Preparing the cellar for storing potatoes. What temperature and humidity is needed to store potatoes? What to do to save potatoes

People say that everything is simple: if they don’t eat it in the winter, they will plant it in the spring. It makes you smile, but you must admit: it is not at all easy to make sure that there is something to eat in the winter and plant in the spring.

It's great if it's born. Only any good owner knows: to complete joy - oh, how far away, now to save everything without loss! And this - whole science… Success depends on so many components: on the choice of variety with good performance storage capacity until strict compliance with all storage rules. Therefore, today we will have to consider in detail all the subtleties of the most important process - the storage of potato crops.

What varieties of potatoes to choose for storage

In principle, all varieties of potatoes are subject to storage, but the terms, of course, will be different. For a month or two, you can store even mid-early and mid-season varieties:

• "Aurora";
• "Rocco";
• "Peter's Mystery";
• "Ketsky";
• "Pirol";
• "Mistress" and others.

But if you intend to store potatoes until spring, it is best to store them in middle-late and late-ripening varieties:

• "Gatchinsky";

• "Zhuravinka";
• "Zdabytak";
• "Saturn";
• "Atlant";
• "Asterix";
• "Gull";
• "Bernadette";
• "Yavir";
• "Kolobok";
• "Blue";
• "Slav";

• "Folva" and so on.

It is worth listening to the reviews of local potato growers and summer residents, because the experience of storing local zoned varieties will sometimes be much more useful than the promises on the labels. For example, varieties "Scarlett" and "Nevsky" received excellent storage reviews, which showed both excellent keeping quality and good taste until the very new harvest, although they do not belong to late varieties.

But in any case, you will win if you plant different varieties of potatoes - then there will be much more chances for a high percentage of safety)

Storage in bags used very often. This is convenient: bags can be placed on shelves or on top of each other; the tubers are divided into rather small "portions", there is a significant surface for air exchange. The best potato bags are made from natural materials, with a rare fabric that is well breathable. AT recent times increasingly they are being replaced by grids.

Storage in boxes for country volumes it will probably be the most suitable way. It is believed that it is best to use boxes made of coniferous wood, as they inhibit the development of fungi and bacteria, but plastic containers are also a success with summer residents.
, they need to be put in bags or boxes with potatoes;

potatoes will be stored better if they are shifted (it is advised to pour it into all boxes with potatoes);

mint delays the germination of potatoes. She can simply shift the tubers;

ginger root and the potato will help to last longer, and he himself will feel much better next to him;

half an apple put in the spring in a box with tubers, will prevent the germination of potatoes, absorbing moisture;

so that the potatoes do not rot, they need to be sprinkled crushed garlic: 100 g of garlic is enough for 100 kg of potatoes;

at room temperature(in an apartment) you can perfectly preserve potatoes for 2-3 weeks by placing up to 30 kg of tubers in a plastic bag and tying it tightly;

you can read about the main mistakes that are made when storing potatoes in a special article.

People say that potato tubers are living organisms, as they will be treated, so they will behave during storage. And it’s true: if you walk with your boots on a tender tuber, throw it in a bucket with a swing, leave it in the rain in the garden, throw it without looking into a storage bag - don’t be surprised that by March you will get a full bag of rot. With Nature like this: what is the greeting, such is the answer ...

You will find even more interesting and useful information about storing potatoes in the materials: Ahead is laying the potato crop for storage. And we will be very happy if our tips make someone take a closer look at this wonderful gift of nature: hold it longer to heal wounds, sort it more carefully and put rowan leaves in a box ... And in the spring, with surprise and joy, tell all the familiar summer residents what one spoiled potato for the whole winter did not come across))) Well, let's try?

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• living room,

• Ground floors.
• Monolithic slab.
• Paul on the lags.

For this you will need:

Stages of concreting work

Clay ground floors

• Rubble.
• Sand.
• Clay.

