At what temperature to store potatoes so that it does not spoil and did not germinate - an urgent question for owners of cellars and basements. The following conditions are considered optimal: air temperature +2 - +3 degrees and humidity 70-80 percent. If it is warm in the repository in the winter, the potato "Hours Spring" will start to germinate. When the temperature decreases to zero, the starch contained in the tubers will turn into sugar. If the bit of the thermometer dropped into minus - the potatoes will simply fuse and disappear. About how to provide optimal conditions For storing potatoes in the cellar or basement, we will talk later.

Preparation of cellar

Storage of potatoes in the cellar or vegetable store becomes not the most simplest task due to the high content in the tubers of starch and water. These factors significantly complicate the process, asking the tough temperature frames, as well as demanding the maintenance of a constant level of humidity.

So that the cellar does not freeze and did not overheat, you need to take care of its isolation from the external environment. Think about it is still before harvesting. If your cellar is separately standing, then overheating in the winter it does not threaten him, rather, on the contrary. From covered with snow surfaces of the earth will go cold.

• If there is an opportunity, build a cellar in the cellar - a small indoor superstructure, which will protect the upper part of the cellar from direct contact with environmental. Thus, the temperature in the repository and outside it will not differ too much.
• Luke cellab need to be insulated with foam or any other heat insulating material. It should close hermetically.
• If sufficient, equip the second hatch at some distance from the first. The airbag between the hatch will protect the room from the cold.
• Clear overlap can be insulated with foam or polystyrene foam.
• For additional heating, a cellar can be equipped with several lamps in different corners of the room. You can manually turn on the lamps if noted that the temperature is reduced, or put the temperature sensor. Lamps intended solely for heating, painted with dark varnish.

With good heat and moisture insulation, the potatoes perfectly passes until the next harvest.

In the event that the cellar is under home and in it, on the contrary, too warm to storing potatoes, you can equip the split system inside it. However, this option implies financial costs. Cheaper analogue - compressor from the old refrigerator.

Save the crop will help good system Ventilation. Cold air from the street will not allow vegetables to start germinate before the deadline.

To protect the cellar from moisture, carry out waterproofing of the room, arrange the capacitance of the container with a negated lime or special preparations absorbing water from the air.

To properly store potatoes in the cellar in winter, you need to equip a special box or make a crust. About how to make it, read further.

Preparation of potatoes

Preparation for storing potatoes begins immediately after harvest. It is worth mentioning that the crop does not need to be left in the ground for a long time. There is an opinion that he has been lying in the ground, the potatoes will be better stored. As soon as the potatoes are ripe, it must be removed, otherwise it will gain more moisture and will deteriorate faster.

Wash tubers before placing storage is not necessary.

Preparation for storage includes several stages:

1. Cleaning from the Earth. Gently consider with the tubers sticking lumps of the earth with hands. Wash potatoes before bookmarking the cellar is not needed.
2. Dry. Dug-in tubers need to be scattered with one layer in a dry ventilated room or under a canopy. Potatoes should not fall straight sun rays.
3. Sorting. We turn around the crop, sorting potatoes in size and laying separately patients, pedested by pests or damaged in the process of digging tubers. If you grow potatoes, and do not buy by autumn, do not forget that part of the crop need to be separated and saved for planting.
4. Collection. We collect scattered potatoes in bags and move to the cellar.

Bookmark in cellar.

To lower the potatoes in the cellar must be carefully, avoiding shocks.

The roots are sensitive to the conditions of the external environment, so potatoes should be stored in specially prepared boxes or bins. Just so pouring it on, we risk losing a significant part of the crop. Capacities intended for storing potatoes should also not stand straight on the floor and touch the walls. Build wooden stands for them with a height of 10-15 centimeters or under the bottom of the bricks.

Wooden crust is an ideal place for winter storage of potatoes.

The fracture should have additional holes in airborne air circulation. The height of the edge of the drawer should not be too big so that you, leaning, could calmly get from the bottom of the tuber.

Before laying vegetables, containers need to dry and disinfect.

In the root in the cellar of the root, the process of breathing occurs, due to which moisture is highlighted in the air and carbon dioxide. The moisture is condensed on the walls and ceiling of the room, and from there can again get into vegetables. So that this does not happen, regularly ventilate the room. You can construct an additional canopy from polyethylene under the ceiling.

To reduce moisture in the basement, you can additionally pour on the floor layer of lime and sand.

Very good in one box with potatoes store beets. It is desirable to pour out a thick layer over potatoes. The beet pillow will protect potatoes from the cold and absorb excess moisture. For beets it will be even better.

