Content of the article:
Not enough to harvest a large crop of potatoes. It is necessary to ensure that the food potatoes retain their nutrients as long as possible. Selected potatoes are stored in slightly different conditions. Only by observing the temperature regime and ventilation can damage to the tubers be avoided.
Preparation of tubers for storage of
. Root crops are harvested in dry weather. At the same time, only intact healthy tubers are selected for storing potatoes. The rest of the harvest is separated for quick consumption in the first autumn months. Selected potatoes from the collar are collected in a container and placed in quarantine in a dark, cool, ventilated room for 2 weeks. During this time, phytophthora and other diseases should appear with dark spots on the surface of the peel and slight insignificant damage should be made. After that make a tab, observing the conditions of storage of potatoes.
Prepare potatoes before laying in the cellar.
You can store potatoes until the new harvest in various ways, depending on the climatic zones and the host's capabilities:
- in cellars;
- in the pits in the garden;
- on the balconies.
Storage of potatoes in the cellars
The most common is the storage of potatoes in the cellar. In this case, the basement must have air vents, be prepared to receive the harvest, that is, dried and disinfected. Storage facilities provide for the organization of special bins or boxes with ventilation openings. There is a bookmark harvest in the boxes for storing potatoes or in bulk, it does not matter. The main thing is to quickly establish an equilibrium temperature in the basement of 2-4 degrees, the most comfortable for the safety of nutrients. Humidity should be between 85-90%.
Recently, a method has been practiced when the prepared crop is packed in 20-25 kg mesh bags and stored in them. This allows the product to breathe and, when selecting for use, does not disturb the well-established microclimate, and does not turn over the neighboring roots. With this method of storing waste does not happen. At the same time, the layer of potatoes should not be more than 1.5 meters.
An important question is how to store potatoes. For long-term storage only late and medium grades are used. The early potato is used first of all, as its dormant period is pumped in February, and it will uncontrollably begin to germinate. In the cellar there should be several compartments. Seed material is stored separately. It is also advisable not to mix varieties. Therefore, grid storage for a summer resident who seeks to obtain and preserve several varieties is optimal.
Thermal disturbances can lead to such troubles:
- potato flabbiness;
- sweet taste;
- appearance of dark spots on the surface and in the depth of the root;
- early tuber germination.
Potatoes can become flabby when kept warm. At the same time, moisture from the potato evaporates and biological processes in the tuber are accelerated. If the potato is stored even in diffused light, it will turn green and become poisonous. Dark spots can appear when storing potatoes below the normal temperature even by half a degree for a long time. But at the same time, dark spots appear not immediately, but after several days of being in heat. The tuber after storage near the freezing point of water, closer to zero degrees, becomes sweet unpleasant. For food, such potatoes are not suitable, but the sprouts will give and the harvest will not hurt. In this way, retain early seed.
In order to suspend the awakening of potatoes in March, they are briefly created for storage conditions with a decrease in temperature to 1 degree. A few days of cooling will not affect the taste of tubers, since starch does not have time to turn into sugar. Germination slows down by two weeks, and this is significant in the spring. In the future, the vents help to maintain the desired temperature in the basement until the new harvest, and the shelf life of potatoes is extended substantially.
For the preservation of tubers requires stable humidity and temperature.
Other storage methods for potatoes
Storage in pits is possible in areas with a mild climate. At the same time, a deep pit is arranged, a visa for ventilation is lined with straw and vertically mounted sheaves. Potatoes are covered with a layer of 1 meter, sackcloth is placed on top, a layer of dry sand is laid over it and leveled with dry ground. Before the onset of stable frosts, the pit is additionally warmed from above. Shelter disassembled only in the spring.
Storage in clamps on open ground is used in western areas. This method of storage is based on a long observation of the state of the earth under the snow cover. Tubers laid in a trench have an underlying layer for making moisture and a warming top. The best material for warming is straw, which optimizes and warms moisture. In addition, the collar is ventilated with specially laid pipes. With frost, a layer of shelter is adjusted depending on the temperature inside the mass of the potato. Good insulation is snow. Ground storage requires constant temperature control. The shelf life of potatoes in the collar depends on the establishment of warm weather in spring.
Manufactured and sold boxes thermostats for storing potatoes on the balcony in winter conditions. The principle of such storage is based on the manufacture of a circuit with multilayer thermal insulation. Additionally, you must provide heating. The heat source may be ordinary incandescent lamps, but the light from them on the potatoes should not fall. Storage in a box installed in the kitchen also presupposes thermal insulation of the space, but it also requires the supply of cold air for ventilation. Such systems, created by craftsmen, also work in automatic mode. In the old Khrushchev houses in the kitchen was built a special box with a hole for ventilation with outside air. Most often, up to 200 kg of potatoes and a forced ventilation system are placed in such a container.
The use of any method should ensure the storage conditions of potatoes with the same nutritional value of the product.