Carrying out work:

Do-it-yourself floors on logs

Formwork panels are mounted directly on the beams, then the floor is reinforced, after which the concrete is poured. Such a concrete slab is distinguished by exceptional strength, reliability and durability. => Floor In The Basement Of A Private House: How To Fill It Yourself => => publish => open => closed => => pol-v-podvale-104 => => => 2019-04-03 17:42:52 = > 2019-04-03 13:42:52 => => 0 =>?p=925 => 0 => post => => 8 => raw => index,follow)) => 1 => -1 => => WP_Post Object ( => 925 => 2 => 2015-06-27 00:20:08 => 2015-06-26 20:20:08 => How to make a floor in the basement of a private house Floor in the basement of a private house the house must meet such requirements as strength, reliability and maximum resistance to groundwater and other external influences, because a basement in a private house is extremely necessary.

Functional features of the basement

The presence of a basement helps to significantly free up living space: it can store not only preparations for the winter, but also other necessary things. From the basement you can do:

• Storage for food,
• agricultural products,
• living room,
• Gym or more.

Note. It all depends on the imagination and financial wealth of the owner of a private house. Regardless of what function the basement will perform, it must be warm, dry and durable.

Basement floor options

Floor concreting scheme One of the most common options is a small basement, which requires a strong and reliable floor. Many owners of private houses follow the simplest path and make the floor in the basement unpaved. The most popular and common variations in the manufacture of the floor in the basement are:

• Ground floors.
• Monolithic slab.
• Paul on the lags.

Each of these varieties has both its undeniable advantages and significant disadvantages. Let's look at each variety in more detail.

Basement concrete floor

Concrete flooring in the basement is considered one of the most durable, reliable and durable.

Advice. The use of concrete is the best option in cases where groundwater is located too close to the surface.

Making a concrete floor in the basement can be done with your own hands. For this you will need:

• A concrete mixer is the main tool for making a concrete floor in a basement. If there is no concrete mixer, you can stir the concrete mixture with your own hands. But this method will require significant power costs from you.
• Concrete container, shovel.
• Trowel for smoothing the cement-sand mixture.
• Cement, crushed stone, quarry sand and water. For the manufacture of a concrete floor in the basement, it is recommended to use cement grade not lower than M400.

The installation of a concrete floor in the basement should begin with leveling and tamping the ground surface.

Stages of concreting work

"Pie" for concrete flooring: The floor should be carefully covered with a layer of sand with a thickness of at least 15 cm, after having sprinkled it with water. Crushed stone is poured onto the sandy layer, which should also be carefully compacted until a uniform, homogeneous layer is obtained. This layer of sand and gravel is the basis of the future concrete floor. So:

• The next step is to cover the floor surface and the lower part of the walls with waterproofing material.

Advice. For this purpose, roofing material, polyethylene or other modern building materials can be used.

• Layers of waterproofing should be laid one on one overlap, and also left about 20 cm on the walls of the basement.
• Next comes the turn of thermal insulation. For the highest quality thermal insulation, materials are most often used, which include polyurethane, glass wool or basalt wool.
• It is these materials that are able to quickly absorb moisture, which is invariably present in any basement. But they also have a significant drawback, which is their fragility and fairly rapid wear.

Advice. The best option for thermal insulation material is foam, which must be laid in dense layers.

• All cracks and gaps between the foam layers should be treated with mounting foam. However, pay special attention to the joints between the floor and walls - in these places you should leave a gap of at least 2 cm wide.
• This will help in the future to avoid such an unpleasant phenomenon as the deformation of coatings.

Advice. If you plan to place large-sized equipment in your basement, it is recommended to additionally strengthen the floor with a reinforcing mesh.

This will help him to easily withstand the ultimate load:

• For reinforcement, use rods with a thickness of at least 5 mm. But if you plan to use the basement exclusively for storing various things or agricultural products, you can do without additional reinforcement.
• Then you can proceed directly to pouring concrete. This process should be carried out sequentially, without stopping and the concrete mixture should be carefully leveled.

After the concrete dries, you can proceed to the final stage - concrete grinding. We recommend watching the educational thematic video.