Periodically check the condition of the crop in the cellar and remove damaged or drowning clubs. All the vegetables in contact with them are better to postpone separately - quarantine. If you have not revealed any signs of spoofing vegetables, but the flour of drosophila walked in a vegetable store, it is likely that the lower layers of potatoes began to raise. If in addition to this in the cellar is present nasty smell, it is better to go through all potatoes.

Take care of the cellar from mice. Rodents love to arrange nests in hay or sawdust.

The reserves of potatoes stored in the basement should not be direct sunlight. Therefore, if the basement has ventilation or light windows, cover the vegetables with a dense cloth, sacking or wooden lid. In case of sunlight, potato eyes begin to germinate, and a toxic substance of Solan is formed in the club itself.

If the tuber let the sprouts, it is better not to use it, because under the leather is formed by the health of Solanin.

Potato Storage Boxes

In order to properly store potatoes in the cellar, you need to prepare special boxes or, as they are also called, "Break".

Simple crust

• Clean what kind of potatoes do you plan to store in winter and, based on this, mark the place.
• Build the base of the box of thick boards or timber. The bottom of the design should be raised above the floor by 10-15 centimeters. And the height of the side of the future container should not exceed 1-1.2 meters so that you can comfortably get tuber from the bottom. From the walls of the cellar, the box must defend a few centimeters.
• Next, the foundation needs to be seen plywood or fonders. If you use Phaneur, drill holes in it for ventilation. Boards are not close, but with intervals in a centimeter, as they usually make in boxes for vegetables.
• With a large number of potatoes, a box can be made long and divided by its partitions.

Break ready. You can float potatoes.

Wooden drawer design option.

You can see the box not only by boards, but also metal mesh. The grid must be galvanized or painted oil paint.

The easiest way to work option is the use of already ready-made plastic or wooden boxes for vegetables. They usually have ventilation holes. It is impossible to put in the floor boxes. Construct a special podium for them or use bricks. Separate boxes can be made up on each other, following the half-meter before it remains. This will improve air intake.

Hermetic Heated Box

If you are cold in the basement, and it is regularly freezing, it is possible to make a special sealant box with good thermal insulation for storing potatoes. In such a box, 1 m3 is about 320 kg of potatoes.

The design of the box is quite simple. We need to take two containers, one must calmly enter the other. It is better to knock these boxes from the boards or thick plywood itself - it is easier to guess with sizes.

The scheme of the structures of the insulated storage for potatoes. Click to enlarge.

• The bottom of the larger box we drag the foam or fill in any other insulation. You can pour a layer of sawdust.
• We put the second box inside and also fill the insulation empty space between the walls.
• Locate the cover for the container and insulate it.
• To control the temperature, we place the thermometer inside the box and mounted a pair of small 15-watt light bulbs. Light bulbs paint with dark varnish. As soon as the temperature is reduced - we turn on the light bulbs. A more advanced option - put a temperature relay in the box.
• Outside, the drawer is painting to protect against moisture.
• Potatoes closed inside the box with a dark cloth.

Such a container is well saved potatoes from the cold, but prevents air circulation. Therefore, the crop must be able to air several times during the storage.

Potato grade for long-term storage

For winter storage, it is desirable to choose the medium and late varieties of potatoes with a yellow flesh. If you in the cellar lies potatoes of different varieties, distribute it different boxes. The raven potatoes will be stored bad, even if you correctly create conditions for it. In the cellar, he will quickly start germinate and becomes unsuitable for food.

Potato storage conditions:

Potatoes carefully moves before storage. Ajacked by rotten and photofluorosis, with a stranger, dubious type of tubers are thrown out, the remaining dried in the fresh air under the sun.

How precisely at home is to organize, largely depends on the particular room in which the root plant will be.

In the room or corridor

In residential well-heated rooms, potatoes will be stored for several weeks. The chances of preserving the crop will increase significantly if the tubers decompose in different places, for example, a part in the pantry, and the part on the balcony.

In the kitchen

1. The dark, well-ventilated corner is selected. Most often, the most convenient (and only) is the place under the sink. You can use a special cabinet for storing vegetables with ventilation holes.
2. In the selected niche put a suitable wooden tray, a container of bark or a wicker basket with selected tubers.

In the storage room

Stores in the apartments are most often not heated, and potatoes can be stored there until spring.

Potato storage option in a residential room may be permanent storage in the storage room or corridor. It does not have to invent thermal insulation, it is enough to protect the tubers from the light by the same rags.

1. Potatoes fit into the selected bags from the natural, "breathable" material. They are not covered and wrapped.
2. In order for the tubers, the wet fabric hangs in the room, which is moisturized as drying. You can put two or three pelvis with water and use the electric humidifier.

