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fresh harvested newfangled potatoes are well enjoyed right by , but others kind can last for months with proper storage . Learn how to reap , cure , and shop potatoes , and if the fridge work .
If you are novel to this , there isa handy beginner veggie garden program here .
Freshly harvested white potatoes
Harvest & Store Potatoes
Potato harvesting clip at last ! You ’ve grown your plant for weeks or months and now you get to see how many white potato have formed underground and what size of it they are .
How big are they and how many will there be ? It ’s show clock time !
Use these tip to recognize when it is the right time to harvest and how to store your potatoes in storage for use in the do month .
Harvesting potatoes in the garden
Contents
When to Harvest Potatoes
The skilful clip to harvest homegrown potatoes count on the variety you are growing and what you want .
Two Types of Potatoes
Potato tubers(the part mature in the terra firma that we run through ) can be harvested any metre after their first buds or heyday appear . This is a augury that the tubers are indeed forming in the soil .
But , to get the best each variety has to offer , find out its skillful trait .
Some potatoes are breed for early harvests and others are serious as mature potatoes . And some are fine both ahead of time and later .
young potatoesare thin - skinned and should be consumed within workweek of harvest as they do not hive away well . They are called ‘ waxy ’ or ‘ smooth ’ because of their depressed amylum content , which is compensated by the creamy texture . Examples : Red Bliss , Magic Molly ( 95 - 100 days ) , German Butterball ( 85 days ) , Red Pontiac ( 80 days )
Storage potatoeshave thicker , protective skins beneficial to longer - term computer memory . Most of these are high in starch and fluffy at heart after cooking . The younger tubers are also all right to use up : they just do n’t stack away as well as the more ripe unity .
Examples : Idaho , Russet , Purple Majesty , Yukon Gold ( sometimes not great in store )
If you are a adult potato fan , you could farm several varieties and enjoy fresh potatoes for months .
If you are novel to growing potatoes , find a good source for certify disease - free ‘ seed tater ’ ( tubers you plant to grow more white potato vine ) available to you ( in person or by post ) and stream over the catalogue . There are so many interesting variety to try .
What is the ‘ eye ’ of a potato?Appearing as nick on the genus Tuber , eyes are axillary buds that can grow branches and form new plants . Without eyes , ejaculate potatoes(the potatoes we apply to grow new plant ) ca n’t rise . It ’s called “ chitting ” when we encourage potato to raise these bud and branches in preparation for planting . Potatoes used this way are send for “ semen potatoes . ”
Signs Potatoes Are Ready
As we head into fall , most Irish potato still grow in our gardens will bestorage potatoes .
Harvesting these main harvest potatoes requires two step before they stored : dig up and curing .
As the cooler weather condition set in , the potato plant ’s foliage usually starts to yellow and brown and die off and that is a big tinge that harvest time is near . This is not to be mistaken with spud works disease or disorders : die off is a gradual , rude process .
I ’ve had some varieties stay light-green without ever die back until frosts set in — and still provide prissy , giving potato , but generally the tops do wither and die in fall .
If you know the ask telephone number of days to maturity for your kind , that ’s another utile piece of info for getting the timing right . This evidence you how long from your planting date you should expect it to take for the plant to grow potatoes for harvesting .
When this foliage die - off phase starts , you may veer back the growth to ( perhaps ) keep disease or leave it — but do n’t pull those stump spud out just yet .
declination harvest time is always a juggling act with the weather condition . Potatoes are okay with light hoar but you need them out of the footing before hard frosts set in .
However , it is good to hold off at least two weeks from the onset of yellowing foliage if you’re able to . During this meter , the potatoes ( tubers ) toughen up ( in a good way ) , making them much less susceptible to damage and waste .
But , if there ’s a real danger of immobilise ( or implosion therapy ) , pull them out .
That say , if the potatoes are deep enough in the ground , they may very well have the perfect storehouse conditions where frost ca n’t partake them . Not that I ’d suggest in - undercoat computer storage ( it ’s unpredictable and inaccessible in wintertime ) , but we always miss a few when harvesting and it ’s a rite of passage to out of the blue dig up some of last class ’s potatoes during the next planting season .
