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Sweet Potatoes- How to cure sweet potatoes when you don't have a warm, humid room

 
pollinator
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I currently have sweet potatoes (technically yams) in the ground that are going to need to be harvested soon. As a newbie, it is to my understanding they need to be cured at about 90F in a humid place for about 10 days before they will acquire their sweet taste. What are some tried and true ways of doing this when you don't have a space heater, let alone a small room to store the potatoes in to cure?

I saw online some articles saying to do it in the oven... but is this reliable?

I do have a small humidifier, just no heater.
They're beauregard yams.
 
pollinator
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If your night-time temps are high enough, maybe try a hoop house or similar?
 
gardener & hugelmaster
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Perhaps in a car parked in the sun with an open container of water?

I've been growing various types of sweet potatoes for several years & they come out of the ground sweet enough. Yams might be different. Also, sweet potatoes leaves are very tasty.
 
steward & bricolagier
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I might be wrong, but Beauregard is a really popular sweet potato variety, not a yam. Yams are big! Sweet potato is smaller than a cantaloupe, yam is bigger than one.  If it's a Beauregard sweet potato, I have never cured them sweeten them.
 
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I think the main reason for "curing" sweet potatoes (and yams) is to prolong their storage life by promoting the healing over of any damaged spots.  I have had almost as good a result by sorting carefully through them and placing any damaged ones separately to be used first, and then putting them directly into storage after letting them dry out for a day or two.  Don't wash them or abrade them or drop them....handle them like eggs and place into shallow containers and store them somewhere above about 55. In the heated part of a house rather than any kind of cooler space is better.  Look through them every few days at first, and then every few weeks, and sort out and use any that show signs of decay.  This will especially work well if you don't have a huge crop that will last through the storage season anyway.
 
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I've cured them in a 60 to 65 degree basement before.  I'm not sure if it worked but they kept well until late winter.  I don't know if they were as sweet as they could've been but they worked for me.
 
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thanks for this post and for all the info, folks. i have been reading up on how to store my potatoes and repeatedly saw the recommendation of 95% humidity for several  days. as I read all I could think was, "HMM...I don't have a magic humidity wand available."  these tips will be useful.
t
 
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