Storing 2nd earlies

[kippers garden]

I have a bag of 2nd earlies and still two rows to dig up.  They haven't got blight yet but some plots on my allotment have started with blight, so its only a matter of time.

I know they don't store very well, but how long do they store and where do you find they store the best?  I have read you need to dry them out and put them in a dark cool place between 5-10c.  I have potato sacks but my out house leaks and i don't have a garage.  I do have a dry shed at my lottie but it gets very hot when the sun shines.

Any advice?  Where do you store yours?...Thanks

[kippers garden]

[saddad]

I'm very lucky the house came with a brick and tile outhouse which means they store well, in Pot. sacks, until after Xmas. The drying out will be a pig in this summer weather.. I wash them (optional) and dry them on a dust sheet under the window in the bedroom for a day or two, any longer and the whites start to go green!

[tim]

Unhelpful Question 1 - why grow more Earlies than you can eat?

Unhelpful Question 2 - you don't grow Mains? Because you can't store them?

Best place for your current ones is in the ground.  OK - some slug damage, but better than dried out green things?

[Tora]

My 1st early was affected by blight and slugs so I dug them up and am trying to eat it as fast as I can!

Today I noticed my Picasso (main crop) also had blight so I dug them up (not all but just several plants).
Do maincrop potatoes store well even when they are harvested early?  Or do they store well just because they are usually dug up later in the season?  ???

[tim]

Oh, dear - where's Phil?

DO NOT PANIC - as I've shown elsewhere, I've cut down my Colleen & Milva, & there they'll stay until needed. Yes - the slugs will get some but they are better off where they are than in a broom cupboard?

Good storage depends upon the hardening up of the skin - & no disease, of course.  Don't know, but assume that the skins will firm up even without the haulms??

And no - nothing to do with late in the season.

[Tora]

Thank you very much, Tim. :)

I wish I asked before I dug them up. :-[ Good job that I dug only several plants! I think I'll give my friends some of the potatoes. I'm going to cut down other affected plants and leave the tubers there.

[laurieuk]

Early potatoes are surely only called "early" as they crop quicker or earlier than 2nd early or main crop. I have never found any difference in the storing of earlies, mid or lates. I have had to cut the foliage off my Cara as blight was just starting and as long as you remove the foliage you stop the blight going into the crop. I have rocket (early), Kestral (2nd ) and Cara and they will keep us going until about April next year.I store them in sacks that I get when I buy peanuts for the birds.

[Kepouros]

Almost all varieties of Second Earlies will keep just as well as the maincrops.  I always grow at least 3 varieties of Second Earlies to store, and they all keep every bit as well as maincrop if harvested properly and stored under the right conditions.  However, as with maincrop, they should be left in the ground for a full two weeks after the haulm has died down or been cut off to allow the skins to set.

I am usually eating the last of mine (still in perfect condition) the week before I start lifting the following year`s first earlies.

[kt.]

I have just pulled my first batch of kestrel. Planted 16 rows total of spuds this year. Never planted as many as to require storage before, never planted maincrop before. Kestrel will keep me going till into mid-late september. So my question is:........

If I leave them in the ground, will I have to pull my 4 varieties of main & late maincrop altogether at the end of september / mid-october?   (Cara, verity,desiree, pentland crown)

[Kepouros]

Dig the main and late main when they are ready - when the foliage either dies back naturally, or has to be removed for blight reasons.  If the foliage dies back completely on its own then you can dig them immediately; if you have to cut it then leave them in the ground for a couple of weeks before digging.

It`s unwise to leave the tubers in the ground once they can be dug simply because of slugs and cut worms.