On the balcony

1. A smaller bin is installed in a large wooden box. The distance between the walls (which should be at least 10-12 cm) is filled with insulation: wood chips, sawdust or crushed foam. The bottom and cover is also insulated. The inner box should be without holes and cracks, with 2-3 light bulbs 15 watts, painted dark paint (so that the potatoes do not turn).
2. Potatoes prepared for storage falls asleep in the box and covered on top of old clothes or dense blanket. From above, you can sketch fresh straw. In such a storage of tubers are stored at temperatures up to +7 degrees and street frosts are not terrible.

For small balconies, on which there are no places for massive designs, special thermal containers are offered, compact and aesthetically beautiful. Using the thermostat, you can set the desired temperature inside and forget about the problem of storage for a long time.

Lower the level of moisture in the box can be sprinkled by potatoes low husky And chalk, either putting a pair of bags with dried leaves or mint on the bottom.

So that the potatoes do not germinate, a layer of straw can be put as a layer in the box.

How to increase the shelf life?

Storage boxes are pre-processed. It is necessary to process the disinfecting solution. copper Kaper, chlorine lime or a strong heatman solution, and after drying on the street. Tubers in boxes are covered with fir and pine branches, shifted with a coarse, pulling excessive moisture. In more detail how to store potatoes in the box, you can find out.

Possible mistakes

First, let's talk about the most common errors during storage, which lead to damage to potatoes or reduce taste:

1. Poor-quality sorting.
2. Posting for storage of early varieties that are not suitable for long storage.
3. Storage side by side with other vegetables and fruits.
4. Unsuitable storage conditions.
5. Incorrectly selected or insufficiently prepared place.

We offer to watch a video about what mistakes when storing potatoes are most often allowed:

Conclusion

The first frosts will be happy to spoil all the seashed tubers if the owner does not establish in advance. What only the tricks do not have to go! If there is no balcony, you can store potatoes in the winter in the apartment in a dark place. But, knowing the basic rules and listening to the recommendations of experienced gardens, you can have long treat your close nutritional and delicious dishes From home reserves.

Potatoes is the most beloved vegetable in our latitudes, which is also well deserved called "second bread." It is boiled, fry, extinguished, baked, they cook soups, stew and even use as a filling for pies. Potatoes in most part consists of starch, which is why it is rather calorie. It also contains a complete set of useful trace elements, vitamins and amino acids. Its benefit for the body is determined not only by the methods of preparation, but also conditions and durability of storage. Often the potatoes rot, amazed by fungal diseases, becomes sluggish and germinates. In order for potatoes to be successfully stored at home all winter, you need to observe the temperature modes and other nuances.

Modes for potato tubers

1. Therapeutic period. There is a drying and ripening of tubers, healing cuts and injuries from shocks. After digging, the potatoes are recommended to leave for 1-2 hours. During this time, he will eat enough and covers the dry crust. For a long time, it's not worth a crop in the sun, because under the action of direct sunlight tubers green and can get " sunburn" Then the potatoes are collected and transferred under a canopy for 1-2 weeks, where he lies in one layer. During this time, the protective properties of tubers are strengthened, making them ready for the next stage. Perfect temperature Air for this period + 13 ... + 18 ° C.
   

   The toxic substance of Solan is accumulated in the green tuber. There is such potatoes dangerous to health!

2. Cooling period. It consists in a gradual decrease in temperature to + 2 ... + 4o. Lasts 10-15 days. During this period, the club comes at rest. Under normal country conditions, nature will help, since the autumn period occurs natural air cooling in the autumn period.
3. The main period or winter. Lasts until the end of February. For long-term storage, potatoes are transferred to suitable place for this. In order not to disturb the state of rest, provide the right temperature, wet and light modes.
4. Spring period. Begins with the onset of warm weather. The temperature in potatoes rises and the tubers begin to germinate. From that moment on, potatoes quickly lose its suitability.

Sometimes the first two periods are combined into one post-harvest period. It is a preparatory stage before long-term storage. Not observing it, you threaten the loss of a significant part of the crop. Also at this time it is important to protect potatoes from moisture and rain.

Preparing potatoes to storage at home

After proper post-harvest preparation, potatoes are almost ready for long-term storage. It remains only to sort it, inspect for the presence of patients with tubers and remove dried dirt.

• If we collected your own harvest and plan to plant potatoes in next year, First of all, you need to select potatoes for sowing. As a rule, for this take the smallest tubers, green potatoes, as well as tubers with a lot of eyes (more than 6 eyes). Naturally, damaged and patients are not suitable.

