Sometimes growing potatoes is easier than preserving it. Unfortunately, most of the crop is lost during winter storage. Potatoes freeze due to the cold and become sweet, due to the heat they become moldy or often become food for rodents. If in a large village house you can always find and equip a suitable place for root crops, then urban residents have to literally get out of circumstances. For them, the question becomes relevant: where to store potatoes in the apartment?
The best varieties
Each variety of this root crop has a starch content. If potatoes are well boiled, this means that it has a sufficiently large amount of this substance. Foreign companies have a special marking, according to which the purpose of this root crop is adjusted. The most low-grade variety is marked with the letter “A”. It is suitable for soups. The variety under the letter “B” is used for the preparation of potato chips, and “C” is an ideal product for frying. When preparing mashed potatoes, naturally, you will need the most boiled potato, marked with the letter “D”. Root crops with a high starch content are best preserved.
For winter laying, as a rule, late-ripening varieties are used. These include such popular species as “Crane”, “Asterix”, “Lorch”, “Vesnianka” and “Picasso”.
Good storage rules
The best option would be a basement with a humidity of about 80% and an air temperature within three degrees of heat. You can’t immediately lower the potatoes into the cellar, as it can rot. At first, it is aired under the meager autumn sun and only after drying it is transferred to wooden boxes and demolished into the basement. This root crop does not like the neighborhood with other fruits or vegetables.
Boxes are placed on wooden racks, which should not be in contact with the wall. As a rule, twice a season they carry out a complete sorting of potatoes to remove moldy specimens.
How to save in an apartment
One of the best places is a balcony or a loggia where potatoes are stored in an apartment in the winter. Potatoes are left in wooden boxes, but covered with a warm, natural cloth. To do this, use an old blanket or blanket. Thus, root crops are provided with good ventilation with regular access to fresh air. They are equally well protected both from sunshine and from frost. The optimum temperature on the balcony is usually 10 degrees Celsius.
Often there is a problem how to store potatoes in an apartment in the winter, if there is no balcony.
Cold storage
If you maintain an acceptable temperature, you can keep potatoes in the refrigerator. This is a good solution, where to store potatoes in an apartment without a balcony. For this, it is transferred to a sealed plastic bag so that it cannot absorb extraneous odors of other products. The refrigerator has its advantages:
- It is easy to adjust the desired humidity.
- There is no light in the refrigerator, which is also important for the content of root crops.
- This is one of the best options for storing potatoes in the apartment in the summer.
- It is possible to provide an acceptable temperature for the entire storage period.
The disadvantages include, first of all, small volumes that can accommodate refrigerators. Usually they make up to five kilograms. And also, according to most, the taste of potatoes noticeably deteriorates. Something to do in this case obviously will not work. You should try to avoid contact of root crops with bananas, apples and berries.
In the kitchen
Where to store potatoes in the apartment, ate little space and no balcony? City dwellers love to store potatoes in a sink under the sink. As a container, most often they use an ordinary bucket, a plastic or wooden box, as well as thick paper bags. The place under the sink is quite dark and has a fairly optimal level of humidity. Again, the disadvantage of this place is the impossibility of maintaining a sufficiently large number of root crops. Keep in mind that the potato layer should not exceed one meter. In winter, at high room temperature, the sink will not save from drying out, even taking into account fairly good humidity. And also does not protect against germination. Therefore, it will be necessary to sort out the fruits at least once every 10 days.
Corridor Storage
It can be either its own corridor, or a common, inter-apartment. The second option is much better than the first and perfectly solves the problem of how to store potatoes in an apartment without a balcony in winter. The air temperature on the landing in the staircase is more suitable for the content of any vegetables. It makes up 10 degrees of heat in winter and does not allow root crops to freeze or germinate. Humidity can be maintained by using slightly wet sand in the box where the potatoes will be. The greatest concern is the preservation of the crop in the presence of unfriendly neighbors. In such cases, you need to build a box with a lock and just lock the vegetables on a turn-key basis.
Summer storage
When keeping potatoes in the warm season, some difficulties may also arise. If root crops provide heat in the winter, then in summer the question is how to find a cool place, because the temperature should not exceed 18 degrees. Therefore, the question is often very acute: where to store potatoes in an apartment in the summer? Unfortunately, in the summer it’s hard to do this in the apartment. Therefore, next to the box put a container of cold water, which is occasionally changed.
Some apartments have storage rooms. They may also be suitable for keeping vegetables. They are quite dark and warm. Humidity in the pantry can be adjusted independently, but it is best to overlay the roots with wet sand.
Boxes for potatoes
Where is the potato stored in the apartment? In a box that almost everyone can build. It should be borne in mind that there should be two of them. One is smaller and the other is larger. The difference should be about 20 cm in length, height and width. Sawdust is placed at the bottom of the first box, and the walls are insulated with cotton. Vegetables are placed in a small box, which is placed inside the first. Thanks to the double protection, the potatoes are not afraid of frost and can be stored not only in the apartment, but also on the landing. And also a good option would be the basement of a multi-storey building.
Root crop preparation
Immediately after the potato has been dug up, it should be left lying on the ground so that it dries a little. If the weather is cloudy, then the potatoes are transferred to the room where it continues to dry. It is extremely important to completely dry the vegetable, otherwise it will begin to rot and mold. They don’t wash potatoes, but only shake off dried mud. To do this, you can use a brush or a hard rag. Damaged root crops cannot be stored and immediately laid aside. It is advisable to select vegetables of the same size. Particular attention should be paid to the presence of diseases. Otherwise, one root crop can infect the entire batch.
Humidity and temperature
Vegetables should not be exposed to light during storage. The tubers turn green instantly, which is why they develop solanine poison. Such fruits can be used in food only if you carefully cut the green layer. The storage location should be cool enough, the temperature should be about six degrees heat. At low temperatures, the root crop freezes and becomes sweet. In case of a higher temperature, the eyes grow in the tubers.
The optimum humidity is 85%, but 90 is allowed. In order to control the temperature regime, it is advisable to put a thermometer in the box.
Potatoes can only be combined with beets. Other vegetables will not work. The potato releases the moisture that the beets receive. Such a neighborhood is very beneficial for both vegetables and helps them survive until spring. It is advisable to choose a storage location away from the balcony or loggia. Thus, tubers can be protected from direct sunlight and from the cold. However, these problems can easily be dealt with with a blanket or warm blanket. An unsuccessful place for a box with potatoes will be any close proximity to a heating battery. In this case, the tubers dry and wrinkle quite quickly.
Useful Tips
There are some rules that will help to store potatoes in the apartment, wherever it is. Experienced owners manage to keep her in good condition until spring:
- If sprouts appeared on the surface of the tubers, they are first cut off, and then the tubers are covered with dry mint.
- Another plant that is used to preserve vegetables is wormwood. The specific smell of this herb can scare away bacteria, and also prevent the appearance of fungal diseases.
- Instead of a box, you can use a bag of burlap. Wood and burlap are the best materials for vegetables.
- In the first month after laying, you should regularly check the root crops. It is during this period that diseases are manifested that were not previously suspected.
It should be borne in mind that in most cases this vegetable is poorly stored in the apartment. The exception is sweet potato yam. In general, taking into account all the rules, root crops are quite well kept intact until the end of March.
Special tools
In order to store potatoes in an apartment where it is warm enough and there is a risk of germination, use the special tool "Epin". It is diluted in water at the rate of one drop per glass of liquid. The resulting composition is sprayed with root crops from a spray gun. Thanks to him, they are stored much longer and are more resistant to rot formation. Copper sulfate, with which tubers are processed before placing them in boxes, also proved to be quite good.