BlankWe dug some of our red potatoes as the vines were dead . How do we go about storing them? My husband heard something about leaving them in the sun for a day or so,but I thought the sun was bad for them,would turn them green.
Bonnie
storing them? My husband heard something about leaving them in the sun for a day or so,but I thought the sun was bad for them,would turn them green.
Store in a not too cool dry place for about a month, then into a cold cellar, as close to 100% humidity and barely above freezing as possible.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
about storing them? My husband heard something about leaving them in the sun for a day or so,but I thought the sun was bad for them,would turn them green.
home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
I store mine right in the ground under a thick layer of chopped straw. The risks are that voles will nibble on some of them. The benefits are that they are stored in a cool, damp area so they don't sprout and shrivel up, which is what potatoes stored in my house always do.
You are confusing potatoes with sweet potatoes. Curing sweet potatoes consist of laying then out where they will be in the heat (80 degrees - not the sun - winter squash go into he sun) and high humidity (80 + percent) for
10 to days (longer if you cant match either of those conditions - add another 5 or so days). That turns the starch to sugar.Then store them as close to 55 degrees as possible (mine stay at 65 to 70 degrees F). If they get colder like in a frig, the sugar will turn back into starch and will not go back to sugar again.
I just dug my first box of sweet potatoes yesterday, and will get the rest before the first frost. Here is a question for the group. If we get a surprise frost over night, how long after the sun comes up do I have to rip all the greens of the top before the potatoes are ruined?
Dwayne
If a hot sun after frost ruins sweet potatoes, does it also ruin Irish potatoes? I had not heard of that before.
Lightnin Dave
Dave I don't think the sun has anything to do with it. I think it just takes the chemical change in the sweet potato leaves to get down in the potatoes and make them bitter. I honestly don't know.
When it happened to me I was in zone 7, I was out at sun up ripping off the greens to save the potatoes. Now I am in zone 5 and dig them in spurts. I have been out twice this year digging them and putting them in to cure, so that if we get a surprise frost, I wont have to get up early and kill myself to save the crop.
I have no idea about Irish potatoes and what effect frost will have > >Here is a question for the group. If we get a
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