Unlike potatoes "For food", seed potatoes are recommended to leave in the sun within a few days for "green". Thanks to this, potatoes will continue longer, and will also become unbearable for rodents.

• Potato tubers sort depending on varieties and destination. There are varieties for long-term storage (late and medieval), and there are early, which lie for a maximum of winter. We must take into account the purpose of the tubers: there is potatoes, which is quickly welded and suitable for mashed potatoes, and there are more "solid" varieties, ideal for frying.
• You can also sort by size. Large tubers lie longer than small. In addition, the potatoes of about one size form more voids, which provides better ventilation.
• Much attention should be paid to the quality of tubers. In the future, all cuts and poorly coarse injuries can cause rot. Such potatoes are selected "at now". Pores can be treated with wood ash.
• Potato tubers before storage recommend washing, because there are many microbes in the ground, capable of provoking the development of disease. It is not always possible to do it, especially if potatoes are a lot. In normal cases, dirt itself disappears after drying in the process of natural friction, when the crop is folded into drawers or bags. It is also possible to remove it during sorting, putting gloves with a rough surface. Immediately after the coppe, potatoes do not wash.
• After sorting, potatoes are folded into the container and sent for storage.

Important! Do not be lazy to go through potatoes before storing! Several patients with tubers are able to infect the rest of the healthy, which can lead to the loss of the harvest.

Of course, the quality of tubers, as well as the quality of the whole harvest as a whole, will depend on weather conditions, soils, fertilizer methods. If summer and autumn were rainy, that is, the high probability of developing rot. Excessive dryness leads to early fading of tubers. To at least somehow extend the shelf life of the already bad potatoes, it can be treated with wood ash. With 20 kg, we will need only 2-3 ash handlers., Which you need to suspend tubers during bookmark for storage. Of course, today there are many chemical preparations for protecting potatoes from phytoofluorosis, rot and other diseases, but it is better to use it when stored for seed potatoes, and not potatoes "for food."

To slow down germination, tubers are advised to shift mint and rowan leaves, pine and fir branches. These plants contain phytoncides contributing to the extension of the "winter hibernation".

Potato preparation for long-term storage - Photo

Dry potatoes in the sun - important preparatory stage Sorting potato tubers after koking in size Sorting tubers depending on the size - an important process for successful long-term storage Potato storage in wooden boxes during the winter period

How to store vegetable right

• Temperature.The storage space should be cool - 2-4 ºС heat, at lower temperatures, the potatoes loses its taste. Maximum storage temperature - 5-7 ºС. At a temperature of 0 ºС and below potatoes, it becomes sweet and unsuitable for use, and soon rotates.
• Humidity.Optimal humidity 85-90%. Low and excessive humidity equally harms the safety of tubers. With too dry air, it is possible to put water tanks, moisture will evaporate and moisturize the room.
• Shine.Potatoes are stored in the dark. If it is temporary storage on the balcony, then you should cover the packag with potatoes in several layers and hide from the direct rays of the sun.

Not everyone has appropriate place For storing potatoes. Often you have to go on small tricks to ensure optimal conditions and save potatoes as long as possible. If the room temperature is too high (for example, in the storage room ordinary apartment) You can try to cool air with ice. For this you need plastic bottles With frozen water that put near potatoes. You can freeze water both in the freezer and on the balcony or the street in frosty weather.

It also happens that the temperature, on the contrary, is too low and there is a risk of freezing tubers (if stored on a laptile balcony). In such cases, it will take to think about how and what to warm. You can bite potatoes in old blankets or jackets, and you can make a warmed storage box with your own hands. For especially frost nights, for sure to protect vegetables from freezing, it is better to make a heated box.

Before proceeding with the manufacture, it is necessary to determine the size of the future container.

How to make a warmed drawer

For the frame will need wooden bar.. The finished frame can be seen plywood, chipboard, fiberboard or OSB, using self-tapping screws and screwdriver. Foam or foam sheets are suitable as insulation, 5 cm thick. Additionally, you can use isolon. The heat insulation is glued to the walls and the bottom of the box using liquid nails, and the joints of the joints are additionally sampled with a wide scotch. In the same way, the lid is insulated.

You can also create a box on the principle of matretory. It will take two containers, one of which is slightly smaller in size. The space between the walls is filled with wood sawdust, crumbling foam or other material, 3-5 cm thick.

Box for potatoes, insulated with foam, - great solution To storing potatoes on the balcony!

