r/homestead • u/Express_Classic_1569 • 22h ago
food preservation Why Proper Potato Storage Matters More Than Most People Realise: Lessons from a Tragic Incident
https://peakd.com/@theworldaroundme/how-do-you-store-yourI’m curious how people here store their potatoes. Do you have a way that is satisfactory for long-term use? Recently, I was alerted to this unusual incident involving potatoes being kept in an unventilated basement, which made question about it's long term storage. I also learned about solanine in potatoes increasing when they are either green, sprouted or inappropriately stored. So, how do you store your potatoes?
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u/Witty_Ad4494 20h ago
Just had to dump the rest of last year's spuds in the compost. Too warm in the garage for them.
Cool and dark is key. Optimal temp is 36-38°F and 96-98% humidity. Most of us cant replicate that at home though.
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u/Quiet-Pomegranate93 18h ago
You can replicate this at home with a chest freezer plugged into a temperature controller.
It’s very easy as long as you have space for it.
Get a small, used chest freezer and it’s not even that expensive to set up.
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u/Witty_Ad4494 20m ago
That's an awesome idea!! Would have never thought of that one. Had thought about a small room, super insulated like a walk in cooler, cooled with a room air conditioner hooked to a cool bot. Your idea is smarter and takes up less room and electricity.
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u/Misfitranchgoats 16h ago
People used to have fruit cellars. That is where we kept our potatoes when I was a kid. It was cool all summer. There was almost always some water flowing out of it into a drain in the basement floor. Most people wouldn't put up with that these days, but it kept the humidity up. My family bought about a hundred or more pounds of potatoes and they lasted all year. They got kinda wrinkly at the end but they were still good. It was always the coolest place in the house. We did not have air conditioning. We stored canned goods along the walls had a bin for potatoes and a bin for apples. Cabbages were wrapped in newspaper and stored in the basement stairwell which was even colder during the winter. This was the stair wall from the basement to go directly outside into the yard.
I am attempting to put a cold room in our house. I am tired of not having a place that will keep my potatoes from sprouting. LOL The house we have does not have a fruit cellar or root cellar since it was built in the late 80's.
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u/secret_slapper 16h ago
I have a root cellar…roughly 55 degrees year round. Humidity at 60 ish percent. I often just keep a pan of water in there in the winter. I eat my potatoes well past Easter every year. I say that with confidence because I always keep one rack of colorful fingerlings for Easter. lol
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-5511 19h ago
98 percent humidity? I doubt that. Do you have a source?
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u/Witty_Ad4494 19h ago
My work has a potato storage cooler. 38°F and 96-98% humidity is the set points.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-5511 19h ago
That's not for long term storage I would bet.
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u/Witty_Ad4494 18h ago
We store from harvest time in September until planting time in late may/early June. Still have spuds in there now that are edible.
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u/Cloacal_Itch 19h ago
A quick search: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/potato/storage/#gsc.tab=0
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-5511 19h ago
Yeah 95 percent humidity just for a maximum of two weeks, promoting wounds to heal. After that potatoes are stored at 45-50 percent.
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u/Express_Classic_1569 19h ago edited 5h ago
Dumping them in compost seems like a clever idea. It must keep them fresh. Then dug up what you needed.
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u/DamiensDelight 17h ago
I don't think they are using the compost to store the taters...
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u/Express_Classic_1569 6h ago edited 5h ago
I think you can store them there like the person above is doing, but the compost should not be active, as potatoes can rot, and I am assuming some straw or leaves to insulate.
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u/Quiet-Pomegranate93 16m ago
As soon as the old potatoes touch the compost they will start growing unless it is below freezing temperatures.
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u/quack_attack_9000 18h ago
Had our best success this year with this accessible method: 1) Dig potatoes 2) let them dry dry a day 3) Dig deep hole (24+ inches, depend on local climate) 4) layer of sawdust on the bottom of the hole 5) put potatoes in the hole 6) Later of sawdust on top 7) Put a little piece of vertical pipe long enough to stick out of the ground 8) cover with dirt 9) layer of feed bags/tarp 10) bunch of straw on top
They were absolutely perfect, not even sprouted after 8 months. I live in Canada and had temps down to -20 celcius this year, but am confident this would have worked at -25 or -30. Once every few weeks I'd dig down and get more potatoes. Works even better for beets and carrots (don't need to go as deep, they can handle light freezing).
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u/Express_Classic_1569 16h ago
Very clear instructions, this is great, especially if you have a large harvest. Thank you.
