Temperature conditions for storing potatoes in winter

Growing and caring for potatoes – hard work. Harvesting does not end there. You need to know how to properly save it in the winter. One of the most important factors is the optimal storage temperature of potatoes. To create good conditions in the cellar, you need to take into account the characteristics of the variety, hidden diseases and many other factors.

Content
  1. Storage requirements
  2. What varieties are suitable for storage
  3. Growing conditions
  4. Preparatory work
  5. Treatment
  6. Hardening of tubers and sorting
  7. Storage rules
  8. Storage in the apartment
  9. The final part

Температурный режим для хранения картофеля зимой

Temperature conditions for storing potatoes in winter

Requirements for vegetable storages

Not all farmers succeed injure vegetables at home without loss of quality indicators.To understand how correctly all the requirements are observed, you need to install a thermometer and a moisture meter in the cellar.

The optimal temperature for storing potatoes in winter is 2-4 ℃ above 0. When lowering temperature, the potato becomes sweet. Increased humidity in the room leads to the formation of mold on the walls and the propagation of fungal diseases of tubers.

The optimal moisture content is 80%, a decrease in this indicator leads to the drying of root crops. The vegetable store should be equipped with an elementary ventilation system in order to be able to control the storage temperature of potatoes.You can increase the air temperature in the basement with bottles of warm water, placed around the perimeter of the walls. Potatoes can be covered with cotton blankets or burlap. To reduce the humidity indicator, sand or lime bags are installed in the basement.

Humidity increases are achieved by spraying water from the spray bottle onto the walls. In order not to look for a way to fix the problem, you must initially choose a place for storing potatoes and equip it in accordance with all requirements:

  • insulate the basement with insulating material;
  • equip ventilation;
  • ensure that the floor and walls in the basement are airtight so that rodents cannot get into the room.

If the seeds are released by sprouts in winter, they must be removed. But this does not end there. You can stop the growth by lowering the temperature to 1-2 ℃.

What varieties are suitable for storage

Even if the storage temperature of potatoes in the vegetable store is normal and the humidity indicator is not exceeded Root crops may deteriorate. The thing is that not all varieties of potatoes can be stored for a long time. Most early varieties have low keeping rates.

Optimum potato shelf life depending on the ripening period:

  • early and medium early – 2 months;
  • late – 8-12 months.

To date, a lot of varieties of potatoes have been bred, which, with early ripening, can be stored all winter without any problems. Basically, these are Dutch and German hybrids. When choosing a new seed potato, one must take into account all the breeding characteristics that describe the keeping quality.

Growing conditions

Хранить можно только здоровые корнеплоды

You can only store healthy root crops

Before putting vegetables into the cellar, you need to take into account the conditions in which they were grown:

  • soil type;
  • amount of precipitation;
  • the presence of diseases;
  • the content of potassium and nitrogen in the soil.

Even if the optimum temperature p is maintained in the basement a hedgehog for storing potatoes, in case of non-compliance with the rules of agricultural technology this will be pointless. In the rainy season, the potency of the potato decreases steadily by 50%, it becomes watery and loses its taste. Vegetables grown on fertile or sandy soils will be much better stored. The introduction of a sufficient amount of potassium and nitrogen fertilizers allows you to get a crop with high rates of keeping quality.

Another important factor that affects the safety of potatoes, are all kinds of diseases and pests. Moreover, even a careful sorting of root crops does not guarantee the detection of all infected fruits.Many fungal spores and pathological microorganisms that cause viral diseases can persist in tubers for a long time without manifesting themselves.

Preparatory work

Before storing supplies for the winter , you need to not only consider at what temperature to store potatoes and create all the conditions in the vegetable store for this, but also take care of plant health. Preparation for storage begins long before the harvest. For example, mowing tops before harvesting root crops reduces the risk of infection of tubers with various viruses and fungi. Very often, harmful microorganisms live on foliage and stems. During digging, they fall on the tubers and begin to progress in the humid environment of the vegetable store.

Mowing tops starts 7-10 days before harvesting. During this period, the tubers ripen in the ground. The peel becomes rougher, therefore it is not so quickly damaged when digging. Before storing the potatoes in the basement, they must go through several stages of preparation.

Treatment

After digging up the roots, do not immediately put them in bags. Throughout the entire growth period, potatoes are in certain humidity conditions, exposed to various effects of microbes, so you need to hold it in the open air under the sun for 2 hours. After this procedure, all harvested crops should be transferred under a canopy or laid out in the attic.

Выкопанный картофель не следует складывать в мешки

Dug potatoes should not be bagged

The optimum temperature for storing potatoes in the attic is 13-18 ℃. In such conditions, potatoes are kept for 2 weeks. If the temperature drops, it is recommended to extend the treatment period for a week. Before laying in the cellar for the winter seed material, it needs to be landscaped. Potatoes are left in a well-lit room for 7 days or 2 days outside, in direct sunlight.

Quenching and sorting of tubers

Temperature differences can reduce the quality of the potato . Before laying in the cellar for the winter, tubers need to be prepared for lower temperatures. During the treatment period, the temperature is gradually reduced from 13-18 ℃ to 2-4 ℃. The hardening procedure allows you to slow down the chemical processes in tubers and prepare them for storage in the winter.

In order to be able to store root crops for a long time without loss of quality indicators, it is necessary to protect it during the entire treatment period from increasing humidity. Do not neglect the stages of preparation before laying root crops in a potato storage. If all the rules are followed, the quality of the potato can be preserved until spring.

Storage rules

At what temperature to store potatoes, it will not matter if you do not pre-prepare the room.

  • The room in which potatoes should be stored must be sanitized first. All walls, stairs, shelves and flooring must be treated with a solution of manganese or copper sulfate. Then the room should be ventilated to reduce humidity and normalize the temperature.
  • If the number of potatoes is not too large, it is stored in bulk, without the use of containers. This method of storage has a significant minus: in the presence of 1 rotten tuber, you can lose most of the crop. It is best to use wooden pallets so that root crops do not come in direct contact with the floor. In this case, the potatoes will be ventilated from all sides.
  • Many farmers believe that it is best to store root vegetables in wooden crates, bags made of natural material or nets. In such conditions, the root crops are well ventilated and even if a hotbed of rotting appears, the losses will be minimal.

Storage in the apartment

Not every summer resident has the opportunity to grow potatoes in their area and store them in the basement separately. Many buy potatoes for the winter and store it in an apartment. At what temperature should potatoes be stored in an apartment? At Home, it is unlikely that it will be possible to maintain the temperature within 2-4 ℃.

If possible, it is possible to equip the pantry with air conditioning. This will allow you to control the microclimate in the room and store any kind of root crops.At home, it is better to store potatoes on a glazed balcony. Ideally, potatoes should be stored in wooden crates. You can also use bags or nets, but then you will have to cover the roots with blankets so that they do not freeze in winter.

The final part

The preservation of the crop largely depends on of what will be the temperature and humidity in the vegetable store. The optimum temperature regime for storing potatoes is 2-4 ℃ and the humidity level is 80%.

In addition to observing these conditions, the potatoes must be prepared for storage. Before laying in the cellar, root crops must go through several stages of preparation, which include treatment, hardening and sorting. How long the potatoes will be stored, largely depends on the selected variety. Many early varieties retain their quality indicators only for 2 months after harvest. Compliance with all the rules and stages of preparation allows you to save up to 90% of the total crop.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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