Already the finished container can be improved by the heating element and electrocontact thermal. The heater will suit a household hairdryer with a small power or two incandescent bulbs 40-60 W. The relay will turn on and off the heater automatically, supporting the desired temperature in the container. On the bottom of the box you need to put the lattice to provide a layer of air.

If you decide to use a hairdryer, you will need plastic tubes, a diameter of 4-5 cm, through which the heated air will flow into the box. Plastic tubes are connected between themselves at an angle of 90º. The lower end is inserted into the hole, pre-made at the bottom of the container. To the top end fasten the hairdryer. The heated air will come to the bottom of the box, further climb and heat its contents. For uniform heat intake at the bottom of the tube make several holes.

Heated heated box due to a household hair dryer

Hair dryer - the device is quite noisy and requires a lot of electricity. Instead, you can use incandescent lamps. In this case, it will take a pipe from tin, in which two light bulbs are inserted. The heat that they allocate will be enough to heal potatoes.

Heated thermal container due to incandescent bulbs

If you are a happy winner of a warmed balcony, then for storage of vegetables in winter it will be enough to make an ordinary box with boards, plywood or other materials.

Example of a drawer for storing potatoes on a warmed balcony

How to make a bin of storage of vegetables on the balcony

Tara

Potatoes are usually stored in well ventilated boxes or bags:

• Wooden drawers made of boards
• Wooden potato storage containers in cellar or basement
• Plastic containers with "mesh" walls and bottom
• Boxes with dense cardboard with holes
• Bags with burlap

Potatoes are better stored in small portions, therefore it is preferable to choose small boxes (by 10 kg of potatoes) made of wooden planks. They are light, reliable, they are easily transferred to vegetables, besides, they can be put alone to another in order to save space. It is easier to sort out potatoes in such a container, it can be viewed through the slots for the presence of rotten tubers. Thanks to the distances between the planks, the air will come to vegetables all the time, and putting a box on bricks or pallets, you will provide additional ventilation. You can make such a box with your own hands using unnecessary boards, wooden planks, lumber residues and even chipboard, fiberboard and OSB. The optimal width of the planks is 5 cm, the length is 50 cm. Also you will need wooden bars of a triangular shape for better fastening of the sides. Connect the details between themselves best with nails or screws.

Wooden drawer with their own hands - saving money to buy packaging!

Drawer for Potato Storage Box

Potato storage also buy plastic boxes, less often metallic. Plastic container is very light, and the mesh walls and the bottom provide good ventilation. As for metallic, they are much more expensive and harder, to carry the potatoes will not be easy due to the weight of the boxes themselves.

You can store potatoes and in large containers made of pallet or the same wooden planks. They are made by angular or rectangular. An ordinary rectangular container can be with a horizontal door at the bottom or shchuchada. Thanks to this design, potatoes are convenient to dial.

Bags are preferable to choose from the grid. In such a container, potatoes "breathe" and does not feel. Strongly not allowed for long-term storage dense polypropylene bags. They practically do not let the air and come only to collect harvest and its transportation.

To date, you can buy a special thermomemaker for storing vegetables on the balcony in winter. The top of the bag is made of dense tent tissue, and the inner warm layer is made of thick durable syntheps. In addition to the insulation, such a bag has an electric heating, due to which the temperature inside is maintained in the range of 1-7ºС even in the most bodied frost. There are also thermal containers on sale, where the temperature is regulated by a special thermal sensor and never falls below 1ºС. Perhaps the only disadvantage of such a container is its cost. How to make a heated container with your own hands, we have already risked above.

The most common packaging of potato storage - Photo

Wooden Box - the most common packaging Potato storage Plastic box with mesh bottom and walls Potato Storage Container Option in Cellar Potato storage in the corner of the container as an alternative to storage in the covers Keep potatoes in bright colored bags Thermomomhok - perfect solution for storage of vegetables at low temperatures

Methods for storing potatoes in the basement or cellar

• mastery right in the middle of the cellar (bulk method)
• bulk in the covers (crust method)
• in large ventilated containers (container)
• small drawers and bags
• on stellags

Navalny and the crumbling ways do not require containers, but you do not need to spend extra money. Their disadvantages are the fact that potatoes are kept by large volumes, and this makes it difficult to the process of its disorders and examination. Tubers, which are below and in the middle, get less oxygen. Potatoes in the upper layers often fishes, since moisture evaporates and rises from the bottom upwards. To prevent fogging, it is recommended to pour a straw layer from above, which will absorb an extra moisture. A straw should be completely turned over. You can also store the cooler with the potatoes, which will only come to favor. Good hygroscopicity has vermiculite. It is recommended to pour a layer of 3-4 cm. To ensure ventilating, it is recommended to install pallets on the floor.