Clay ground floors

Schematic photo of the floor on the ground The device of the floor in the basement requires reliability, strength and durability. That is why the floors on the ground in the basement are often made of clay. This material has several advantages over concrete - clay is very accessible, it retains heat better and is one of the most effective waterproofing agents. For self-manufacturing clay floor in the basement you will need:

• Buckets and shovels (for carrying building materials).
• Rubble.
• Sand.
• Clay.

Carrying out work:

• The initial stage is the same as in the previous version - the surface for the future floor must be carefully leveled.
• Next, a thin layer of expanded clay or slag is laid, which plays the role of a waterproofing agent. A mixture of equal parts of crushed stone and clay is laid on top of it - the thickness of the layer must be at least 15 cm.
• Wait until the first layer of the mixture of clay and gravel dries and you can apply the second layer of the same.
• Try to keep the thickness of the layers no more than 25 cm. The laying of the layers must be repeated until the desired floor height is reached.

Please note that the thinner the layers of clay, the stronger the hardened coating.

• After that, in the basement, the floor is covered with a thin layer of liquid clay and a certain coating - linoleum can be used for this purpose.
• Quite often, adobe floors are covered with paving slabs, which guarantee the strength and durability of the coating in the basement.

Clay or mounting foam is also recommended in case you are concerned about a hole in the floor in the basement.

Do-it-yourself floors on logs

Ways of laying floors on logs If there is no excess moisture in your basement, you can use this type of coating as a wooden floor. The floor on the logs is recommended for use in dry rooms with minimal humidity. So:

• To make such a coating, you will need wooden beams with a diameter of at least 150 mm and tongue-and-groove wooden boards 50 mm wide.
• In order to protect the wooden floor from rotting and other damage, before starting work, the bars should be covered with several layers of a special antiseptic.
• Before laying wooden beams for waterproofing, the floor should be covered with roofing material.
• The logs are mounted directly along the length of the room, but do not forget to leave a gap between the logs and the wall of at least 2 cm. Pre-prepared wooden boards are laid on top of the bars, the width of which is slightly less than the total length of the room.
• Next, you will need nails about 7 cm long - with their help, you need to securely nail the wooden boards to the logs.
• The basement, as a rule, is equipped with an artificial and natural source of light. This means that not only electric lighting is used to illuminate the basement, but also ordinary windows.

Advice. Therefore, be sure to take care of the construction of such a necessary protective structure as a pit in the basement floor - such a necessary structure will reliably protect the window opening from any external damage and significantly extend its service life.

• If the installation of the floors in the room was carried out during the construction of the house, then to install the floor you will also need to replace it above the basement.
• The process looks like in the following way- install wooden logs on special supports that rest on the floor of the first floor of a private house. Transverse wooden beams are laid on top of the log, the step of which is at least 1 m.

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The harvested crop is the pride of the gardener and inspires confidence in the future, but this result of many months of effort is easy to destroy if done incorrectly.

Let's figure out how to properly store potatoes.

Terms of harvesting potatoes for winter storage

As you know, they begin to dig up the crop already in June-July, however, young tubers do not tolerate a long time, since they have not yet acquired a sufficiently thick skin. The timing of the final harvest of the “second bread” depends on the weather and on the particular variety, but usually around the beginning of autumn.

It is believed that you can dig when its tops dry out. Gardeners usually carry out control digging of tubers, and focusing on their condition, weather (it is better to dig on a fine day) and own experience, determine the harvest date.

Did you know? La Bonnotte is considered the most expensive in the world. This variety is grown on the small French island of Noirmoutier, located off the Atlantic coast. The cost of a local delicacy is approximately 500 euros per kilogram, the crop size is no more than 100 tons. The tubers are very tender, sweetish in taste, with a nutty flavor, and have a lemon aroma.

Preparing potatoes for storage

Before laying on the harvested crop needs to be dried. If there are clear days, and the garden is sandy, then the tubers can be dried right in the garden, taking them to one place. The process will take several hours, actually it is extracted from the sandy soil already quite dry and clean.

Much more often they are dried under a canopy or inside some outbuilding - this guarantees the protection of the crop from the vagaries of the weather. One or two days is enough for the adhering earth to crumble from the tubers and their peel to dry out.

