Potato storage on the balcony in winter

It’s hard to find someone who wouldn’t stock up potatoes for the winter. In order for the vegetable to retain its taste and attractive appearance, it must be stored under certain conditions. Let’s see how to store potatoes on the balcony.

Storage of potatoes on the balcony in the winter

Storage conditions potatoes

so as not to give potatoes I need to freeze or rot, I need to know the conditions under which this vegetable is stored. Let us focus on the main points.

1. Temperature conditions. First of all, you need to know at how many degrees the potato freezes. Any minus is unacceptable temperature The optimal storage temperature is 4 ° C. Deviations of 1-2 ° C are allowed, but no more. If the temperature drops below 2 ° C, the vegetable will freeze, which will affect not only the taste, but also the shelf life. The vegetable will begin to deteriorate faster. If the temperature rises above 6 ° C, the potatoes will begin to dry out. This will negatively affect her taste, and the appearance will be unattractive.
2. The level of humidity. This indicator is no less important than air temperature.For storing potatoes, the optimum humidity is 40%. As with the temperature regime, slight fluctuations in both directions are allowed here.
3. Air exchange. It is important to create storage conditions under which air will flow to the tubers. The room should be aired from time to time. In the absence of air circulation, vegetables quickly rot.
4. Light. Any light is undesirable. When exposed to sunlight or light from an artificial source, the sides of the potatoes turn green. This produces a specific substance that makes the product harmful. You can’t eat such potatoes. If light bulbs are used to heat the balcony, they should be covered with any material through which light does not penetrate. Alternatively, when heating, cover the potatoes with a dark cloth.

Preparing the potatoes

Before storing the potatoes on the balcony in the winter, they must be properly prepared. Vegetables are especially carefully prepared for long-term storage. Not all potato varieties are designed to be stored on the balcony in winter for a long time, so before growing vegetables it is important to find out which varieties are able to lay for several months.

Dry the potatoes

Preparation It starts at the time of harvest. Ripe tubers are harvested in dry and warm weather. To protect the crop from various diseases, it is well dried. It is advisable to dry potatoes in the open, but autumn weather is not always predictable.

If the rainy season has begun, you can dry the crop in any utility room, garage or under a canopy, having previously placed it on a tarpaulin or an old bedspread. Vegetables are not recommended to be dried on bare concrete. If drying occurs indoors, it is advisable to leave the door open for a day.

The drying process lasts 10-14 days.

Sort the fruits

The next step is sorting. Tubers are sorted according to their size. Another sorting option is quality. Tubers incised or damaged by pests are used first. Whatever conditions are created, such a crop will not lie for a long time. Damaged and healthy crops cannot be stored in the same container.

Preparing the container for storage

At this stage, you need to decide on the container for storage. It can be bags, boxes or boxes. It is recommended to store the crop in boxes. In bags, it is more difficult to ensure normal air exchange, and picking vegetables from boxes is more convenient than from bags.

First of all, the boxes are disinfected. This should be done regardless of whether the boxes were previously in use or not. There is no need to purchase special disinfection products. You can use your own cooked mixture, which includes soap, soda and water. If we are talking about wooden crates, then while they dry out, they are additionally treated with copper sulfate and lime diluted in water.Copper sulfate is diluted in a ratio of 10: 1 (10 g of powder per 1 liter of liquid).

In addition to wooden boxes, you can use plastic containers or a heating cabinet. Some craftsmen remake an old refrigerator in a potato storage. Alternatively, you can store the crop in the winter in a cardboard box.

Put the potatoes in boxes

When putting potatoes in boxes, there are tricks to help extend the storage period. Potatoes are laid out in rows, pouring each row with dry straw. This improves air exchange and prevents fogging of tubers, which contributes to rotting vegetables. Sawdust is an alternative to straw.

Potato shelf life can be increased

There is another small trick that can protect vegetables from rot. Stacking potatoes in boxes, it is sprinkled with pre-peeled and chopped garlic. Rowan leaves are an alternative to garlic.

We make a storage for potatoes ourselves

You can make a potato box on the balcony with your own hands. The advantage of a homemade box is the size of the container that is optimally matched to the parameters of the balcony. You can make it from improvised materials.

It is best to make a box from boards. If the balcony is not insulated, it is advisable to equip the drawer with low legs or install an additional shelf on top of the bottom.The lower shelf is installed at a distance of 5-7 cm from the bottom. It is advisable to make it removable. It is inconvenient to use it as a space for storing things, but it will be easier to disinfect the box.

To keep potatoes on the balcony without any trouble, do-it-yourself box should be insulated. As a heater, foam is used. It is laid along all the side walls of a makeshift box, and foil is laid on top. It prevents damage to the foam and is a thermal insulation material. The resulting design can be safely called a miniature cellar or cupboard.

At the end, they construct and use hinges to attach a lid, which, like the whole cabinet, should be insulated with foam and foil.

Depending on the configuration, the cabinet for storing vegetables make horizontal or vertical. Such a vegetable cabinet can also be placed in an apartment, but in this case the vegetables are likely to dry.

Additional heating

It is more difficult to store potatoes on an unheated balcony in winter than in the apartment. You can’t get by with your own made vegetable cabinet. Harvest in severe frost freezes in it. It is best to insulate a balcony or a loggia or build a heated container.

To build such a container, you need 2 boxes of different sizes. At the bottom of the larger box, a stand for the smaller box is installed. The easiest way is to put the wooden blocks of the right size.The boxes are stacked in one another so that there are equal gaps between all the walls.

Insulation is placed in the gaps between the walls of the boxes. As insulation use sawdust, polystyrene, corrugated cardboard or rags. Any heating element is installed in the gap formed between the bottom of the larger and smaller boxes, and then a lid is constructed.

A conventional incandescent lamp can be used as the heating element. It is installed between the side walls of the boxes. Insulation is placed in the space between the bottom of the larger and smaller boxes. You can also use a heating cable, as in the “warm floor” design. If desired, a homemade box is equipped with a thermostat.

A similar design can be made from an old refrigerator. In this case, the task is simplified, since thermal insulation has already been laid between the walls of the refrigerator. In the lower section, which is usually intended for storing vegetables, a temperature regulator is installed. The construction is ready.

Another option is the balcony cellar on the market. It protects the crop even at a temperature of -40 ° C. Such a balcony cellar is expensive, and it requires connection to the electric network, so you will have to take into account the additional costs of electricity.

Storage tips

Thinking about how to store in the winter on the balcony potatoes, take into account a number of factors.Before the construction of any structure, it is estimated what size it should be: the excess will have to be stored in an apartment or on a cold balcony without heating.

If it’s not possible to build an insulated box, you can get by with a few boards and a cotton blanket. Boards are placed on any height, potatoes are laid on them and cover it with a cotton blanket. Frost is not scary for a vegetable under a cotton blanket. Besides, you don’t have to spend money on such an impromptu cellar. This method works only on an insulated loggia.

If the balcony is insulated, you should not build a structure with heating. Frost will not damage the crop that is stored in insulated boxes.

Conclusion

We examined how to save potatoes on the balcony in the winter, each of the proposed options has its own advantages and disadvantages, for example, storages with additional heating require certain material costs during construction. In them, potatoes do not freeze even on unheated balconies. On insulated loggias and balconies, it is more expedient to use structures not equipped with additional heating, the construction of which is not associated with significant material costs.