If the potatoes are stored in wooden or plastic boxes, the latter should not directly touch the walls and the floor (distance 20-30 cm). For normal ventilation, the distance between the rows of drawers must become several centimeters. The disadvantage of this method is that empty boxes occupy a lot of space, they need to wash and disinfect each year.

Bags put on the floor in a vertical or horizontal position. In the last method, the bags can be folded on each other.

A pretty good way to store potatoes on racks. There she lies in one layer, well ventilated, does not oversleep. The tubers are comfortable to inspect and sort out, besides, empty glass jars from winter conservation can be put on empty racks.

How can I save the crop: Methods in the photo

The easiest way to store potatoes Simple and convenient - storage of potatoes in the covers Storage potatoes in bags in a horizontal position Racks - an excellent solution for storing potatoes! Small wooden boxes - the most convenient storage packaging

Where to keep stocks

Also potatoes can be stored in Barts, trenches, but such storage methods will be more temporary.

Many people prefer to store a small amount of potatoes in the refrigerator. This is not entirely correct, as potatoes are included in the list of products that cannot be stored in this way. Another common mistake is that potatoes are stored with other vegetables. Potatoes can be stored with a swamp and carrots - they absorb moisture well. It is not recommended to store together with apples. The latter have the property to absorb smells, in addition, the presence of potatoes reduces their storage. Also, potatoes are not stored with zucchini, pumpkin, pepper, onions, garlic and other vegetables

Features of different varieties of vegetable

The duration of storage of potatoes affects the amount of starch in its composition. The more starch, it is stored longer. The most starch-producing varieties are larks, bullfinch, adrett, dawn Kiev, magician, effect. Such potatoes can fly to spring. Early varietiesAs a rule, contain less starch, so they are eaten first. The exception is the gala variety. He is not only superrand, but also gives very high yields Even in the unsuccessful season in bad soil. This variety will enjoy healthy food fans due to low starch content.

Some varieties are not at all suitable for storage for long time. These include varieties of Sineglazka, Lorch and Dnepriana.

As for the storage temperature, the varieties of Epron, PriKulian Early, Northern Rose, Falensky and Berlichingham takes a temperature of + 1.5 ... + 2 ° C; Freaks, rainfall, agrotechnical, Loshitsky, tempo and floran is suitable for temperature fluctuations from + 1.5ºС to + 3 ° C; Start, Lorch, Ravy and Table 19 are best stored at a temperature of + 3 ... + 5 ° C.

As for the seed potato, it first sorted, landscapped in the sun, dry, cooled, and after sending to the winter storage in a dark cool room with a temperature of 2-3º C. From the second mid-February, the temperature increases to 10-15ºС, opening the outstands in the repository Or pulling out to the street for germination. At this stage, there is awakening tubers from deep rest before landing.

Errors when storing potatoes and associated diseases

The most common mistakes are the following:

• Bad disinfection of the room.It may cause potato moth and its larvae. Tubers are amazed by small worms that can destroy the entire harvest. Pupae moths can be in the creams of the floor and walls, so it is important to treat the cellar well before storing vegetables. Potato fungal diseases may also occur. In case of such trouble, the potatoes are treated with a solution of biological products: 100 liters of water take 2 liters of lepitocide and 0.5 l of the planaries. Leppitocid is destroyed for moths and its larvae, and the planeriz destroys fungi. The tubers are soaked in a solution for 15-20 minutes, dried and sent for storage. There are processed potatoes in 2-3 days. You can spray tubers with a solution of Entobakterin preparation, also use smoke bombs FAS or Gamma.
• Using a close package. Gray spot can occur. There are many bruises from compression, which turn into gray spots. Also potatoes are "boiled". The struggle measures will be preventive.
• Did not examine the presence of patients with tubers before storage.Several rotten potatoes are able to infect healthy. Common diseases during storage have a black leg, a fusarious dry rot, wet rot and others. We must eliminate patients with tubers together with neighboring. You can also ship the potatoes ash
• Potatoes were poorly dried. May cause mass affection tuber bacterial ring rot. Disease contagious. Measures of struggle: Transferring tubers, maintaining temperature in 2-4 degrees.
• Too high humidity And no ventilation.Potatoes are more likely to be amazed different species rot. Also possible "suffocation" of tubers. White loose tubercles are formed on their surfaces, which disappear, without causing special harm, if you create normal storage conditions. If you do nothing, then in a month the potatoes begged.
• Potato storage with many mechanical damage.Such potatoes are often amazed by rot, as well as such a fungal disease as dry rot. It applies to neighboring healthy tubers. In the potato appear brown depots, which over time become dry, plump and drums. Infection is still in the soil, so it is so important to clean the potatoes from dirt. Potatoes move and remove patients with tubers.
• Storing potatoes near windows. Under the action of direct sunlight tubers green. For the lack of another place, the potatoes should be covered in several layers.
• Too high storage temperature. Tubers begin to germinate and, as a result, fade. Combating measures: shoots are removed and provide a lower air temperature.
• Too dry air.Potatoes begins to wither, becomes soft. It is necessary to ensure normal humidity.

