potluck you attend this winter.

Good info Journey, We will use the red 1st. Fewer of those anyway as they where the ones we snitched from for early potatoes.