Each year we usually get a bumper crop of beautiful potatos and this year looks good too !! My problem is since we have insultated this old farm house we can't seem to find a good place to put them so they will last until spring. Everywhere seems too warm. We have been homesteading for over 20 years so we were doing OK until we did the work on the house. I guess that should be the worst of my problems...a warm house in the winter. But I hate to have all of the potatos start growing by Christmas. Someone suggested to me an old freezer with hay bales around it up in the barn and the bales would keep it warm/cold enough. Don't they, the potatoes, have to "breathe" and would the freezer allow that to happen ??? HELP !!! any advice ??!!!! Thanks You !!!!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), September 02, 2001

Answers

Helena- Potatoes need a cool moist environment. 32-40 degrees and 80-90 percent humidity. This is also perfect for cabbage, cauliflower(short term), apples, grapes(40 degrees), oranges, pears, quince, endive, and grapefruit.

One thing you could do is called pit storage. You dig a pit, line it with straw put the taters in and cover with straw bales. Another novel idea that works is to bury an old refrigerator on it's back up to where the doors open. Pile straw bales on top.

If you want to do a lot of storage I recommend the book "Root Cellaring" by Mike and Nancy Bubel. The storage methods I described plus many others are included in this book. Your local library should have a copy or if you want to purchase it,it is only $14.95.

-- debra in ks (windfish@toto.net), September 02, 2001.

depemds on where you are located. Pits dont work here in Mich,, winters are to cold,,would have to dig below the frost line, andd insulate insulate insulate. (Ive tried),, how about under the house? is there a crawl space? Can you desginate a room and crack a window, and keep the door closed to the rest of the house? If not that,, then how about building a root cellar? It all depends on where you are located. I have the book mentioned,, and some ideas will worl great for some loactions

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 02, 2001.

Have you ever thought about canning some of those taters? My first batch of taters went bad down in my basement. So now I grow a first crop, and can it, then with my fall crop I save those.. and try to use them before they go bad! I always grow pontiac reds... they can very well and don't taste as starchy!

www.rockinredranch.com Ginny

-- Ginny D (yehagirl@rockinredranch.com), September 02, 2001.

The old timers used to keep a green apple on top of the ptatoes and claimed it kept them from sprouting. You can also put apples with green tomatoes and they will ripen faster. It is the gas a apple puts out as it ripens.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), September 02, 2001.

Here in the mountains of B.C. we get extremely cold winters and we have no basement or root cellar to store potatoes. We keep them in the closet of an unused bedroom in the cheap styrofoam containers sold at wal mart as picnic containers for a couple $.My wife makes sure that the bedroom door is kept shut to keep out heat from the rest of the house, the furnace vents are closed off and ocassionally, if it starts to get too warm in the room, opens a window for a few minutes to cool it. She also keeps apples, carrots and cabbage the same way. Not perfect but it works. Good luck. tomas

-- tomas (bakerzee@hotmail.com), September 02, 2001.

Do you have a crawl space? We keep ours in the crawl space in the coolest part of the house in paper sacks. They keep all winter. If you have duct work to your furnace there it wouldnt work unless you have a wood stove and your furnace deosnt run much. It has to be cool.

-- the pooles (mpoole@link2000.net), September 03, 2001.

Canning Potatoes...... Ball Blue Book says.. Wash and peel Ptatoes. Wash again. Leave small potatoes whole: cut large potatoes into quarters. Cover Potatoes with water boil 10 min. Drain. Pack hot spuds into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to each pint 1 tsp to each quart. if desired. Ladle boiling water over spuds leaving 1 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adust two piece caps. Process pints 35 min, quarts 40 min at 10 lbs of pressure in a steam pressure canner.

On thin skinned potatoes, I don't peel them, I just scrub really good with brush.

I think canned spuds are our family's favorite canned veggie!

-- Ginny D (yehagirl@rockinredranch.com), September 03, 2001.

there is a product available called mh-30 that commercial potato growers have used for the last 50 years. it is sprayed on the growing crop and allowed to grow down (translocate)into the tubers.it is a very benign chemical with excellent results. mail me if you need more info.

-- steve crouse (crouses@mfx.com), September 08, 2001.

I also can my first few diggings of potatoes. I even use the bigger ones...just cut them down to size for the jars. Only Red Pontiacs here, also. You can't beat the flavor of this brand for canning. I also use canned potatoes for instant potato salad! Just drain them, chill and add seasonings. We also keep about 100 lbs. or so in our basement. They usually last into the following Mar. or Apr.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), September 08, 2001.

In our garage, that is closed but no heat we store potatoes in plactic garbage cans in layers of shavings. Put shavings about 3" deep then layer of potaoes and so on to finish with shavings on top then the lid; But we are in Northwestern Oregon.

-- Marlu (mysachet@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.