It is necessary to prepare for the storage of potatoes already at the rate of harvest. When cleaning the roots should be sorted out and sort the size (small and damaged tubers should be used primarily). Suitable for storage potatoes need to dry well (not under the right sunlight!) And to cool sufficiently, putting into a cool place. On average, these procedures leave two to three weeks. By the way, at the time of sorting into a separate group, the future seed potatoes separate. Here I just need to hold it in the sun and additionally spray with water so that it starts a little green (it should be stored separately).

If you neglect the cooling period and immediately after drying, remove the potatoes into the basement, it is likely to cover condensate. If the cooling procedure is quickly, then later potatoes will characteristically darken during cooking. It makes sense to quickly cool only potatoes affected by the phytoofluoro.

Store potatoes comfortable in the basement. Temperature should not be descended below 0 C and rise above +6 C. With such parameters of potato tubers well, the cuts and wounds are tightened), and dangerous diseases, on the contrary, less active. Favorable air humidity for potatoes is ranging from 85 to 90%. Until the onset of the first frosts, some potatoes can be stored on the balcony, loggia, in a drawer on the street. The main thing is not to be late, otherwise the potatoes will be sweet.

The duration of storage is strongly affected by the potato grade and the date of its landing. Many gardeners note that potatoes planted in summer, longer dwells at rest, and therefore retains its taste and useful qualities. During winter storage, such potatoes sick much less often.

So that the potatoes do not suffer from excessive moisture, it is possible to bring a sufficient amount of oversized lime to the room (it will absorb over), and the potatoes itself is better put in the straw.

Often the potatoes are stored in the basement, in the boxes installed on the shelves, or simply scattering it on the floor. You can fall asleep potatoes in the boxes no more than 1.5 m in height. To avoid premature germination of rootepodes, put several apples together with them. Sometimes storage potatoes are peeping dry straw, which allows the adjacent fruits not to touch with each other and absorbs excess moisture. The cellar must necessarily be clean, without mold and fungus on the walls. Drawers with potatoes It is advisable to cover the old cloth to avoid possible frosting with a sharp decrease in the temperature on the street. Periodically potatoes in the basement must be sought, in the time of separating the launched root roots from healthy.

Under all conditions, the shelf life of potatoes in the cellar can be up to 10 months. Seed potatoes are stored in the same way as the usual, just in separate boxes.

To plant, grow and collect potatoes - this is not all tasks facing the summer house. You need to try to keep the resulting harvest to the new season, and special attention should be paid to tubers intended for future sowing.

If you have gathered the crop potatoes, and do not know how to keep it in the apartment, our article will help to cope with this problem. We will tell, where and how to properly store potatoes in the apartment, and the photos and drawings of the cellars and boxes will help keep vegetables to a new harvest.

How and where to store potatoes in the apartment

For winter storage, healthy tubers are selected, without any damage. Collect it in dry weather and leave outdoors for several hours, after which they collect.

Note: If it is impossible to spend dry air in the open air, the tubers lay out in the room for 2-3 days to graze, constantly checking the room.

After drying, the harvest is once again moved, laying in the direction of vegetables with mechanical damage.

So that the harvest does not rot, you need to follow certain conditions:

• The room should be well ventilated to slow down the process of the collapse of starch.
• The air temperature must be 5 ° C, for short-range 7-10 ° C. At temperatures below 5 ° C, the starch is converted to sugar, which leads to a change and deterioration of flavoring characteristics.
• Also, vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator box, but a few days before use, it is moved to a warm place so that the sugar turn into starch.

Figure 1. Harvest options at home

In compliance with all rules, the crop remains up to 6 months, but at home this term is usually only a few weeks. Figure 1 shows the main options for the location of potatoes in the cellar and at home.

