Potatoes

[Lloyd90]

Why does it say online that once dug up potatoes can last for several months, yet whenever I buy some they start sprouting / go off in a short space of time? 
 

I am a total newbie to gardening and making your own veg so please excuse my ignorance. 
 

Should I store them in the garage? 

[welsh1]

3 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

Why does it say online that once dug up potatoes can last for several months, yet whenever I buy some they start sprouting / go off in a short space of time? 
 

I am a total newbie to gardening and making your own veg so please excuse my ignorance. 
 

Should I store them in the garage? 

 A cool dry place with good airflow, so your garage might work well, My dad used to place them in those wooden boxes with gaps in the side and place them on a shelf in the rafters of his shed, they kept for a long time.

[Lloyd90]

12 minutes ago, welsh1 said:

 A cool dry place with good airflow, so your garage might work well, My dad used to place them in those wooden boxes with gaps in the side and place them on a shelf in the rafters of his shed, they kept for a long time.

I’ll try and get some boxes and put them in the garage. 
 

In the kitchen cupboard in those plastic bags they come in is a disaster!!

[welsh1]

We Buy a big bag of spuds from the farm at christmas for when all the kids come home, open it and leave it in the garage by the door that connects to the kitchen it lasts for ages without sprouting.

[ditchman]

keep them cool ...venterlated and definatly NO LIGHT...otherwise it will start the chitting process

[TIGHTCHOKE]

The PLASTIC bags are just for transit.

I always cut them open and put the spuds in the drawer at the bottom of the fridge to allow airflow.

To store your freshly dug up spuds, spread out in old wooden seed trays and a dark cool well ventilated space just like the garage.

The large (CWT) brown paper sacks allow the moisture out from the potatoes, it worked years ago and still does now.

[Stonepark]

For tatties for storage you need a combination of 3 things..

 

Cool temperature (ideally 8c or less)

Complete darkness

Airflow at good pace initially to dry them out and thereafter at lower pace to keep them damp free.

 

Missing any of the three they will either chit or rot.

 

 

 

 

[Bigbob]

Cool dark place in a paper or hessian sack  , i just lift the potatoes as i need them , cutting the shaws off and leaving them for a fortnight hardens up the skin ut i store about a weeks worth in a paper sack 

[marsh man]

I think we all agree on a cool dark place and most garages would be ideal , around this time of the year I walk behind the spud harvester and ( gleam ) the loose ones that have been missed , these are kept in the paper bags that you would get if you bought a 12.5 or a 25 kilo bag from the garden centre or farm shop , I normally fill up at least three 25 kilo size bags and keep them covered in a cool place in the garage , these would keep throughout the Winter and any left over would start to chit around early March , one big bag would easily keep for however long they would last a small to medium family with no problems whatsoever if kept in the conditions already said .    MM

[Windswept]

Often shop bought spuds have been kept very cold and washed, so once bought they are waking up and damp so will grow or rot.

When we store our main crop potatoes we lift and sort them. We only store sound, undamaged tubers and dry them out for a few hours but do not wash them. Then into brown bags, old feed sacks or even an old box to keep them dark but with some air. Also they must be kept somewhere pest free, rodents will happily gnaw through stuff to get at them. If worried about them you can check them over, removing any that are going bad.

Lastly, variety can also affect how long they store.

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, Windswept said:

Often shop bought spuds have been kept very cold and washed, so once bought they are waking up and damp so will grow or rot.

When we store our main crop potatoes we lift and sort them. We only store sound, undamaged tubers and dry them out for a few hours but do not wash them. Then into brown bags, old feed sacks or even an old box to keep them dark but with some air. Also they must be kept somewhere pest free, rodents will happily gnaw through stuff to get at them. If worried about them you can check them over, removing any that are going bad.

Lastly, variety can also affect how long they store.

I would imagine there is an ideal temperature for storing spuds if kept in the right conditions and surroundings  .

We converted a barn to store spuds in that keep them fresh for a number of months , the whole complete barn was sprayed a few times with fibre glass , that included everything from the walls to the roofing sheets , then a refrigeration unit was installed to top up the cold air , the spuds were kept in one ton wooden boxes and I believe they were stacked six high , that must have been 20 + years ago and is still being used today .   MM

[Minky]

Ideally the seed spuds want to be about the size of a small chickens egg but if they are bigger they can be cut in half then just dipped into lime which stops them rotting.  BUT the bloke that I was apprenticed under told me that in the war the italian prisioners of war used to collect the potato peelings with the eye and plant them.  Apparently they grew and cropped fairly well. I've not tried that one to see but might make an experiment in a bucket or wherever

[williamwansbeck]

I grow the big red Desiree potato for store, and they lasts August to March/April.dry ,clean ,undamaged potatoes in large cardboard boxes,no more than 2/3 potatoes deep boxes stored lids open in garage on racks,keep as dark as possible and check regular in boxes for any rotters,works for me!