Did you know? In tropical forests, you can find the Solanum wrightii Benth potato tree, which reaches a height of 15 meters. True, this plant does not have tubers.

After drying, they are placed for a couple of weeks in a dark room - in bulk (no more than a half-meter layer) or in bags. During this time, the peel of potatoes will thicken, and in addition, they will appear. After such a quarantine period, the tubers are sorted out, removing both diseased and mechanically damaged specimens, after which the crop is ready to be stored in the winter.

Potato storage conditions

To properly store, it is very important to observe temperature regime. The optimum temperature is +3-5°C, while the decisive factor is the stability of this temperature during the entire storage period. At a higher temperature, the tubers eventually germinate, take root and become unsuitable for eating, and frozen potatoes taste sweet due to the formation of starch and sugar in it.

The storage room itself should be dark, insulated from, with a constant temperature and. The floor of the storage is covered with sand - it absorbs moisture well. Other moisture-absorbing materials for the floor are also allowed. It is strongly not recommended to cover the bottom of the storage with linoleum, slate, cement it- all this leads to the accumulation of moisture and the growth of fungus.

Important! Prolonged natural or artificial lighting leads to the formation of the toxic substance solanine in potato tubers. Outwardly, this manifests itself as a greening of the tubers.

Types of storage in different vaults

Tubers are stored both in bulk, in a continuous layer, and in bags or in boxes. It is much more convenient to store potatoes in a container than in bulk. If it is decided to store potato tubers in boxes, then the boxes in the storage should be located so that air circulates freely between them. Drawers can be installed to the entire height of the room. When stored in bags and in bulk, the height of the potato layer is set based on the size of the tubers, and also taking into account ventilation conditions. poured to a height of up to 1.7 m, food up to 2.2 m. It is necessary to load into storage carefully, trying not to damage the tubers, which can lead to their rotting and deterioration in the future.

in the hole

This is a rather archaic way of storing crops, but, nevertheless, it is still quite often practiced, for example, in summer cottages. However, everyday access to potatoes stored in this way is rather difficult. Let's figure out how to store in a pit.
The storage pit is equipped as follows: in the garden or in another convenient place, you need to dig a hole about 2 m in diameter and 1.5 m deep. The bottom of this pit should be covered with dry straw 30-40 cm, no more. Then it is poured into this storage, but not to the top, you need to leave about 40 cm for the top layer of straw. After laying the top layer of straw, the pit is tightly closed from above with a board and covered with earth with a layer of up to 80 cm. It is desirable to make ventilation holes in the pit, although this is not necessary.

On the balcony

If there is nowhere to store it except in your apartment, then somehow suitable place for this is a balcony, unless, of course, this balcony is screened and closed. In this case, the tubers are best preserved in boxes.

Storage in a box offers two options: in the first case, you can use a standard plank vegetable box, in the second, you can use a whole container in which the desired temperature is artificially created.

Storage in conventional boxes does not require any additional devices and procedures. It is simply placed in boxes and covered with rags on top. Such a storage can easily withstand frosts down to -10 ° C. In a temperate climate and a closed balcony, potatoes can also be stored in bags, laying an oilcloth under them so as not to spread dirt, and covering the bags with rags.
For a more severe climate, the second option is preferable. This requires two boxes made of board, plywood or lining. They should nest into each other like a nesting doll. The smaller box is used directly as a chamber for storing tubers. A larger box is used as a thermal insulation chamber.

There should be a gap of at least 5 centimeters between the walls and the bottom of the boxes, which is filled with foam. This container should be closed with an insulated lid. The outer part of this design is upholstered with linoleum or any other moisture-resistant material, for example, plastic or galvanized iron.

And the last thing: to maintain a constant temperature in the storage, two 15-25 watt light bulbs are installed as heating elements. They are turned on only when it is very cold, and they should be darkened with something opaque. A similar container can be installed on an open balcony.

