Potato Harvest Storage Rules

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to store tubers

For long-term storage, gardeners leave potato varieties of medium and late ripening periods, since tubers of early ripening varieties usually begin to germinate in October-November, so they are not suitable for winter food needs.

But the successful storage of any potato during long wintering is possible only with a healthy crop of tubers. It is known that when laying potatoes of poor quality, it is difficult to ensure good preservation of tubers, even under the optimal temperature and humidity conditions. Most pathogens infect plants and infect their daughter tubers in the field.

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Recall that in the absence of phytophthora (favorable conditions of the year, timely preventive treatment with pesticides), good drying and a minimum of injury to tubers, it is still permissible to lay the crop immediately after harvest, when it is carefully moved into the compartments.

But if the ground mass of plants was severely affected by late blight (i.e., a fungal infection in the form of pathogen spores is possible on the surface of outwardly healthy tubers) and spraying was not carried out enough, then the crop is kept for 10-14 days in a well-ventilated room (food batch - in the dark, and seed - in diffused light). Tubers heavily affected by scab are generally stored normally (dry, no soil on the surface), they should not be left on the seeds, it is better to place them separately or on top of the food batch, to be eaten first.

To store the harvest, gardeners and owners of country houses usually use undergrounds, basements and cellars (some city gardeners have to keep it in apartment conditions or on loggias, as far as the weather conditions outside the window allow). The storages are cleared of the remains of various garbage in advance and treated with a solution of bleach. These measures are necessary to destroy the causative agents of diseases of this culture, which got into the premises with the harvest of previous years (pathogens are very tenacious and can survive for several years at rest).

Some potato growers spray, others just whiten the walls of the storehouse with a regular brush (100 g of bleach or chloramine are taken for 10 liters of solution). After processing, the store is well ventilated. For storing tubers, it is advisable to make two separate compartments (for food and seed purposes). They can be built in the form of wooden partitions from individual boards or solid panels.

It is advisable to have a thermometer in the store to monitor the temperature during the wintering of the crop. As a flooring for storing tubers, wooden slatted floors (slot width 2-3 cm) are used, raised 25-30 cm above the concrete, stone or earthen floor of the room. This is done so that the tubers do not touch the cement walls and floor during storage. Also, the height of the free space between the tubers and the ceiling of the storage should be at least 50-60 cm. For better preservation of potatoes, baskets or cage boxes with a trellised bottom with a volume of 10-30 kg of tubers made from loosely knit boards are often used.

Depending on the height of the room, such boxes are placed 4-6 pieces on top of each other. During storage, various varieties can be kept in special vegetable-potato nets, choosing the tubers in time in the spring so that the germinating sprouts do not get entangled in the cells. Each container (net, box, bag) must have two labels with the name of the variety (the first is outside, the second is inside).

For the first two weeks, freshly harvested potatoes heal mechanical damage (optimum temperature 14 … 18 ° C), obtained during harvesting and transportation of the crop to the storage. At the same time, the tubers breathe intensively (heat and carbon dioxide are released), which requires good ventilation of the heap of tubers. By the end of September, this period of active potato respiration usually ends.

Within 2-3 months after harvesting, the growth processes of tubers are in the state of the deepest dormancy, and they do not germinate. Therefore, it is possible to store them in a warm room for some time. The length of the dormant period in varieties may differ, it depends on their early maturity and the physiological state of tubers, which is superimposed on the influence of the meteorological conditions of the growing year. So, cool weather during the growing season lengthens it, and with hot dry weather, a reduction in the ripening of the variety is observed.

The higher the soil temperature was at the final stage of tuber maturation in the field, the shorter the dormant period. Tubers harvested in an immature state have a longer dormancy period than dug up mature tubers or as a result of delayed harvesting on sandy soils. With a low amount of rainfall, more dry matter accumulates in the tubers, as a result of which they become more susceptible to disease.

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After cooling the potatoes to 2 … 5 ° C, the main (winter) storage period begins. Storage quality throughout this period will be affected by temperature. The speed of all life processes in tubers depends on it (conversion of starch into sugar and vice versa). Potatoes of different maturity varieties require certain temperatures during storage. The optimum storage temperature for tubers is 2 … 4 ° C at a relative air humidity of 85-93%. For ware potatoes and late-ripening varieties, a temperature of 5… 6 ° C is also permissible.

Serious deviations from this regime lead to an increase in losses, because the temperature has a significant effect on the resistance of tubers to phytopathogenic microorganisms: its rise leads both to active germination of tubers and to the rapid spread of diseases … When the temperature drops in the monosugar build up in tubers, which makes them slightly sweet and less suitable for storage.

Therefore, in severe frosts, it is necessary to cover the tubers or temporarily put an electric heater in storage. It is important to prevent tubers from freezing in severe frosts (especially seed tubers - the basis of the future harvest). At 0 ° C, damage and death of the tuber eyes are observed. At higher temperatures (7 ° C and above), the tubers give early long shoots, which are easily and largely affected by the causative agents of rhizoctonia, silver scab and soft bacterial rot. In addition, long-term storage of potatoes at elevated temperatures doubles the waste of tubers as a result of active evaporation of water (compared to storage under optimal conditions).

It is known that during storage (most actively after December) tubers breathe through special holes in the peel (lentils), release heat, moisture and carbon dioxide, which, accumulating in excess, also stimulate their aging. If there is a lack of fresh air, tubers can choke and deteriorate, so aeration in the storage room is important.

During the winter maintenance of potatoes, its infectious diseases can manifest, however, the bulkhead of the tubers begins when decomposing (bacterial soft rot) tubers appear in its mass (usually from the surface). In this case, together with diseased tubers, the plant material in contact with them is selected and destroyed. A sign of the presence of rotting tubers in the mass of potatoes (especially in an apartment) is the appearance of small Drosophila flies.

The appearance of spots in the pulp under the skin on large tubers is attributed to physiological diseases (spots are formed from their pressure on each other, especially when the storage temperature rises). Darkening of the pulp of tubers can also occur in that part of the batch where there is both a weak supply of oxygen and a high temperature. The most susceptible to spotting and darkening of the flesh are potatoes that were previously stored at low temperatures.

To kill mice and rats, they set up mouse traps, rat traps, or use poisonous baits. Of the drugs that can be successfully used against mice and rats, one can name "Arsenal", "Vesta 888", "Difa", "Zernocin-U", "Ratifen", "Rodefasin-U", "Efa", "Efa -gel "," Fawcett ". When storing potatoes in primitive unprotected earthen piles, one should take into account the danger to the crop of the water vole, which is capable of making holes for a long distance from its habitual habitat in water bodies. I want to remind you that it is quite permissible to store root crops (rutabagas, beets) with potatoes, but its proximity to cabbage heads is undesirable, it is categorically impossible to store together with the harvest of fruit trees (apples, pears, etc.).