How To Keep Potatoes In The Apartment?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Not every gardener has a cellar in his country house in which he could store his crops. What does the owner of the dacha do in this case? Of course, it brings the harvest home, to the city apartment. In this case, potatoes usually become the richest "for summer dacha catch". Its other successful and experienced summer residents collect whole sacks from the garden. Where in the apartment and how can you store potatoes so that they retain their appearance and quality until spring?

What do we usually do with the harvest in the apartment?

Most often, summer residents push (push, pack) bags of potatoes into the pantry of an apartment, put them in a wardrobe, a dressing room, put them under the bed, and make up on the balcony. It is known that for the successful storage of potatoes, a constant "cellar" air temperature is needed without fluctuations, which should not be higher than six degrees and not lower than two, otherwise the potatoes will simply freeze, and at higher temperatures they will begin to sprout and wrinkle.

It is clear that potatoes in an apartment will not be provided with such a constant temperature either in the pantry or under the bed. What to do? Still, we suggest stopping your gaze at the place where potatoes are stored on the loggia or balcony. Since it is here that you can provide the potatoes with coolness, which is very important for preserving its tubers.

We store potatoes on the loggia

The main task for potatoes on a loggia is to thoroughly insulate it for winter storage. A very simple option is to wrap each bag of potatoes with a cotton blanket that does not allow air to pass through.

Another way is to build an insulated box for storing vegetables on the balcony, into which a system for maintaining a constant temperature in it is mounted, for example, using heating lamps powered by the mains. The main thing in this option is to prevent the potatoes from contacting with the light from the lamps. On contact with light, potatoes can begin to turn green, which means that the poisonous substance melanin is formed in it. You cannot eat such potatoes. Opaque fabrics that do not transmit light can help in covering potatoes from light. This option, of course, is suitable for craftsmen who can build such a cellar house.

The previous version can be "strengthened" in its quality with an ordinary hairdryer, which must be built into it and turned on from time to time. A hair dryer can spray warm air on potatoes in severe frosts, and it can also ventilate it, which will preserve the tubers well.

The third option. Uncomplicated, but you need to be able to knock down two wooden boxes. If the hammer and nails do not hold well in your hands, you can buy boxes. One should be slightly smaller in volume than the previous one. The second box will have to be inserted into the first, and sawdust or other insulation, preferably made of natural material, should be poured into the distance between them. Make sure that the distance between both boxes is at least ten centimeters, otherwise it is a useless exercise. At the bottom of the "main" large box, you need to lay a warm cloth, an old blanket, or a blanket. When dried potatoes are poured into the top drawer, both drawers on top will also need to be insulated with a blanket. With this preparation, the potatoes will not freeze on the balcony even at minus 15 degrees.

On the loggia, you can save potatoes during the winter and in … an old refrigerator. Finally, a special insulated box for storing vegetables on the balcony can be bought at the store.

Additional tips for storing potatoes

Potatoes have the peculiarity of infecting the entire batch of the crop if only one potato is infected and rots. Therefore, you need to store it on the balcony in small batches and, on warm days in winter, sort out and view these small batches, whether there is any damage to vegetables in them.

The following advice is known to all summer residents and land craftsmen. However, beginners should be reminded that when digging potatoes, they need to dry well before storing them. Vegetables are dried outdoors and in the shade, not in the open sun.

In order not to open a batch of insulated potatoes once again in order to take a few vegetables for lunch, keep at least half a bag of potatoes for food at home, in the kitchen, for example, in a built-in cabinet. The main thing is that this section of the kitchen corner is away from the stove.