It is believed that the best way to store potatoes is known as one of the most effective. To prepare the cellar for the reception of the harvest, you must first of all clear it of debris. It is advisable to disinfect the room by whitewashing it: two kilograms of hydrated lime and 200 grams are added to ten liters of water, all this should be thoroughly mixed and the walls and ceiling should be whitewashed with the resulting solution.

Important! If disinfection is not carried out, the stored crop may become a victim of potato, the larvae of which infect the tubers. In addition, the risk of fungal diseases of potatoes will increase significantly.

After about a week, when the whitewash is completely dry, you need to check the hoods and fix any problems, if any. Next, the very place for storing potatoes is equipped. These can be either racks for boxes, or shelves for bags that do not come into contact with the floor and walls, or are made from bin boards. The sides of this structure should also not touch the floor and walls. There should be a gap between the boards to improve ventilation. The bottom should be sprinkled with sand or covered with straw.

In the basement

Store potatoes in the basement in almost the same way as in. For better preservation of tubers, exactly the same whitewash is required. But, since cellar designs differ from, one should monitor both the optimal humidity of 70-80% and the temperature of + 3-5 ° С. It is also necessary to protect the stored crop from any light, because its prolonged exposure leads to the release of solanine in potato tubers, which makes them turn green.

Types of containers for laying potatoes for storage

Harvested potatoes can be stored in bulk, but containers are often used for storage. The most well-known type of container is the bag, regular or mesh. The latter type is preferable, as it provides better ventilation.

For storage, boxes are widely used, both wooden and plastic. Such boxes, as a rule, are designed for about 10 kg of potatoes. Wooden ones are made of planks, there are slots on the walls and bottom for better ventilation and visual control over the storage item. For plastic boxes, the walls and bottom are meshed for the same purpose. Sometimes, if available in storage, double metal mesh boxes are used.
In addition to boxes, larger containers made from the same wooden planks are also used for storage. They can be rectangular or angular. In rectangular containers, a door is often provided at the bottom for easy removal of potatoes stored there.

Modern technologies have not bypassed such a trivial area as potato storage. Currently, for these purposes, consumers are offered a kind of mini-cellar, called thermal containers or heating cabinets. Such devices are powered by the mains, they maintain a certain temperature, which the user can regulate.

The capacity of such a mini-cellar is usually 200-300 liters. They can be rigid and flexible, made of special fabric. Flexible ones are good because in the summer they simply fold up and are removed from the eyes until autumn.

Basic rules for storing potatoes

To guarantee the preservation of the potato crop, it is necessary to follow certain rules. As stated above, harvested tubers should be dried and sorted, and storage facilities should meet certain criteria. It is more practical to store tubers in containers of 10-15 kg, where, for better preservation of the crop, you can lay a layer (it will protect it from excessive moisture) on top of the potatoes. To slow down the germination of tubers, they put in them, just a few per box.

Thus, with proper preparation for the storage of the potatoes themselves, as well as the use of a suitable potato storage facility and compliance with certain rules, the preservation of the harvested crop will be ensured.

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Potatoes have firmly entered our daily diet - we boil them, stew them, fry them, bake them, prepare festive dishes from them. It is difficult to imagine a whole winter without this irreplaceable vegetable, especially considering beneficial features potatoes and their nutritional value. Therefore, in every family with the onset of autumn, the question arises: “How to store potatoes?”

After all, buying tubers in the store all year round is quite expensive, it is more profitable to stock up in advance. And if you grow vegetables on your own plot, storing potatoes becomes especially relevant. Where to place bags with dug out tubers so that a variety of dishes can be prepared until the next harvest?

Of course, the best option is storing potatoes in the cellar, but if you live in a city apartment, and there is no underground or basement in your house, you can put sacks of potatoes in the pantry, in the corridor, adapt boxes for harvest in living rooms, or take them out to the balcony. In warm rooms, tubers can be stored for three months, and on the balcony, potatoes in insulated boxes can withstand frosts down to -15 degrees.