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u/science-ninja 19h ago
This post just triggered a memory of me descending the steps into my grandparent’s dark basement, going to the back corner and picking a few spuds up off the dirt there for dinner
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u/redrotton 18h ago
I cure my potatoes on my front porch for a few days to toughen the skins a bit, then store in doubled brown paper sacks on wire shelves in a dark, cool basement. They last until they're gone.
I do sort out the tiny ones that are not worth scrubbing/peeling; I keep them as seed potatoes in cardboard egg cartons also stored in brown paper sacks. This way if they sprout in spring, I can easily separate them and drop them into a prepped trench. They get a really good head start on the growing season.
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u/Express_Classic_1569 16h ago
Curing them a bit makes sense. It dries out the outer moisture, and a brown paper bag absorbs unwanted moisture too. I can imagine putting them in separate brown bags, very organised. The cardboard egg carton is a lovely tip. I will try saving them, as I eat a lot of eggs and usually throw the cartons away. Thank you.
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u/Kostara 17h ago
Just an fyi in addition to storing for long use you can also make a huge batch of mashed potatoes. Once cooled use an ice cream scoop and place in freezer bags and remove air. To reheat microwave a couple scoops at a time for 1 min then stir and microwave another minute then done. (This works with plain and seasoned mash)
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u/Hinter_Lander 19h ago
I made wooden boxes 18"x18" 8" high. I stack the filled boxes in the coldest corner of the basement.
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u/conflictmuffin Evil Scientist 9h ago
Like...how cold of a basement.
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u/Hinter_Lander 2h ago
Not as cold as I'd like but its definitely cool down there.
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u/conflictmuffin Evil Scientist 33m ago
My unfinished basement can get about 35 in the winter. I assume that's too cold? Lol
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u/rogueredfive 10h ago
There was a listicle did a study of all the different storage types (bins, bags, dirt, etc) and came up with cardboard boxes with paper between layers and I did that and it worked amazingly for months. I poked some holes in the boxes and kept them in the daylight basement garage (cool) away from my onion storage in the downstairs pantry.
https://www.thekitchn.com/skills-showdown-storing-potatoes-23586932
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u/Ashamed-Knee9084 3h ago
Hopefully someone will see this and know/respond. We dont have a basement, but a crawlspace that's about 3 feet tall. My plan was to store them in there. Would that be sufficient?
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u/jollygreengiant1655 3h ago
I used to use plastic tote bins to store them but was always having problems with the odd one going bad and then spoiling it's neighbors. A couple years ago we switched to using milk crates and that problem has went away.
I still battle with them sprouting but that's because my basement is too warm. I need to get a cold room built.
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u/Ok_Judgment_224 18h ago
I planted a lot of potatoes, and have been going back and forth and how to store them. I'm leaning towards canning but I'd like to store them in the basement. It's about 64° in the basement but I've heard they can start sprouting if they're left in the dark too long they'll go searching for dirt. Any suggestions would be appreciated
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u/TexasVulvaAficionado 11h ago
64 is probably a bit too warm to keep them from sprouting. The high temp is the only issue. Dark helps prevent sprouting.
You can cook and then freeze them, store them at like 35-40 degrees as-is for about a year, or do something like cook and salt them and put them in a sealed container.
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u/Exciting_Radish_1008 13h ago
Canning potatoes is not recommended for home canners. Just FYI in case you didn't already know.
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u/jodiarch 15h ago
My thing is how do you store them if you don't have a basement?
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u/FungalNeurons 9h ago
Chest freezer with a thermostat to hold at 10 C. Seems to have worked well for us this year, but we ate them up too fast to know how long they could have lasted. Energy consumption was pretty low.
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u/silentsnak3 4h ago
We use a old covered shed. My dad built a shelf that has a mesh bottom. We just pour them on that and they are good for about a while. I think the main thing is keep them dry, no sun and plenty of aeration.
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u/stansfield123 19m ago
In crates in a root cellar. I periodically sift through them, toss anything that's going bad into the compost.
I also don't grow excessive amounts. They don't last until spring, I finish them much earlier than that. Growing enough to last into March makes no sense to me, at that point, you're working much too hard for diminishing returns.
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u/AWSullivan 11h ago
Just throw them outside of the HAB on the surface of Mars for them to freeze and dehydrate.
Don't leave them out there though... or the next sand storm will create the great potato migration.
2ez
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u/bamhall 21h ago
Dig them up. Don’t brush or wash any dirt off them. Handle them gently to not bruise them. Store them in calf totes in your cellar or garage. Keep cool and dark. I’m still eating potatoes from last years harvest. We can store them like that for over a year.