How to Dig Up Potatoes
If you grow your potatoes inbagsor containers like I do , you could bung the whole affair over and pull everything out . I do this on a slice of tarpaulin on the ground or my potting table if the container is not too heavy .
Harvestingin - groundpotatoes requires more fear . Use aspading forkand grant a wide girth , digging far around the plant and getting late below the potatoes to understate any chance of piercing the potato . If some do get pierce , fructify them aside for dinners this week .
If your filth is loose or sandy , you may be capable to pull the Irish potato out of the ground but by grabbing the radical of the industrial plant and raise the whole affair up .
Curing Freshly-Harvested Potatoes
Here you are with a decent pile of freshly harvested murphy and it ’s meter to educate them for computer memory .
cure , also calledhardening off , set aside the skin to further toughen up .
Potato Curing Steps
Most of us do not have perfect term like this but just do the best you could and check them daily , discarding any that start to shrivel or rot .
Storage Tips
Short -Term Potato Storage
You in all likelihood already love from experience what does and does not work in your dwelling house .
Based on food waste statistics , it seems we ’ve all tuck away bagful of potato only to notice dark-green , shriveled , bourgeon or disease - depend on messes some time later .
In average household status ( 60 - 70 ° F | 15 - 21 ° C ) with restrained humidness ( 50 % ) , kept in darkness , Solanum tuberosum should do fine fora few weeksorpossibly a few months .
Any potatoes nicked or damaged during the harvest home ( but otherwise fine ) should be consume first .
If a potato is starting to sprout , you could exhaust it , but do so before long before it becomes blistering tasting .
The rest should go in prospicient - term storage ( see below ) .
The Problem with Green Potatoes
We put in potatoes in darkness because light causes the skin to grow unripened from the chlorophyl just like many other works do .
That green coloration alone is not a problem but those same circumstance that trigger greening can also increase the concentration ofglycoalkaloids , a combination of two toxins , which you do not want to eat in eminent concentrations . They are always present in lower concentration .
The toxins tend to congregate in the Robert Peel which can be take away . Unless the internal potato is also light-green , it is good to eat . A acid taste also indicates levels are too high .
Long-Term Potato Storage
The honest-to-goodness - fashioned storage method acting is to wrap the spud in paper and tuck them in a composition board boxwood in acool basementor stale room .
optimal conditions for longer term potato storage:40 ° F | 5 ° Ctemperature in a humid , dark place .
Cold depot of potatoes lowers the external respiration rate ( good ) and reduces the chance of sprouting or decay .
If you have room , thefridgeis also a good option , wrapped in newspaper or hang wrapper and protected from light .
They will dulcorate in the fridge so always let them retort to way temperature before cooking to have that starchy goodness we all love .
Can you store potatoes in the fridge?
We ’ve been told not to do this but not for the reason you might think .
High Heat Discoloration
The advice to fend off refrigerating Irish potato originated from a specific issue in the commercial production ofFrench friesandpotato chips .
While potatoes last longest when kept coolheaded , cool Irish potato swear out at high preparation temperatures turn dark brownish or black due to their reduced sugars ( converted starch ) , relieve oneself them look burnt ( although they are not ) and unsavory . This is obviously not desirable for mass - bring on tater products .
The discoloring is not an issue when seethe or baking white potato vine .
One workaround at household — if you ’re making fries or chips — is tolet refrigerated potatoes return to room temperaturebefore cooking at eminent temperatures , also know asreconditioning . This avoids the undesirable colouring material change and gets those gelt back to starch .
It ’s kind of half-baked to think how many potatoes have been left to spoil in kitchen cupboards all these age because of a guidepost specifically for commercial producers . We could have been using our electric refrigerator or another cool storage region and avoid many tons of solid food permissive waste .
There is more data on this issue in the podcast sequence ( see instrumentalist , below ) .
Related : How to salt away Fruits & Vegetable For Maximum Freshness
Resources
Potato Facts
5,000 Varieties
Shop Online : Potato Grow Bags(Amazon )
Listen
Want more harvesting lead ? SeeWhen to Pick Winter SquashandHow to Cure It for Storage .
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