Video on how to save potatoes until spring

Keep in mind that successful storage largely depends on the preliminary preparation of the tubers. They must be well dried (if possible, in fresh air) for several hours or days to prevent rotting and the occurrence of potato diseases. In addition, sorting potatoes is of great importance: well-dried tubers of medium size, without flaws, are placed for long storage, and average term select the largest potatoes, as voids form in them over time, due to which the taste will deteriorate.

How to make a box for storing potatoes on a loggia or balcony

On a glazed balcony, tubers are better preserved than in a warm pantry, where they quickly begin to germinate. However, you need to constantly monitor the temperature so as not to miss severe frosts. The optimal storage of potatoes on the balcony is at a temperature of 0 to +7 degrees.

Successful storage largely depends on the preliminary preparation of tubers.

The potatoes should be folded into cloth bags and placed in containers or wooden boxes that are displayed on racks. Leave a gap of about 15 cm between the wall and the boxes for tubers to ventilate.

Cellar, underground, cellar

Ideal storage conditions for potatoes: lack of sunlight and humidity, temperature from 0 to +2 degrees. The most consistent with these parameters is a dark, dry basement or cellar, where frost does not penetrate, and the temperature is maintained at the same level.

Sunlight should not enter the cellar, otherwise the toxic substance solanine will begin to be produced in the tubers.

The traditional technology for storing potatoes in the basement is as follows: tubers are placed in bins with a layer of up to one and a half meters (air must be provided to the lower layers) or in boxes that have holes in the walls for ventilation. To prevent potatoes from rotting, place the boxes on stands 20 cm above the floor, and do not push the boxes close to the wall. The room should be ventilated, the walls and ceiling should first be whitewashed with lime milk with the addition of vitriol and well ventilated. Sunlight should not enter the cellar, otherwise the toxic substance solanine will begin to be produced in the tubers.

Video on how to properly store potatoes at home

You will be able to significantly extend the shelf life of potatoes taking into account the following recommendations:

• lay bags of sawdust or a layer of beets on top of the tubers - root crops and hygroscopic materials will absorb excess moisture;
• different varieties of potatoes are best stored separately;
• so that water does not drip from the ceiling onto winter supplies, arrange a suspended polyethylene ceiling above the potatoes;
• the invariance of the storage temperature of potatoes is very important, an increase of even a couple of degrees (up to +4) will provoke the appearance of sprouts on tubers in damp rooms, and in dry rooms it will lead to sagging potatoes;
• before harvesting for storage, potatoes should be carefully sorted out, removing all damaged and frostbitten tubers, otherwise most of the stocks may rot;
• to protect stocks from rot, layers of potatoes can be laid (or placed side by side) with rowan, wormwood, fern, or elderberry leaves.

Digging a hole or how to store potatoes in the winter in the garden

For some owners of private houses, the cellar may be too damp, which means that it is impossible to properly store potatoes in winter. In this case, you can dig a special hole in the garden, where the entire potato crop will winter.

Determine the driest high place where the groundwater runs deep enough. Dig a hole with a diameter of about two meters and a depth of one and a half meters, arrange grooves around it to drain rainwater. The walls of the pit and the bottom must be lined with straw. Pour the potatoes into the pit so that about 40-60 cm remain to its edges. Cover the tubers with dry straw or boards from above and cover them with a 10-centimeter layer of soil to begin with, and with the onset of frost, add the soil to a thickness of 40-80 cm. Layer land above the pit should rise about half a meter. For ventilation, provide an air duct reaching the bottom of the pit, in the form plastic pipe, or made from boards.

Determine the driest high place where the groundwater runs deep enough

Now you know how to store potatoes correctly, it remains only to choose the most suitable method and prepare the tubers properly for long-term storage.

Preparing vegetables

In order for the fruits and vegetables you have grown to stay fresh and not rot as long as possible, they must be prepared for the winter. However, not all varieties will be able to survive such a long time period.

• Root crops planted in early spring will survive a maximum of December.
• Only vegetables dug up in August or September will withstand the cold.

What to do before storing potatoes in storage:

1. Dry the roots in the sun. UV will protect against early germination.
2. Clear the tubers from the ground.

Do not rub or scrape the peel - this threatens to quickly rot the root crops.

