ISO help harvesting potatoes

[larry_stewart]

I have 4 potato beds ( each bed has a particular variety ( for the most part).
One of the beds the plants died off, so they are ready to be harvested. How long can I leave them in the ground before I harvest them ? I dont want them to rot, or start to sprout , but Im not sure Im ready for the big harvest yet.

 

[blissful]

Hi Larry, I'm surprised no one answer your question yet.
The rule potato growers use, is the longer you leave them in the ground, the longer they will last in storage. (I'd be sure not to let them stay in the ground through heavy saturating rains.) Harvest weeks after the tops die back.


https://www.almanac.com/plant/potatoes


Two of our kennebec plants died (while the rest are still green), so we dug those out and ate them. OH they were good too! Good luck with your potatoes.

 

[larry_stewart]

Thanks. Been kinda dry here this summer. I uncovered a few and they look and feel healthy. I just figured, at this point, they're be better off in the ground than in my house. I have a make shift root cellar which worked great the first year, and not so great last year. I just dont want to unearth 100 + pounds of potatoes just to have them rot.

 

[blissful]

That's true. I keep ours in paper bags in the basement unheated pantry. It stays around 50 to 55 deg F. I have no idea how many pounds we had, or will have this year. We do like to eat them a couple times a week.


What did or did not work out with your makeshift root cellar?



I have heard of blanching the slices and drying them in the dehydrator. That would be handy to rehydrate them and then make a dish with them, but I haven't done that recently.

 

[larry_stewart]

I think some moisture got in the second year, things started to rot. First year was great. Even through most the winter. My basement, although cool, still probably in the 60's so they started to sprout.

Ive been tempted to dehydrate them. Ill have to look into that and maybe experiment with a few.

 

[bbqcoder]

That’s new to me about leaving them in the ground to last longer in storage. Last year, I had several varieties. Russian banana sprouted first around Dec/Jan. Ama Rosa lasted until April.

 

[CWS4322]

We harvested ours around the end of September in eastern Ontario. We would harvest on a dry day and leave them in the sun for the day, another 3-4 days in the barn. You want them to "dry" before you store them.