After cleaning, the tubers warm up to the sun for the separation of the Earth from the tuber, then go through. In the first week after harvesting, the medical and preventive period is underway, during which diseases appear, lesions are heated when digging. Subverin appears on damaged places, which prevents penetration of inside the pathogens of diseases. Preparing the crop to bookmark the cellar is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Preparing potatoes to bookmark in the cellar

The main enemies of the vegetable stored in an apartment or cellar are fungi and bacteria causing rot. For the prevention of tubers are shifted with fresh leaves of wormwood, rowan or sick. You can also process tubers with boiling water: they are pre-rinsed, folded in the grid and lowered for a couple of seconds in hot water. After that, they are dried in a dark place, periodically examining and turning out.

Conditions

How to store potatoes in the apartment so that vegetables remained for a long time suitable for use? To do this, it is necessary to provide optimal conditions (Table 1).

Note: When in the basement, the vegetable highlights carbon dioxide, moisture and heat - that is, breathing. Than the saturation of breath, the faster it loses moisture and aging. You can suspend such breathing by reducing the temperature.

Table 1. Storage conditions of vegetables

To find out how to store potatoes correctly, you need to provide suitable temperature mode. In the fall, potatoes are stored on the balcony, and when the temperature is reduced - in the cool places of the apartment. It is better to use bags of nonwoven canvas or burlap, as they pass the air. In order for the tubers not to be filtered, the beets are laid on top (it absorbs the surplus of moisture), straw or chips.

Time

The average preservation of potatoes in the apartment is only a few weeks. But when complying with moisture and temperature, vegetables can remain fresh for six months.

Where to store potatoes in the apartment we have already found out, it remains to determine how to extend the time of freshness of tubers. To do this, it is possible to put the root of ginger on vegetables, and to stop the time of germination next to lay the halves of apples.

The author will tell how to properly store potatoes at home.

Storage methods

There are two main storage methods: directly in the apartment or abroad (in the garage, basement or on the balcony). Consider each option in more detail.

How to store potatoes in the cellar

The best place for vegetables is the cellar or basement, since Solanin is not produced in a dark and cool room. It is toxic for humans. A large number of Solonina is contained in green tubers, which cannot be eaten.

Note: Before sending vegetables to the cellar, it must be removed, dry and blazing the repository, check the hoods.

Figure 3. Potato cellar

Keep potatoes need to be stored or drawers installed on the shelves. During freezes, the boxes are covered with a dense cloth. For the whole winter period, the harvest is crossed several times. A vegetable prepared from the autumn in such conditions can be stored for 8-10 months (Figure 3).

Box for potatoes

As an option for placing vegetables in the apartment use a box. You can make or buy ready-made plastic or wooden boxes for vegetables, with special ventilation holes.

If the balcony is not glazed, then the box is insulating the foam from the inside and old warm things outside to keep warm. For accommodation in the cellar, the box can be seen by boards and a metal galvanized or painted with a grid (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Types of boxes for vegetables

To make a simple box, you need to place the material based on the number of vegetables. The height of the sides of the box should be 1-1.2 meters, the bottom of the design should not be on the floor, so it is better to attach to the bottom of the timber or make legs. The basis of the design must be seen with thin boards or plywood. Boards need to be stuffed with intervals in a centimeter, and in the plywood drill holes for ventilation. If a lot of potatoes, the box can be made long and divided by its partitions.

From the video you will learn how to make a potato box with your own hands.

How to store potatoes on the balcony in winter

On the glazed balcony, potatoes are preserved better than in the storage room. Optimal temperature There will be an indicator from 0 to 7 ° C.

It is folded into fabric bags and placed in boxes folded on racks. There are gap for ventilation between the drawers and the wall. When the temperature decreases, the boxes are covered with warm things.

Potato storage temperature in winter

Regardless of the method you use for vegetables, you must clearly hold certain requirements.

The optimal temperature should not exceed +7 degrees. When decreasing this value, the vegetables are freezed and become unsuitable for food. If the indicator is higher, they will begin to rot and germinate.

The most common fungal disease considers the phytoftor, which appears on the tubers in the form of brown spots. First, grayish-brown, dull spots appear on the club. Soon this place becomes dry and drumming, the skin is wrinkled, emptiness is formed. Infection is carried out by infection, which is located on tubers with stuck soil. Often infected tubers with mechanical damage. The infection is transferred to other tubers.

Figure 5. Main diseases during storage (from left to right): phytofluorosis, darkening pulp, rot

Also in damaged or patients with vegetables may develop a secondary disease - internal rot.

Excess nitrogen or potassium disadvantage can provoke a darkening of a tuber pulp, but this is not considered a disease. In addition, the darkening can cause a reduced or high temperature, or hot and dry weather in the growing season. Examples of diseases are shown in Figure 5.

In most cases, potato disease occurs with improper storage and damaged tubers. Therefore, when bookmarking vegetables to the storage, you need to carefully examine them and remove all damaged instances.