how clean do potatoes need to be before storing? Does anyone wash them beforehand?
I never wash mine before storing. I remove any excess mud/soil if any and leave the potatoes on the soil to dry turning them over once. I like to leave mine for just long enough for them to dry and no longer. Then I put them in hessian sacks to store. I give them a periodic check whilst in storage to check for any damaged or rotting ones and then remove them.
Same as Duke; except I store mine in paper sacks instead of hessian.
I don't think washed ones are supposed to keep so well.
Oh, I have washed mine :(
They have been dried and put into 'banana' boxes (thought these would be easy to check periodically) and stacked in the garage.
My first year of growing enough potatoes to store, but I am paranoid about bringing the horsetail from the allotment back to my garden. I wash as much soil that I can off everything before I bring it home.
I've never washed potatoes but I do lay them out on the patio in the sun before bagging up at the end of a sunny day.
I wash mine..can't be doing with scrubbing .soil is much easier to get off when still 'fresh'...and in theory any disease would be 'stored' within the soil too.
Spuds for eating are only roughly washed..but seed potatoes I clean really really well..no soil left what so ever and while cleaning I can see if there is any faults/signs that I should reject those for from storage/seed use.
I use bread trays to dry mine. Propped up on wheelbarrows.
Dont wash potatoes for storage are they will not keep for long
With big quantities of potatoes to store it would be a huge job to wash them and keep them in right humidity again for long term storage.
I've stored potatoes either way, washed and unwashed..and it don't really make much difference ..it is just more easier and convinient if you potatoes are 'clean' already.
But I only store small quantity..sack or two at most..and every year I still end up some uneaten and they've stored fine till spring.
Suppose bit of soil will give them bit of 'shelter' against drying out and freezing..but as I mentioned earlier on..the soil can also harbour pest and diseases.
With clean potatoes you can see signs of spoilage early on and remove those accordingly but with potatoes that have soil around..well they could easily gone further and spoil others before noticing the change.
But of course it depends of the degree of soil on them..just dusting of dry stuff on surface..I would not bother washing..wet clumps of soil that cling on..yes.
My Father in Law has grown spuds for over 30 years on his lottie in Scotland and always washes his spuds. They get sun dried a bit and go into hessian sacks in his shed. He checks them periodical and removes any going bad.
We used to get a supply from him all year round. Some people have told me not to wash and some said wash as per the threads above...
I assume it doesn't make any difference as long as you store them properly.. Im new to spuds this year and have washed mine... so we'll see how they keep. ;)