Regular white taters. We don't have a cellar and would appreciate the info. I searched the archives to no avail. Thanks in advance.

-- dozerdoctor (dozerdoc@yahoo.com), November 07, 1999

Answers

You can keep potatos in a barrel with sand all over them and they will keep quite a while. You can also buy potatos that are pealed and canned or you can can your own in quart Mason jars.Dy +

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), November 07, 1999.

Be sure you store them in the dark.

If you grow your own, don't wash them before storing them. That also goes for gathering eggs, unless they are obviously covered in chicken excrement. When you wash an egg you remove the natural sealant the hen applied, and the egg will not store as well. Wash it before breaking it. That's another topic, back to taters.

We have generally had no trouble keeping potatoes through the winter, (did I spell that right?) but they are well sprouted by spring. You can still use shrivelled potatoes. Just wash and peel them and soak them in water for a spell, or two (whatever that means.)

We keep em in the basement, but it is usually warm down there. If you have a crawl space, or a well pit, it seems that those would be pretty good places.

check them regularly to pull off the sprouts. Use the leftovers for planting in the spring. It's good to have a bit of air circulating through them, burlap bags are a good choice. Esp. if you can hang them in a dark place.

Good luck

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), November 07, 1999.

If you live in a cool area you can bury a garbage can or something like that and cover it with straw and they keep a long time (all winter)

-- me (me@me.me), November 08, 1999.

you can also dehydrate them!

-- eddy (ddd@ddd.d), November 08, 1999.

i don't know the particulars of your location but this worked for me and the germans use it still for sugar beet storage throught the winter.

place your potatoes on a well draining piece of ground. they may directly on the ground or on straw. cover them with more straw and then soil. the severity of your winters determines the depth of soil. retrieve them as you need them. we have used a similar method of raising them in the spring with deep mulch yielding clean potatoes not requiring the normal digging.

-- clayton (ratchetass@hotmail.com), November 08, 1999.

I just need a handful of seed potatoes for next year. (In other words, they won't take up much room.) My current crop is already scrubbed and in my frig. Would the frig work?

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), November 08, 1999.

Potatoes should be stored in a cool and dark location. After a period of time, they will start to grow (indicated by the sprouts growing) if they start to warm up, even if they are cooled again. So keep them constantly cool. Once they start to sprout, the sprouts will be shorter and stockier if they are exposed to light. Doesn't help keep them as eating potatoes though. As far as using your stored potatoes for seed, you should (ideally) keep the best potatoes from the best plants carefully stored to use as seed. You want to grow the best plants possible next year, and saving a replanting just the leftovers isn't the way to get the best possible seed- although it could be better than nothing.

Jim

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), November 08, 1999.

Just remember that green/bronzy-green developing on the skins is usually due to exposure to light and you really should not eat that part - just peel it - but don't feed the green peel to chickens, etc. This is were the old nightshade family heritage kicks in.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), November 09, 1999.

Dozer,

I have stored 200 lbs. of ptatoes, both new white and yukon gold (bought em in 50 lb. bags from a local farm). After much reading on different storage approaches, here's what I came up with:

They've been sorted and repacked in four big rubbermaid tubs, w/ the lids off. I sorted them so that the absolute best ones were at the bottoms of the tubs, and worked up to the most damaged potatoes at the top. On sorting: potatoes that store longest have unblemished skin (no bruises or tears) and no green spots. So eat the banged up ones first (just cut away the green stuff. It's just chlorophyll, although not good for you in big quantities).

On stacking: I did it in individual layers, each layer separated by newspaper, w/ newspaper on the top. Here's the most important thing for good storage: when you layer the potatoes, *keep them from touching each other*. Hinders sprouting and transfer of molds from one potato to the rest.A dark storage spot is most important, and cooler is better, but don't freeze em.

One more thing: don't store potatoes w/ apples. The will both get yucky fast.

-- silver ion (ag3@interlog.com), November 09, 1999.