[egbert]

How do you all store yours - I am thinking that I need to get some sort of sack and keep it in the garage, but  dont want to attract mice either . . . 

[Greenerlife]

This is the first year that I shall have more potatoes than I can eat immediately so I am looking forward to the replies!  However, I usually buy my potatoes in a reinforced brown bags and store them in the garage as I eat my way through them, and have never had any mice problem at all (and I know I have lots of mice in my garage)

[Wizard]

Hello Egbert and G Let me tell you how the big lads do it.Don't forget you cannot store earlies  and second earlies very long.They must be main crop.Ideally harvested around mid September and dry.Now if you have some 5000 tonnes you have a potato store with fans that is controlled by Temperature and Humidity Stats which switch on the air automatically to keep them in good condition.The Middle growers Store them in one tonne boxes in the drier and give them a blow when they think its required.Many put the small bales around the walls to protect them from the frost and cover them over.You and I store them in Hessian sacks in the garden shed or garage.The brown paper bag is not used for actual storage.From a bulk store the potato is riddled and graded and put in the paper sack.Do not let them get wet or harvest with a lot of mud stuck to them. What ever you do do not wash them before you store them.They will rot very quickly if you do

[Fleecewife]

The tale of our tatties last year.....we worked hard to bring in our crop before the winter, but we were overtaken by the frost.  Still we had 6 out of 9 rows stored, hanging up in hessian sacks in the barn, all neatly labelled, then the whole lot covered with a heavy tarp draped over the top.  Then came the frost down to -16 and we lost most of the stored crop, except a few snuggled right in the middle of the sacks.  Once the frost had gone, a couple of months later, I looked at the undug rows and thought I had better clear them for planting the next crop.  And there were three rows of beautiful, non-frosted tatties    We hadn't even covered the rows with straw to protect them.  A few had slug holes, but they had survived far better than the stored ones    So is it worth digging the things up I wonder?

[pottsie]

I had my first crop last year, with four large thick brown paper bags used to store what i had left. I placed each bag in to an empty tesco delivery crate, to stop them getting knocked or squashed and it also allowed plenty of fresh air around the bags. We are just finishing the last although they have got a few sprouts on. It seemed to work for me.

Rob. 

[valr]

Stupid question - where can I get hessian sacks??
I was planning oin using a couple of paper sacks I have but maybe thats not the bext plan .. ?

[knightquest]

Stupid question - where can I get hessian sacks??
I was planning oin using a couple of paper sacks I have but maybe thats not the bext plan .. ?

We are a long way from you but we have a pet shop and we sell peanuts. They come in hesian sacks and we have thrown them away before now, you could have had some of ours. Perhaps you could try your local pet shop? Hope that helps.

Ian

[suziequeue]

Our local hardware/gardening store was "selling" those red netting bags that potatoes come in.

They were free - you could take as many as you wanted and make a donation to a local charity.

We took loads to store kindling in but haven't used them. We've been so disorganised about growing potatoes this year that I don't think we'll have much of a crop.

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Susanna

[Wizard]

Hello Vair and pals. In my opinion no honest question is stupid if you don't know the answer.I have lived all my life in the country although I now live in the village that is a part of Grimsby.I know the answer to your Question as it has been part of my life.Always have we grown potato's When I was a child Father and the men on the farm always had 3 rows of potato up the headland of one of the fields if potato's were not being grown that year.These were lifted and pied (Put in a Clamp) later the clamp would be opened the potato riddled(sorted usually over a 2" mesh) bagged in hesian bags and stored in the out house.The Mester bought the seed and provided the field the farm men provided the labour on Saturday afternoons.This progressed to multi row lifters and storage in,either Potato stores or 1 tonne boxes This method introduced the 25kg paper sack that you know about.The potato is not stored any length of time in paper sacks and I have never seen potato's in orange net bags Other than if I go to Boston to see farming friends and there is one to hand and we put some in to bring home.If you store potato's in the light they will go green and this is not good as to much of the green is harmfull to your health.The green skin contains a poison called Solinin and cause nasty stomach pains which can lead to death.The small amount you would get from a potato that was green and been peeled is unlikely to affect you but eating a lot of it certainly is not recommended.The stalks and leaves are much more poisonous as is the green parts of the Elderberry Flower one should only use the flower to make your Champagne or wine same with the berry use only the berry not the bracts the berries grow on again a little bit that got in is not likely to harm you but do not use the whole stalk the berries are on.Where have I wandered off to? If you look in the right place I have posted about modern potato harvesting.If you look under Thompson and Morgan or Dobbie Seeds ( in Google) they sell hesian sacks.Thompson and Morgan and Dobbies have very useful web sites and if you join they will send you an Email of what to do in the garden this month sort of thing very useful if you don't know.DON'T FORGET Do not use net sacks to store potato's.Carrots,Swedes Turnips Yes but not potato