1. Sort potato varieties in quality and size.

Put the boxes of the best quality vegetables in the farthest corner so that second-class fruits are eaten first.

1. Spray crops with antifungal biologics. These are relatively inexpensive products, the price for 200 grams will be 50-150 rubles.
2. Let the tubers pre-cool.
3. Then distribute in the cellar.

9 rules for storing root crops

Storing potatoes at home is based on the observance of a number of rules:

Image	Recommendations
	Rule 1 Prepare the room before planting the tubers. Clean up, get rid of sources of decay, create the perfect environment for keeping vegetables.
	Rule 2 Provide basement with ventilation. Good ventilation in the cellar extends the shelf life of vegetables.
	Rule 3 Distribute the crop volume into containers of 15-20 kg.
	Rule 4 Put sand or sawdust on the bottom of the container - they will absorb excess moisture.
	Rule 5 Cover the tubers on top with hay or rags - this will reliably protect against freezing.
	Rule 6 Put a couple of fresh apples in the box - they will slow down the germination of potatoes. Keep an eye on apples: their shelf life is shorter than potatoes.
	Rule 7 Store potatoes for planting in a separate compartment.
	Rule 8
	Rule 9 The crop should be located at a distance of 20-30 cm from the walls so that condensate does not drain.

Storage conditions for root crops

Tuber health is directly dependent on several factors. From where, in what and how potatoes are stored. In any room, you can independently set the desired temperature, the appropriate level of humidity and light saturation.

To keep potatoes healthy all winter, create the necessary conditions for them:

room

It is most convenient to keep tubers in the basement or cellar. Nature itself creates optimal conditions. Potatoes, even laid out in boxes, even packed in bags, even just dumped, can be stored until May.

Tara

There are three ways to store potatoes in any container:

1. Wooden boxes- the most popular and convenient option. Small in size, they can hold 10-15 kg of tubers at a time. It is recommended to put them at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other so that a sprouted or infected fruit from one container does not share its "gifts" with others.

1. Polypropylene or fabric bags- honorably take the second place. They can hold up to 25 kg. It is convenient to arrange them - it is allowed to put on top of each other.

When dumping bags in a heap, remember that tubers can crack under heavy weight.

1. Grid storage- a less common method, but not inferior in efficiency. Summer residents are advised to form a semblance of a box from a wire mesh, preferably in two layers. Figure out how to fix this structure so that it does not touch the floor, and you can store potatoes without fear that rodents will get them.

Ideal environment

Having properly prepared the container and premises for keeping root crops, you will only have to find the answer to the last questions. At what temperature should potatoes be stored in winter? How to choose lighting? How humid should the air in the storage be?

Image	Recommendations
	Condition 1 The optimum storage temperature for fruits is from +2 to +4 °C.
	Condition 2 Humidity in the room for storing potatoes should not exceed 85%.
	Condition 3 Lighting in the place where the fruits are kept should be minimal, exclusively artificial.

Original storage methods

For those who have long wanted to try new extraordinary storage methods, I offer two options. One for a summer residence, the second for an apartment.

Image	Way
	in the hole This unusual method is suitable for those who have a summer cottage. Follow the simple instructions, and the tubers can stay fresh for almost a year. Instruction: Dig a hole with an area of ​​4 by 4 meters and a depth of 1.5 meters. Choose a place that is never flooded with water. With the first frost, place the potatoes in the hole. Harvest cover 20-30 cm of sand or gravel. Create a mound 20-25 cm high above the structure. Cover the earthen shelter with branches so that rodents do not reach the crop. During severe frosts, cover the hole with a 15 cm layer of peat, hay or leaves.
	In a thermostat This option is perfect for those who live in a house without a balcony. A special container can be placed in any convenient place in the apartment. The box resembles a mini fridge where you can set any temperature and humidity.

Summary

That's all the secrets of storing potatoes. Choose the one that is convenient for you and enjoy a wide variety of dishes from this wonderful vegetable all year round. In the comments, share the secrets of how you manage to keep potatoes for a long period.