Storing Potatoes

[Spuddle]

I have just dug up all my spuds - Charlotte and Sofia. We've had a good crop and more than we can use straight away. As these are second earlies and not maincrop, I'm not sure of the best way to store them. At the moment they are in buckets in the (rodent-proof, I hope!) outside loo. Should I leave them un-washed or should I wash them? How long will they keep?
Any hints gratefully received.

[Green Aura]

I don't know a huge amount - we never grow loads of spuds. But I know you need to make sure the skins are really dry, washing's not necessary. Otherwise they'll go mouldy. So if you've not done that they need spreading out and turning regularly til thoroughly dry. Then store in dark containers - clamp or sacks.

I don't know if they'll keep as long as maincrop - but do spuds actually know they're not - surely they'll keep OK if you give them the right conditions.

[Gert]

Hi Spuddle

As Green Aura says, don't wash them as they will go mouldy you need to leave them with their natural protective layer. We rub off most of the earth and keep them dry and dark, with some ventilation and that seems to work for us.

The outside loo, sounds like a good spot, best of luck with them.

[Millymollymandy]

I only grow 2nd earlies which are lifted in July and they usually last until about Xmas. It does depend on the variety though as I've got one variety which are sprouting already but they are well known for being the no. 1 for taste but with poor storage. I only want them as new spuds anyway, so it's a shame that the smallest packet I can get is about 20 seed spuds. I'd be happy with about 6 of this variety. I suppose the answer is to plant a small amount and chuck the rest, but it feels like a real waste of money.

[Annpan]

I'm sure that I read on Stoney's blog that they wash theirs and I plan to do likewise.

Last year I didn't wash and I ended up storing away damaged and slug eaten totties, because all the dirt was hiding the damaged areas.

In the last few days I have dug up the spuds and I have re buried them together in the dirt until I can get them washed, dried and stored somewhere. Until then, they are as good as they would be undug I reckon.

[Spuddle]

slug eaten totties

Are you sure this is what you mean, Annpan? The mind boggles!!

[Annpan]

Totties = potatoes.... and yes we have loads of potatoes with slugs happily munching away inside them

[Spuddle]

You learn something new every day!
I've heard of tatties and taties but down here a "tottie" is - to put it politely - a derogatory term for a girl.

[Gert]

Well there you go spuddle, the choice is yours. Annpan washes her totties and they do well and MMM and I prefer our totties dirty:lol: sorry couldn't help that a bit childish I know, and , take your pick.

[Annpan]

It's a Glasgow/ west of Scotland thing to call them Totties... I think the rest of Scotland calls them tatties.

[Spuddle]

Thanks for all the tips everyone.
I think I am going to take the middle road and rub off all the dirt so that I can see the damaged ones but not wash them. With all the rain we've had down here, I can't see me ever getting them properly dry.

I've got one variety which are sprouting already but they are well known for being the no. 1 for taste

I'd love to know which variety you're referring to here MMM? I'm always on the lookout for really tasty ones.

[Rosendula]

I have a big sack full of second earlies in store. I've never stored them before, but had to dig them up because the slugs and woodlice were having a feast. They were pretty dry when I dug them up so not very muddy and I could easily sort them into "eat nows" and "stores". Then I lifted all the maincrops. They were a bit muddier, so I left them to dry before brushing off the chunkiest bits of mud. I peered into every hole to see if I could see any creepy crawlies which were promptly evicted. Then the spuds were sorted into "eat nows" (I've already eaten the second early "eat nows"), "eat next", "store" and "tiddlers". The tiddlers are the tiny ones that I would bother trying to peel, but have found that if I jet wash them with the hose pipe, I can chuck them whole into stews and things. The "eat nows" are the ones where I couldn't see far enough into the holes to be sure there were no monsters in there, and the "eat next" are the ones I am confident are not housing anything dreadful but which were not perfect enough to store for long.

What I'm planning to do is eat them in this order;
1. Eat Nows
2. Eat Next
3. Second Earlies in store
4. Maincrop in store
with the tiddlers being used as and when appropriate.

I've read in several places that earlies and second earlies don't store, but I can't see why not. If they didn't, we wouldn't have any seed potatoes would we? I guess time will tell.

[Millymollymandy]

Earlies store too just not as long as the maincrop ones. I've never grown maincrop because I haven't come across a floury variety available in France.

The spuds I was referring to above are Ratte, Spuddle. I wouldn't say they were THE best but they are nice, they are a waxy variety with low yield and poor storage, but we get a humungous yield from them. I will be chucking half of them away before we get through them. Problem at this time of year is that we don't eat very many spuds as there are so many other things to eat!!!

And Gert, I never actually said whether I stored my totties dirty or clean. My soil is so dry that they come out of the ground dry with a bit of dust on, leave them half a day then bag up. What slugs?

[Spuddle]

The spuds I was referring to above are Ratte, Spuddle. I wouldn't say they were THE best but they are nice, they are a waxy variety with low yield and poor storage, but we get a humungous yield from them. I will be chucking half of them away before we get through them. Problem at this time of year is that we don't eat very many spuds as there are so many other things to eat!!!

We grew Ratte a year or so ago and I remember they had a wonderful flavour but we didn't get very many spuds. Maybe it was a bad year. I shall try them again. There is a website http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk that sells potatoes by the kilo for about £1.30 and they also sell some as small taster packs with 10 tubers. I plan to try them next year. Sadly they don't seem to sell Ratte.

[Spuddle]

They do sell Ratte. Just found them under "early maincrop".