[welshboy]

The tale of our tatties last year.....we worked hard to bring in our crop before the winter, but we were overtaken by the frost.  Still we had 6 out of 9 rows stored, hanging up in hessian sacks in the barn, all neatly labelled, then the whole lot covered with a heavy tarp draped over the top.  Then came the frost down to -16 and we lost most of the stored crop, except a few snuggled right in the middle of the sacks.  Once the frost had gone, a couple of months later, I looked at the undug rows and thought I had better clear them for planting the next crop.  And there were three rows of beautiful, non-frosted tatties    We hadn't even covered the rows with straw to protect them.  A few had slug holes, but they had survived far better than the stored ones    So is it worth digging the things up I wonder?

Snap- exactly the same here. When I ploughed our garden in mid march 3 rows of potatoes were fine - no rot,hardly any slug damage and some were sprouting ! even after the hard frost we had endured.

[valr]

Thanks guys - will try the websites Wizard suggests or ask at the petshop near my work!

Another unrelated question Wizard - I started off a bucket of elderflower champagne last night - I was wondering about how much stalk etc to put on - each flower head has about 2 inches of green stalk on it!!! Do I have to chuck the whole lot?? Nightmare .. dont want to poison anyone!!

[Wizard]

No it will be OK but it won't taste as delicate as pure flowers.You need an awful lot to poison oneself or friends Don't fret.Any petal wine try not to get any stalk for best results.If you venture into Rasp/straw berry wine making always squidge a few bananas into the initial mix in the pail if you don't you will find the wine lacks body.Don't forget any wine should be crystal clear before you syphon it off into bottles

[valr]

Thanks Wizard!

It will probably taste rank.

Ta for the tip about the banana - I plan on trying some strawberry wine soon! None of mine are anywhere near ready so may go to a local farm that does pick your own .... nice day out!

[Wizard]

Vair hello Try a real country wine next year used to be made by most of the farm workers years ago to have at Xmas especially.Beer was made as was cider but for an event Christening say Dandelion Wine was the thing and still is in some places.To make the real thing Collect your heads in a pail take them home and pull all the yellow petals out of the head DO NOT ALLOW ANY GREEN IN THE YELLOW AT ALL.This should be done on Dandelion Day the 23rd of April.It's also St Georges Day.It wants to be nice and sunny and the flowers wide open.When you have all the petals in the pail pour over 6 pint's of boiling water with half the sugar dissolved in it 2 to 3 minutes will do this will kill the wild yeasts present on the petals cover the pail with a damp tea towel immediately.When it has cooled say to blood heat or a little less get a couple of tablespoons of the juice and stir in your yeast when its bubbling nicely add to the pail along with the juice of 2 lemons a quarter of a pint of strong tea (for tannin)a 1/4 of a bottle of synthetic must (from the home brew shop)You need 2lbs of sugar for a dry and 23/4lbs for a medium wine After 4 days skin 3 fully ripe bananas and pulp and boil the pulp in a pint of water for 5 minutes allow to cool and add to the pail of petals and add a 1/4 teaspoon of pectozyme (to stop a pectin cloud developing from the boiled bananas)Cover as before and stir every day for 4 more days.Then add the other half of the sugar boiled for a couple of minutes in a pint of water and allowed to cool.Leave for a week but keep the covering tea towel damp and stir every day At the end of the week strain the contents through a double layer of muslin into a clean and sterilized pail and leave to settle 3 or 4 days Now having a sterilized demijohn to hand syphon off the best of the wine leaving as much of the lees behind as you can.Top up to the base of the neck of the demijohn with cooled boiled water and fit an air lock Place the demijohn in a nice warm place and leave to ferment out.Check at least once a week that the airlock has not gone dry.When the wine has stopped fermenting say 3 months time syphon off into sterilized wine bottles carefully avoiding getting any of the thin layer of lees.Cork and store at least a couple of years if its the medium storing the dry does not improve it only the medium.Just a little note for a few pence you can purchase a j pipe which you can carefully lower into your wine and it allows you to syphon off your wine without disturbing the lees.Well worth while if you intend to do much wine making.If you want to make Elderflower wine use this recipe but only use a pint to a pint and a half of flowers due to their pungency of their fragrance.I have tried all sorts of recipes over the years and this is the best in my opinion well worth the effort if you are prepared to wait.Make some to drink soon and some to store and build your stock every year then replace your stock as you use it every year at one time I had it on both sides of the stairs top to bottom thats a long time ago though,Try it its well worth the effort and it doesn't look like mud either

[valr]

Thanks Wizard I will definitely give that a try! I have tons of space in my garage for storing wine so will try various sorts!

Do you have a recipe for cider, perchance?