Topic: Potato confusion

[beanie3]

Hi,

I have grown potatoes before but normally only a small amount so i just dig them when i need them.  This year i got an allotment and went a bit OTT on the spuds!

I planted;

Maris Bard (earlies - mid April)
Estima (seconds - 9th May)
Maris Piper (maincrop - 9th May)

I have been going through the earlies (although they are quite big now) but haven't even touched the seconds or maincrops.  I have noticed some of the maris bard have the common scab - but i am not bothered as they are fine once peeled.

But i need advice on now what......when do i dig up, how do i store, where do i store - will the ones with the common scab store okay? (they may all have it - i haven't checked!)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Trevor_D]

Wait till the tops die down, then lift. Aim for a dry spell, so that you can leave them for a couple of hours to dry off before you store them. If you planted them in May, they probably won't be ready yet. (My mains go in early April, and the tops haven't died back yet.) But try to lift them by the end of September.

Then go through and store the unblemished ones - paper sacks are good, and in a dry, dark, frost-proof shed or garage. (We have a small cellar under the back of the house.)

Use the damaged ones first. (It's a favourite gardening trick to put a fork through the biggest & otherwise unblemished one!!) I've had no real problems with storing scabby potatoes, but perhaps others will say differently.

[Kepouros]

I would just add a couple of points to the above answer:-

If you are troubled with slugs try to inspect each tuber carefully and put any damaged ones with the `first to be used` bunch. A wet slug hole, or one with a keelslug or a cutworm still inside can make a mess in the middle of a bagful.

With scabby potatoes the scabs can sometime `weep`.  Make sure that these are thoroughly well dried off before you bag them

[beanie3]

great advice - thanks peeps.

[goodlife]

I know I make much work for myself by washing my potatoes before storing them...
but I can same time see what is good for storage, what to eat first, what to save for seed next year...
and using the stored ones is so much more pleasant too when you don't have to start cleaning dried up mud off from them first.
I store mine in metal bin in shed..it keeps mice and rats away. When I fill the bins up..every now and then I put old hangin basket between the potatoes to give them airgap..
My potatoes have stored this way really well..
Last winter when the weather was really cold I wrapped layer of bubble wrap around bins and they did not get frost damage neither.

[delboy]

We use 4-drawer filing cabinets with the drawers lined with newspaper to store our spuds.

Dark and rate secure.

When a drawer is opened it's easy to check for any problems.

[PurpleHeather]

Well there are a lot of people who just keep them, when dry in paper sacks and check them regularly, taking out anything which is going off and making use of anything which looks like it is starting to go.

Truth is that spuds are not something you can hang up on strings like onions.

They need to be constantly checked.

Slug damage might be so small it was not noticed but it will still start a rot and that rot can spread.

Storing is, in my view for what it is worth, something which needs to be checked at least once a week.

Then, when you run out.

Thank God for the supermarkets we have as a back up.