Allotments 4 All
General => Top Tips => Topic started by: cornykev on November 25, 2008, 18:18:19
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Just a quickie to remind anyone who's grown and stored spuds for the first time this year, I tipped mine out on Saturday in the sunshine 8) and found a few rotten ones, if these are not found they could ruin the whole sack. ;D ;D ;D
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I just open the bags and take a good sniff........you will soon know if you have some rotten ones....and I did.It's a check every weekend now.
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We check them regularly too, learnt the hard way five years ago :) :) :) :) :)
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I would if I ever have enough to store this long. They are usually eaten by about now. Thats why I need a second plot.... always running out of stuff ::)
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Mine should last to Jan/Feb KT. :P ;D ;D ;D
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I checked mine a couple of weeks back and emptied out a mouse from his newfound heaven! He can't have been there long as I'd checked them when getting spud a few days before. I think he was a bit miffed to be emptied out into the cold! He hasn't come back (yet).
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Bump, just to remind newbies about a stored spud check. ;D ;D ;D
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ta, kev, best have another look ;D
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Thanks did mine yesterday all ok ;)
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We just did ours but 3 bags have all sprouted. They were in the coolest place we could find but clearly not cool enough this year. Same place was fine last year. Sad to lose them - we certainly wont have enough to last us over winter now!
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Bump! again as I checked mine this weekend and left them out in the sun for a while. 8) 8) 8)
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Cara's still OK but the biggest ever Boris the Spider was unceremoniously ejected from one of the sacks and now lives somewhere in the mahonia!
Have learned over the years with tatties, to use the tiddly ones first, then the largest ones second and leave the middle ones till last..............seems to work.
Ninny
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We've eaten almost all of the Roosters- had to cut away lots because of slug damage, but what we can eat is delicious. We still have PFA, so a few meals yet! Is there anything you can do about slugs and Rooster?
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Re slug damage - what I do is use the bits that the slugs haven't got to yet and make mash and then freeze it - after all if Delia can use Aunt Bessie's mash as one of her cheats then so can I!
And I store all my spuds in those brown paper bags that takeaways come in - local stationery/catering suppliers sells them in quantity cheaply - they only hold a couple of pounds each probably, but I sort my harvest out into spuds of different sizes so I know this bag only has tiddlers in, this has medium sized, etc and then I can write the variety on the bag. But the great advantage is that if any of them have gone rotten then I've only lost a couple of pounds of taters, not a whole sack's worth.
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I have mentioned this before on A4A, This year I have had no slug damage whatsoever, the reason being that early this spring, about one month before planting I sprinkled slug pellets on my potato patch and then covered
with black plastic when I removed the cover to plant there were hundreds of those dead little black slugs all stuck to the plastic. By covering with plastic as the soil warmed up the little b.......gs all came to the surface. It really does work.
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I lost a lot of spuds this year to rot. On closer inspection, may of the spuds had tiny holes (like they had been stabed with a wire coathanger). The potatoes looked ok but when cut open, had lots of cavities and dead bits. I assume some pest had burrowed in before we lifted them?
Also, should you wash & dry spuds before storage or store with a bit of dirt on?
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It's probably tempting providence to say so, but my spuds have stored better than ever before this year. I don't really know why! A few are getting a bit wrinkly and some are beginning to sprout but they're still good to eat.
I usually order the seed pots in November, but I've decided to wait and see what I can find locally. I'm fed up paying the whacking postage!
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I'll be turning most of my "normals" that are left into leek adn potato soup this week.... will keep some of the Congo blues as seed (they were grown from microtubers in pots of manure so I'm willing to take the risk) and the PFA for my ongoing potato requirements (they take longer to sprout than other varieties)... Local potato day on Saturday (Gorse Hill community centre if you're in Swindon't)... will see what I can find to grow for this year though som eare guaranteed: PFA, Setanta, Sarpo Axona, I want to find somethnig that will give me a guaranteed monster baker....
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Sorry to boast, but I still have lots of Sarpo varieties in store. Removed a rotten one the other day, and some of them are starting to sprout, but they are certainly edible. I prefer them mashed with butter and cream and parsnips, as they are rather tasteless just boiled or steamed - or roasted, which is good. I won't grow them again.
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Romano still doing well :)
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Bumping this for the newbies and because its been a bit of a pony year.
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I use them if they start going soft or sprouting, peel the lot
then make individual shapperds pies in those silver things the chinese comes in.
Last week the wife blanched and coated in oil, bagged and froze?!?!
Will see how that works........
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Keeeep checking. :wave:
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So the Mrs says the spuds we coated in cold oil and froze are still ok.......
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Thanks, Kev :icon_flower:
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Just had a check and found one that had started to rot, got it just in time. :toothy10: