About 35 years ago I lived in a rural area and had a shop situated on a slight hill. One side of the building was about 3 feet above ground. The crawl space was open with no skirting. I put down a layer of pine straw and spread my potatoes in a single layer. It wasn't really dark and was certainly not cool (zone 9), but the spuds lasted from about May or June through about December if I remember. They shriveled some, but I consider that a good thing. When McDonalds first opened, they had wire bins outside where they aged their potatoes, because the shriveled ones make the best fries. I think now they serve frozen potatoes like everyone else, and they're not as good.
Ive been watching ypur content a while now but this was a great video. Living in Destin we face the same challenges. We've grown yukon gold for years, hit and miss also. Gold nugget, Mrs bowtie and i will definitely be trying that one!! Thanks! I suppose you could go with a wine cooler. They store are 45 to 65 F and optimal potato storage seems to be 45 to 55. Ypur brainstorm really got mw thinking about our potato delima. Really good experiment!
Thank you for this video! I'm in the same temperature zone as you, in south Texas. My potatoes, wrapped and in a dark room at around 72 degrees, only lasted a little over 2 months. I freeze dried what I could save. But, I'm going to look into a small refrigerator for essentially cold storage. Be blessed!
I live on the alabama florida line zone 9 and I live in a mobile home so no basement lol. For the past couple of years I have put shredded paper in a carboard box then a layer of potatoes with plenty of roominess between them then another layer of the shredded paper then just flapped the top closed and stored them in my walk in closet on the top shelf it has worked well for my potatoes and sweet potatoes. I would never have expected the last one of your trials to be the best either. Just gotta love experiments
Fruit and flowers produce ethylene gas which make potatoes sprout so keep them out of the refrigerator that you store your potatoes in. Thank you for the great video and motivation!! It is the end of November so I am going to try planting potatoes for the first time. Now that I know how to store them.
I live in south MS. We don’t have basements either. Enjoying your video, it came at a perfect time as I was wondering how to store potatoes. Thanks for the info
So interesting. Thanks for doing the experiment. I noticed a few years ago, with grocery store potatoes, that russet potatoes won't sprout in dark room temp for quite a while, but gold potatoes do so within a week. I started storing them in the (33 F!) fridge. They don't sprout and, sure, they eventually start tasting sweet - but not for six weeks or longer. That works fine for me, since I don't grow my own. I just googled the acrylamide issue. It looks like the risk of acrylamide formation is low in foods that aren't browned - as usual, the blandest food is the healthiest. 😪 Here's what the FDA has to say: "Acrylamide forms in foods from a chemical reaction between asparagine (an amino acid) and reducing sugars (such as glucose and fructose). This reaction is part of the Maillard reaction, which leads to color, flavor, and aroma changes in cooked foods. Acrylamide usually forms at elevated temperatures used when frying or baking (above 120 °C (248 °F)) and in low moisture conditions." The other point is, we don't know how large a risk it creates - some cancer "causing" agents only raise the risk to a handful of cases per million over a lifetime of use. Very high levels of acrylamide definitely cause cancer in mice; but it's a lot harder to track consumption in humans over decades, so we don't have good human data.
I've recently been thinking about this very topic. Using a dorm frig, set the thermostat to the warmest setting, then fit a piece of styrofoam under the thermostat snug wall to wall to wall and just up to the door. You've created the compartment for the thermostate to function as it should along with a "leak" for the cold air to flow between the foam and the door. Cut a bigger gap if need. I have not tried this yet but will do so once I pick up a dorm frig. What do you think?
I’m in 9b Florida and I just store mine in the fridge. Never had luck storing them in my pantry. They go soft and sprout maybe around the one to two month range.
I think I would try using the refrigerator potatoes as my seed potatoes. I can dehydrate, can or freeze dry my eating potatoes, but keeping seed potatoes until the next planting is the difficult part for me. I live about 60 miles north of Tampa.
You just needed to put them in a black tote and put the lid on it and drill some holes in the lid for ventilation.. and you can stack them up wo issue.. Ideally though for anyone growing a lot you want another fridge setup as long term storage.. you can get a used basic apartment style fridge used or scratch and dent for $150-200.. plus then you gain the additional freezer space as well.. I would still use black totes with lids and holes in them and label everything on the outside so you know what it is and I would also remove the bulb from the fridge..
Curious why you pre-sprout your potatoes before planting? Im in KY so maybe it's a deep south thing? We just cut them up with at least one eye on each piece and plant them.
Great question. In the spring, I don’t pre-sprout them. I just plant them whole, but in the fall, we have a great deal of rainfall that often causes the potatoes to rot in the ground. By having them already sprouted it shortened the amount of time for the plant to sprout, before the seed potato rots.
I thought the refrigerator one would do the best. I can’t get my potatoes to store for longer than a week or so. But we keep our house at 78. I’m in Southwest Florida so definitely no basement, no root cellar.
We are in North Florida, and keep our house at 78. We can't afford to go any cooler! We are used to it, so it isn't a big deal. We have ceiling fans we run on low speed and we stay comfy.
If you missed my potato harvest video, check it out here 👉 th-cam.com/video/QParY0XvQXQ/w-d-xo.html
@HomegrownFloridaZ9a I will thanks for the tip
If you raise the temperature of the refrigerator to 45 degrees you've essentially created a root cellar. Sounds like a good plan.
Thanks!
About 35 years ago I lived in a rural area and had a shop situated on a slight hill. One side of the building was about 3 feet above ground. The crawl space was open with no skirting. I put down a layer of pine straw and spread my potatoes in a single layer. It wasn't really dark and was certainly not cool (zone 9), but the spuds lasted from about May or June through about December if I remember. They shriveled some, but I consider that a good thing. When McDonalds first opened, they had wire bins outside where they aged their potatoes, because the shriveled ones make the best fries. I think now they serve frozen potatoes like everyone else, and they're not as good.
I'm a semi driver who moves many tons of potatoes each year.
We set the refrigerator trailer to 42 f. With air moving over them all the time.
That’s great info! Thank you
I was just getting ready to say, turn the old spare fridge up and use it to store them, ha,ha, glad to see it works
You were right. It was the best method
Great video, thanks for sharing.
You're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful.
Ive been watching ypur content a while now but this was a great video. Living in Destin we face the same challenges.
We've grown yukon gold for years, hit and miss also. Gold nugget, Mrs bowtie and i will definitely be trying that one!! Thanks!
I suppose you could go with a wine cooler. They store are 45 to 65 F and optimal potato storage seems to be 45 to 55. Ypur brainstorm really got mw thinking about our potato delima. Really good experiment!
A wine cooler is genius! That’s perfect.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a ah hah hah! I’ve already been shopping for one. Your video got me thinking about it! Thanks!!🙏
It was a stunning video
Thank you for this video! I'm in the same temperature zone as you, in south Texas. My potatoes, wrapped and in a dark room at around 72 degrees, only lasted a little over 2 months. I freeze dried what I could save. But, I'm going to look into a small refrigerator for essentially cold storage. Be blessed!
It’s definitely tough to keep these cold storage veggies longer in our warm climates
Looking for a small refrigerator Now I think this may be my best bet as I live in the same zone as you. Thanks for experiment helps us all
Absolutely 💯 my pleasure
Great information! I'm up in Birmingham, and my air conditioned house is probably cooler in the summer than the basement. Not to mention a lot drier.
I live on the alabama florida line zone 9 and I live in a mobile home so no basement lol. For the past couple of years I have put shredded paper in a carboard box then a layer of potatoes with plenty of roominess between them then another layer of the shredded paper then just flapped the top closed and stored them in my walk in closet on the top shelf it has worked well for my potatoes and sweet potatoes. I would never have expected the last one of your trials to be the best either. Just gotta love experiments
It was a big shock to me too!
Fruit and flowers produce ethylene gas which make potatoes sprout so keep them out of the refrigerator that you store your potatoes in.
Thank you for the great video and motivation!!
It is the end of November so I am going to try planting potatoes for the first time. Now that I know how to store them.
That's awesome! I hope you have a great first harvest!
I live in south MS. We don’t have basements either. Enjoying your video, it came at a perfect time as I was wondering how to store potatoes. Thanks for the info
You are so welcome! It’s always challenging storing potatoes in these warm climates
Thank you for sharing because I've had issues with storing them.
You are so welcome!
So interesting. Thanks for doing the experiment. I noticed a few years ago, with grocery store potatoes, that russet potatoes won't sprout in dark room temp for quite a while, but gold potatoes do so within a week. I started storing them in the (33 F!) fridge. They don't sprout and, sure, they eventually start tasting sweet - but not for six weeks or longer. That works fine for me, since I don't grow my own.
I just googled the acrylamide issue. It looks like the risk of acrylamide formation is low in foods that aren't browned - as usual, the blandest food is the healthiest. 😪 Here's what the FDA has to say: "Acrylamide forms in foods from a chemical reaction between asparagine (an amino acid) and reducing sugars (such as glucose and fructose). This reaction is part of the Maillard reaction, which leads to color, flavor, and aroma changes in cooked foods. Acrylamide usually forms at elevated temperatures used when frying or baking (above 120 °C (248 °F)) and in low moisture conditions."
The other point is, we don't know how large a risk it creates - some cancer "causing" agents only raise the risk to a handful of cases per million over a lifetime of use. Very high levels of acrylamide definitely cause cancer in mice; but it's a lot harder to track consumption in humans over decades, so we don't have good human data.
Thanks for that detail. It’s one of those things you have to weigh since there just isn’t enough info.
Florida 9b here. The fridge works the best.
We had very large root cellars growing up and different varieties did better in storage than others.
I could see how certain ones of my varieties did better than others.
I've recently been thinking about this very topic. Using a dorm frig, set the thermostat to the warmest setting, then fit a piece of styrofoam under the thermostat snug wall to wall to wall and just up to the door. You've created the compartment for the thermostate to function as it should along with a "leak" for the cold air to flow between the foam and the door. Cut a bigger gap if need. I have not tried this yet but will do so once I pick up a dorm frig. What do you think?
I’d love to hear how it does for you.
I’m in 9b Florida and I just store mine in the fridge. Never had luck storing them in my pantry. They go soft and sprout maybe around the one to two month range.
We diced ours up, blanched them, and then put them in the freezer in gallon sized ziploc bags. Wine cooler is another good option too.
That’s a great option too!
@HomegrownFloridaZ9a Do they taste good when cooking them? 🤔
I live in a tiny house in SC and mine just get put in a bushel box and they just hang out there till I use them. The smaller ones rot/sprout first.
I think I would try using the refrigerator potatoes as my seed potatoes. I can dehydrate, can or freeze dry my eating potatoes, but keeping seed potatoes until the next planting is the difficult part for me. I live about 60 miles north of Tampa.
That would work perfectly. It’s actually exactly what I’m doing this season
I live in Florida I have a tuff time growing potatoes when do you put your potatoes in the ground?
I aim for our cooler season. I start around November all the way to February
You just needed to put them in a black tote and put the lid on it and drill some holes in the lid for ventilation.. and you can stack them up wo issue..
Ideally though for anyone growing a lot you want another fridge setup as long term storage.. you can get a used basic apartment style fridge used or scratch and dent for $150-200.. plus then you gain the additional freezer space as well.. I would still use black totes with lids and holes in them and label everything on the outside so you know what it is and I would also remove the bulb from the fridge..
Thanks for the tip 💚
Where do you buy your seed potatoes?
I like Grand Teton Organics. They have done very well for me.
Curious why you pre-sprout your potatoes before planting? Im in KY so maybe it's a deep south thing? We just cut them up with at least one eye on each piece and plant them.
Great question. In the spring, I don’t pre-sprout them. I just plant them whole, but in the fall, we have a great deal of rainfall that often causes the potatoes to rot in the ground. By having them already sprouted it shortened the amount of time for the plant to sprout, before the seed potato rots.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a gotcha! We only get one potato season...early spring,so that makes perfect sense!
I thought the refrigerator one would do the best. I can’t get my potatoes to store for longer than a week or so. But we keep our house at 78. I’m in Southwest Florida so definitely no basement, no root cellar.
You guessed right. The fridge was the winner
78? I wouldn't even survive at that temperature inside a house
We are in North Florida, and keep our house at 78. We can't afford to go any cooler! We are used to it, so it isn't a big deal. We have ceiling fans we run on low speed and we stay comfy.
What is your seed potato source?
I like grand Teton Organics. They have been great every time I’ve ordered.
How far from Fort Lauderdale ?
I’m just north of Tampa