Storing potatoes

[grannyjanny]

We have 10 plants each of vivaldi & hunter second early potatoes. Can these be lifted & stored. If so when & how? They were planted 10th april. This will be the brassica bed & need to get things planted.

[grannyjanny]

[Sparkly]

I haven't grown these types, but we have successfully kept 'kestrel' 2nd earlies through till march. I washed the main mud off and allowed them to dry in the sun. Then I put them in hessian sacks in the shed. They were still in perfect condition in March, we just ran out! Am sure this is not the textbook way and more experiened people will come along with advice, but this did work for us.

[shirlton]

We don't lift our Nadine (which are secondearlies) September. Choose a nice dry and sunny day. Start early in the morning and lift them amd leave either on top of the ground. (we put ours on wire frames to let the air around them). Turn em to let em dry all over and then store in sacks in a cool dry mouseproof shed.Hope this helps.

[Kepouros]

I haven`t grown either Vivaldi or Hunter, but most second early varieties sown early April should be ready for lifting by early to mid August.  If possible leave them in the ground until the tops have died away naturally, but if you have to lift them earlier make sure that you leave them in the ground for a full 2 weeks after you`ve cut the foliage down - this is to allow the skins to set firm or they won`t keep properly.

Once you`ve lifted them do as Sparkly suggests  (I use old wire bread trays to dry them) and store in  the coolest (but frost free) place you have in hessian sacks.