Topic: Storing potatoes

[peanuts]

i'd like advice on storing potatoes, please.  I keep them in the coolest room in the house, a bathroom on the north side, which isn't particularly cool at the moment, but during the winter it is.  I put the potatoes in closed cardboard boxes.  The room has a closed shutter so is almost dark.
We do have a garage, but that has a window and faces south so is very warm now.
My 'winter' potatoes always start sprouting by late September, and onwards, so I go over them regularly, removing sprouts.

This year we have had our best crop ever, both of early, middle and late varieties.  I'm wondering whether I'd be better keeping them in open trays, in a little light, although still as cool as possible?  Or are closed boxes the best?  I don't have any net bags. 
Thank you for any advice

[Paulh]

That's pretty much what I do - store in cardboard boxes in the garage which can get warm now but doesn't freeze later. We usually eat the Charlotte by now and start on the Kestrel which will sprout before Christmas, with the Pink Fir Apple being fine till then (if any left). But this year the crop is about twice as large, so I don't know how it will go!

[Tee Gee]

This is how I used to do it https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/P/Potato/Potato.htm

[JanG]

I keep mine in an outhouse once I’ve gathered them all in and sorted through them. As they would undoubtedly be nibbled by rodents out there, I have a dedicated galvanised metal dustbin. I’ve drilled holes in the top half or so of it and put screwed up newspaper in the bottom few inches to absorb any moisture. It’s been working well for years. They do sprout gradually but are still usable, just about, until the first few from the polytunnel are ready.

[peanuts]

What a wonderful  comprehensive lesson on the ideal way to grow potatoes, Teegee, and so clear too!  When I first started to grow them, nearly 50 years ago, I remember watching our good neighbour preparing his ground,  making trenches, and supporting them with wooden planks, it  took him all day.  He then removed the planks when it was time to earth up. I'm afraid that even at a young age, my reaction was that looked like too much hard work (being a female!), and i've only ever planted  potatoes, one by one, with a  trowel, pushing it as deep as I can, and then doing an immediate earth up with the trowel, and raking the whole line up at the end, finish! I've always been happy with the crop, so I don't think I'll do it 'properly' just yet!
It's only here  where it is warmer, that i've had problems with the potatoes shooting by early autumn.  I guess that would happen in paper sacks as well - but I wouldn't be able to see them, or see any going bad.  So I've kept them in shallow cardboard boxes, so I can check their state easily, and see any  suspect ones as well. 
I just wondered whether wise people might say, that 'd be better to store them in a lighter cool area rather than dark, and in open boxes,  as that might discourage the shoots  forming.

[peanuts]

I've always left our Pink Fir Apple to last, as you do, Paulh, as they do keep well, and the texture is so good.  they stay firm even when cooked for a couple of hours in a stew.   We then found that they also make the best texture 'new' potatoes as well, so we eat some straightaway  for pleasure.

[peanuts]

Your dustbin sounds a good idea, but I'd presumably  still have to keep tipping them all out to remove the shoots every  couple of weeks.  Hmmmm, i'm realising that my cardboard boxes in the downstairs bathroom, not that far from the kitchen, might still be my best bet.  Our garage is right  at the far side of the garden, so a bit too far when I suddenly want potatoes for supper, now!

[JanG]

Your dustbin sounds a good idea, but I'd presumably  still have to keep tipping them all out to remove the shoots every  couple of weeks.  Hmmmm, i'm realising that my cardboard boxes in the downstairs bathroom, not that far from the kitchen, might still be my best bet.  Our garage is right  at the far side of the garden, so a bit too far when I suddenly want potatoes for supper, now!

Yes, tipping out every couple of weeks sounds far too labour intensive. I’ve never bothered to remove shoots, except immediately before cooking! It would be interesting to know whether it makes any difference.

The worry of course in storing them in a little light is greening. If you go for the open tray option, can you throw some kind of fabric like an old curtain over the whole stack of trays?

[peanuts]

For now, i'm sticking to my usual routine, in closed cardboard boxes, in a darkened downstairs bathroom on the north side of the house, currently the coolest room in the house.  But  as it is in the low 30s outside by the afternoon, and 25 in the house (which feels really cool!),  I suspect it is still too warm for them.  that is perhaps why they start shooting  so early. 
I remove the shoots regularly, as if I don't, there are so many, and surely that must  reduce the goodness and moisture in the potato for eating.  They get flabby. 

But as we have such a superb crop this year, I'm absolutely not complaining. 

Our sweetcorn this year has also been the best ever.

[Tee Gee]

I never had a problem with storing them in paper bags, and found no need to keep checking the contents.

I found if I allowed the tubers to dry out for a few days then bag them up, I never seemed to get any shoots growing from them.

As I saw it; they were surface dry, in a dark place when in the bags and in a relatively cool but frost free under the greenhouse bench, all conditions that deter growth.

When bagging them up, I wore a pair of gloves with nylon ribs on the palms to clean off any dry/damp soil off on each tuber as I put them in the bag.(see selected saved tubers)

This is how I stored them for around a week to 10 days before bagging them up.

https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/P/Potato/27_c.jpg

https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/P/Potato/Potato.htm

[peanuts]

Quote - This is how I stored them for around a week to 10 days before bagging them up.

TeeGee, I've never stored them in the open for that long!  I've lifted them on a dry sunny day, kept them out a day, turned them over to dry the other side properly, then put them in the dark - so perhaps that hasn't been long enough!  You're full of wisdom, as always.

[Tee Gee]

Sorry if I have misled you but I never dried them outdoors because I had sufficient greenhouse space to dry them on the greenhouse bench. This meant I was never troubled with inclement weather. I trayed them up and placed them on the bench as seen here: https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/P/Potato/25_c.jpg