How to store the potatoes in the apartment correctly?

Probably everyone asked himself how to store potatoes in the apartment. Of course, the ideal option is to store potatoes in the cellar, but in urban housing, root crops can be found.

Preparation for storage of

If the potatoes were collected on their own plot, then after harvesting the tubers it is recommended to dry in the sun for several hours. Firstly, this will significantly reduce the risk of their subsequent decay, and secondly, the adhered land will be much easier to separate. When choosing potatoes in a store, it should be remembered that it should be of medium size and without damage or disease not apparent to the naked eye. For storage, later varieties of potatoes are optimal, and ripening early able to lie maximum until November - early December.

Potatoes are moved, damaged tubers go to food in the first place, because they will not survive long-term home storage. Wash potatoes before laying for storage should not be, you just need to shake off the tubers adhered land.

How to store?

It is recommended that during a couple of weeks - a month - arrange the potato a kind of preventive period during which all previously undetected diseases usually appear. During this period the tubers should be stored in a well-ventilated place and inspected regularly.

Storage of potatoes requires good ventilation, so you can pack potatoes either in tissue bags or in boxes with holes. Use polyethylene is not worth it - in it the tubers quickly ripen, mold and rot. For the same reason, it is not recommended to keep the tubers in the refrigerator for a long time. To protect against all kinds of pests in a sack or a box for storing potatoes, it is recommended to put fragrant herbs - leaves of mountain ash or piles, twigs of wormwood, etc.

At what temperature and humidity do I store potatoes?

Like many other vegetables, potatoes do not like heat. Keep it only in a cool place as far as possible from the heaters. At home it can be an unheated balcony or loggia, a pantry, a hallway, but not a refrigerator. At what temperature is the potato stored? Although it should be fairly low( 5-6 degrees), it should not go below zero.

To absorb the accumulated moisture, the potatoes are transferred carefully dried straw, sawdust, or put together with it beets. But with other vegetables storage of potatoes is undesirable.

Why is low storage temperature of potatoes so important? With her, all the life processes in the tubers slow down. It is necessary to severe warming, and the potato will begin to germinate, its breathing will become more intense, as a result of which the tubers will lose moisture, become flabby. Therefore, to maintain optimal conditions for storage at home - 3-4 degrees Celsius and humidity within 85-90% - is mandatory.

Advice

To maintain comfortable temperature conditions during storage will be easier if you put a thermometer in the box with it.

How to store potatoes on the balcony in the winter

If the balcony is unheated, then in severe cold outside, frost can reach up to the potatoes. How to store potatoes in this case? To prevent it from freezing, bags or boxes can be wrapped with an old quilted blanket. Some warm boxes with tubers with electric lamps or a hairdryer. The latter not only warms the potatoes, but also provides additional ventilation.

If there are severe frosts in the region a couple of days in the whole winter, then such storage of potatoes is certainly possible. But if the cold lasts for months, these methods will be uneconomical.

Potato storage box

The best way to store potatoes on the balcony in the winter is to build two-layer containers for it. This requires two boxes of different sizes, where one of them must be at least 15-20 cm less than the second in length, width and height. At the bottom of a larger box, one should fill in either sawdust, or even any artificial insulator, except for mineral wool, because its fine particles can get into the potato. Then inside is put a smaller box, the spaces between the walls of the two boxes are closed with the same sawdust or other insulation. On top of the structure is covered with an old blanket or just a thick cloth. In such cases storage of potatoes is possible even when lying in the frost at 10-15 degrees.

Other conditions

It is equally important that no light enters the tubers - in addition to starting to germinate, a poisonous solanin is also produced, the appearance of which is easy to notice - the potato begins to turn green. To throw out because of this entirely the whole potato is not worth, but the green layer before eating is cut off will be necessary.

At the end of winter - early spring on the potatoes often begin to sprout eyes. And that all the nutrients from the tubers do not go into them, these sprouts must be removed.

Advice

An effective remedy against the germination of potatoes during storage is mint - its leaves are dried in bags or boxes with tubers.

It is better to store potatoes in an apartment in small portions. Then, inspecting potatoes for safety is much more convenient, and if in one box it is spoiled, then the rest will not suffer.

Each storage box for potatoes should be located at least a small elevation from the floor( 15-20 cm), and do not move close to the walls.

Can I store in the refrigerator?

Small stocks of potatoes are often sent to the drawers of the refrigerator. As a rule, they are quickly eaten, and nothing happens to the tubers. But is it permissible to store potatoes in the refrigerator for a long time? No no no. There are several reasons for this.

• The fridge will take up too much space, for other products it simply will not remain.
• The temperature in the refrigerator is usually below 5-6 degrees, and under these conditions the potato starch dissolves to sugars, and the potatoes become sweet. Not fatal, but unpleasant.
• Refrigerator - enclosed space. Even though it is opened several times a day, it does not provide proper ventilation, and the potatoes are quickly ripened.

Apparently, storing potatoes in an apartment is not at all difficult. The main thing - to create suitable conditions for him and regularly to sort out. Even if at first glance the tubers look healthy, but an unpleasant smell emits from the box, and small midges fly around it - this is a sure sign that the potatoes are not all right and should be examined more carefully.