Storing Potatoes

Ho-lee smokes! Just took a look at the last of my potatoes after pretty much forgetting about them for a few months. You know what they say: "Life... finds a way." Wow. Chalk this one up as a learning experience.

Thanks for sharing.

Looks to me like a head start toward the spring garden.

Cut them into pieces and stick the pieces in some potting soil then keep them watered or maybe close the box and just wait a little longer.

Judging by the grass in the background, just plant them now and you'll be all set!

Check out Pearl's potatoes here:
https://permies.com/t/144980/won-potatoes-grow

I got some from her and the yield was about 2 lbs per tuber.

I thought I had a spidery box-full of spuds, but her "tater nest" puts mine to shame. :)

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:I thought I had a spidery box-full of spuds, but her "tater nest" puts mine to shame. :)

I lost the box in the garage :D
When I found it. trust me, I was freaked out :D
They grew well though

Storing potatoes is tricky.

If the goal is to plant right away, then that box of potatoes was ready weeks ago.

If the goal is to continue to have those potatoes for food, the old-timers would immediately break off all those sprouts. If you don't, the tuber will change: a hard nub around the sprout, and the rest will turn to inedible mush.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Storing potatoes is tricky.

I find that storing them at just above freezing keeps them from eyeing out too early.

Pearl Sutton wrote: I lost the box in the garage
When I found it. trust me, I was freaked out
They grew well though

Hiding an eyeing out potato somewhere in your friend's house seems like a good prank. Can you imagine one of those things comes jumping out at you when you're like grabbing a bath towel off the stack? I would screaam

Hello hello! I've just harvested the first generation of Andean potatoes that managed to grow here on the mountaintop over a torrential rainy season. It's a small handful of three types of spuds but at least they survived! I'd like to plant them and see if they grow again, perhaps a bit better adapted to the local conditions. What do the Permies suggest?

I grew the spuds on a raised "planting table" with mixed compost and leaf mould, straw, and a bit of local clay made it in there too.  They grew lush, flowered and then withered down under the relentless daily rains, so following grandma's potato advice I harvested once the stalks had died back. Then I made the mistake of rinsing them off. The purple ones seem to have come through the best. The yellow ones immediately started growing mold and rotting. The round white/yellow ones are OK but only the size of marbles. There are still a couple of varieties growing so I'll get around to them later.

Now we're coming up to winter which means the weather will be dry, intensely sunny in the day and cold at night, possibly hitting zero (C) once or twice. I'm thinking it might be possible to plant these spuds and see if they grow with a bit of watering in a sheltered spot... winter might even be better for them since they'd be spared those relentless rains. Or then again maybe not. But if I try to store them in sand they might just rot away. What if I'd not harvest them and just leave them in their bed?

What does the Forum think about hedging my bets and just sticking them in a plant pot of sandy soil and leaving them?