Potato tubers retain their taste until a new crop. By harvesting vegetables in the fall, properly preserving, you can save the family budget (potatoes are more expensive in winter), enjoying your favorite dishes on weekdays and holidays. The features of storing potatoes in the apartment will be discussed in this review.

Where is it better to store potatoes in the apartment

Potato storage in winter — one of the important issues that residents of apartment buildings have to solve. There are several methods using which you can keep the tubers in good condition until the next harvest.

Before laying for storage, you need to prepare the tubers:

• in appearance: potatoes should be dry, dense, with a healthy skin (without spots and sprouts);
• by size and shelf life: the largest are stored in the average period (depending on the variety, up to 4–4.5 months); medium — up to 5-6 months; small ones, cut during cleaning, with damage should be eaten before anyone else, after having been selected in a separate container.

Did you know? Frenchman Antoine-Auguste Parmentier cunningly distributed potatoes among his compatriots: carefully guarding during the day and giving the opportunity to steal several tubers at night in order to try, what kind of secret plant protects the agronomist.

In the pantry

The pantry will serve as a good potato storage at home, if you properly prepare the room for harvesting:

1. Dry the room by airing or installing a fan heater.
2. Whiten the walls for disinfection, ventilate after processing.

It is better to store potatoes in a wicker basket with a lid, if not — in a wooden box, a metal container with a lid, after making holes for ventilation. Suitable for paper and woven bags. The most extreme way - in bulk, but so the potatoes will deteriorate faster.

And access to other products will be inconvenient. The complexity of storage in the pantry is poor ventilation, a possible increase in humidity and temperature, which will lead to damage to tubers, the rapid spread of rot.

In the hallway or staircase

Technical corridors are less heated, so vegetables are better preserved there. A negative point is the possibility of theft of the crop. If the entrance is guarded, then by equipping the potato box with a strong lock, you can save supplies until spring.

Important! To prevent the potatoes from fogging, you need to cover the top layer with a mat or burlap.

On the balcony

The ventilated, less heated room in many apartments has a balcony. Having arranged a mini-refrigerator made of wood or plywood with double walls and a heater, potatoes are stored there all winter.

The downside is that space is limited, on a non-glazed balcony without additional warming measures in severe frosts, vegetables will spoil forever.

In fridge

Tubers will be well preserved in the kitchen in the refrigerator, in the vegetable compartment. The problem is in quantity: the whole volume of potatoes cannot be filled. So you can save only a few pounds.

Important! Best Potato Storage Temperature - + 2 ° С ... + 4 ° С.

Types of containers for laying potatoes for storage

You can save the crop until next spring at home using the right packaging:

1. Paper, woven bags: provide ventilation, access to moisture from the air. Portioned storage in bags will protect the tubers from the spread of rot.
2. Wooden or plastic crates, purchased at an agricultural store. Ventilation openings will help prevent the formation of rot, provide a compact placement in the room. Box strength from 30 kg.
3. Homemade Wooden Crates serve as environmentally friendly packaging. For air exchange, it is better to make holes around the entire perimeter.
4. Modern thermal boxes, equipped with an automatic temperature control system, they will keep vegetables fresh until spring, but their purchase will determine the cost and electricity consumption.

How to increase the shelf life of potatoes

To keep the tubers for a long period, there are several tricks:

1. After buying or harvesting, you can not immediately lay potatoes in storage. "Quarantine" within 10 days will show spoiled tubers that need to be removed from the main quantity.
2. Green potatoes cannot be stored: they contain poisonous solanine.
3. Arranging vegetables with layers of needles, rowan leaves containing volatile, increase shelf life and preserve the appearance of tubers.
4. Dry wormwood, fern and elderberry, poured into bags or boxes, will also be saved from rot.
5. Arranging the leaves of mint tubers, slow their germination.
6. Ginger, beets feel better next to potatoes, while removing excess moisture, reducing the risk of decay.

What varieties are best stored

Taste and appearance throughout the whole winter are preserved by middle and late varieties of potatoes:

• Fun;
• Mriya;
• Nevsky
• Space;
• Condor;
• Chervona Ruta;
• Slav.

Early ripe varieties are suitable for storage:

• Serpanok;
• Red Scarlet.

To choose the right variety for storage, it is better to consult with experienced vegetable growers.

Possible mistakes

In order for potatoes to be stored all winter, it is important not to make mistakes:

• Do not fall asleep tubers without sorting and checking for disease;
• Do not overdry the air in the room where vegetables are stored: ventilate with increasing humidity, place a damp cloth or periodically spray too dry walls;
• do not leave potatoes even in an insulated box on the balcony in cold weather, for this period it must be transferred to the apartment;
• Do not store vegetables in a plastic bag for a long time, this will lead to rot.

With the right laying for storage, potatoes will not lose their taste until a new crop.

Did you know? Peter the First handed out to the governors for planting the tubers he liked the taste of potatoes, without explaining the technology. Having grown a “crop” in pots and tasted fruits that were caustic and bitter, officials immediately forgot about the sovereign's quirk.

Thus, having prepared in advance for storing a significant amount of potatoes in the apartment and observing simple conditions, you can provide your family with a supply of vegetables for the whole winter and not worry about raising prices for it in the winter or about its commercial qualities on store shelves and bazaars in extreme cold .