The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: HappyHippy on August 07, 2009, 09:41:53 am

Title: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: HappyHippy on August 07, 2009, 09:41:53 am

Hi all,
Now that the tattie harvesting season is upon us, I'm wondering about storing some of my spuds to use for seed tatties next year.
My Papa used to do this every year he grew them and never bought new seed tatties, unfortunately he died quite a few years before I really got into growing so I can't draw on his wealth of experience - I reckon TAS forum's got to be the next best place  ;)
Does anyone do this and how do you do it ? Where should I keep them ? Dark or light ? what sort of tempratures ? Are there some that are better for doing this with than others ?
All advice greatly apprieciated  ;D
Karen

Title: Re: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: rustyme on August 07, 2009, 12:19:31 pm

hello Karen,
            dark, cool but frost free , and not damp and mouldy . If you give them light they will sprout !!! If you store them in bags ,make sure they are either paper or sacking , and check for rot every now and then . Trays are better as you can see instantly if any go manky. Also make sure where you keep them is vermin free ....rats make a hell of a mess of them . All varieties that I have grown  have stored ok . Just make sure you only store disease free tubers.  About hens egg size or a bit bigger is ideal , but no need to worry too much about size with main crop types.
  Thats how I do it , and it has always worked so far . Hope it helps ...

cheers

Russ

Title: Re: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: HappyHippy on August 07, 2009, 01:06:14 pm

Thanks Russ,
Hopefully I'll manage to keep enough from this years to ensure a good crop next year  :yum:

Title: Re: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: sellickbhoy on August 07, 2009, 02:47:05 pm

i got some of those hessian sacks to store mine in last year.

I have a cupboard in my shed and they stored perfectly in there - cool, dark, no chance of rodents getting in about them

then simply grab as many as you need about feb time and put them on a tray on a window sill, the light will wake them up and they'll start to sprout, then plant :-)

probably best - if you can - to store them in small bags/sacks so that if one does go bad you don't lose them all (i don't check them as often as i should!) the local takeaway always gives me brown paper bags, we save them and they are the perfect size to keep a weeks worth of spuds in, so i just nip down to the shed and grab a bag each week - i don't even pay!!!

Title: Re: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: HappyHippy on August 07, 2009, 04:24:45 pm

Great tips SB,
Thanks  ;D

Title: Re: Storage of seed potatoes ?
Post by: Fluffywelshsheep on August 07, 2009, 05:24:04 pm

if you get paper bags from anywhere, always hand to keep for seed storage.

We get really big paper bags from chemist so I keep them for lots of things (to the annoyance of hubby)

/me is currently munching on a carrot from the garden, as she has finished the 1st sock of here knitting