okay, I grew extra red pontiacs.. OH my god, the salt potatoes were better than ever in this rainy, cold, sunless season.
however the extras I figured i'd dry outside in my 20' drip tray with my texas supersweet onions are green under the skin and have a nasty aftertaste after a few weeks in the tray (not completely rainproof - and in the sun)
it could be they got too moist? should they be dried n a shed? could they....
I am losing a little manhood on this one.. I dried potatoes next to the onions.. - the onion soup is incredible! My chowder pot has no potatoes. Big ugly problem. - i NEED CHOWDER!
WE plucked a bushel of oysters and clams over the week every night (till 1 AM) and spent the last four saturday nights (till 4 A.M. ) catching blue crab. .. are the potates recoverable.. if not - are they seed for next year- what the H E double chopsticks went wrong?.. do I really have to buy potatoes to put in my home chowder?
-joe-
Green potatoes? storing didn't work....
Irish potatoes turn green when exposed to sunlight. They must be stored in the dark. The green part is mildly toxic and should be peeled away before using the potato.
Ditto what F-dill said about the sunlight and taters...
...now about all those delish oysters, clams and crab, I'm jealous! I'd take that harvest any day over a bushel of spuds! Congrats, Joe!
Shoe
are the potatoes recoverable... use them for planting next year?
This is the first time I grew enough to store for winter use and have a 5 gallon bucket of green red pontiacs.
which beckons question 2? - the sweet potatoes. we are frosting heavier and more often so far than usual.. generally a frost or two until November at which time we start to get the killing freeze..this year a frost every night and the almanac call for coldest and snowiest in 20 years.
We grew extra sweet's this year too. we have been diggin' and eatin' for some time, but there is a 20 foot row left to store up or leave in the ground. The plants are hanging in there like troopers.
store them, leave them, hoophouse them, row cover Them, .... my first shot at storing potatoes.
Holy cow batman... They are incredible fresh - fresh tomatoes kinda incredible///
I figure that if the Irish can do it, it can't be too hard...
okay -- bad joke, i'm of Russian heritage and it's kinda funny....( insert your own politically incorrect pun)
if you ever find yourself in the region, give me a call.. I am right off the long island sound - my nephew is a clam and oyster farmer..
seriously, give me a call.
I will be headed to the South Carolinas in the Christmas season and would love to hit the Dill or Shoe ranch. ( Savannah is great, but the in-laws are in west S.C.) .. dilemmas every year.
anyway, the potatoes.. .. growing great but horseradish and many other perennials lost ground (size).. looking forward to a winter of prep..
thanks
-joe-
1. If you have only had them in the sun for two weeks, the greening probably has not penetrated very far into the potato. They are usable as long all the green part is removed. http://www.mvproduce.com/greenspuds.html http://news.curiouscook.com/2006/08/green-potatoes-may-not-be-as-toxic-as.html. They will be fine as seed potatoes assuming other factors like soil borne diseases are not in play. In my youth we use to double crop potatoes, when the spring crop was dug, the small ones were left lying in the sun for a week or so to green up. Then they were planted for the fall crop.
2. Sweet potatoes are a root and not sensitive to light. They need warm ( min 50 degree) storage. Don't leave them in the ground under frosted vines or leave in the ground with a soil temp below 50 degrees.
This message was edited Oct 15, 2009 4:58 PM
very good, We planned to pull the sweets this week, the Pontiac have a nasty taste and are green under the skin. I have no disease concerns - so I'd imagine i could save them and plant a double row next year.
I have read several differing ways to save potatoes for seed- how do you do it?
Irish potatoes I just put in wooden bins in the root cellar. Those I don't eat I use for seed potaoes. Sweet potatoes, I put in wooden boxes or Kraft paper bags and keep them in the computer room. Nothing special, just remeber low humidity will cause Irish potaoes to shrivel badly. Need cool and moist. Sweet potatoes, just don't let them get cold, they are not too picky otherwise.
jjconcepts - I stored sweet potatoes in wicker baskets last winter standing on our kitchen floor - not in front of, but to one side of where the heat comes out under a counter. They did great - I even had some left to use as starts this past summer.
The important thing is, as Farmerdill has said - get them out of the ground before it gets too cold. Another tip: Don't remove the dirt that clings to the potatoes.
As to your other potatoes - Back in England where I grew up, my parents used to store the potatoes in a covered metal bin standing next to a concrete wall that never got any sun. I remember having to go outside, brush off the snow from the lid, and root around inside for some spuds for dinner. Why they didn't freeze, I don't know - but we had potatoes all winter. My dad never saved any for "seed" but always purchased certified seed each year.
I didn't even think about the sunlight..we worked all year dropping straw to keep the sun off and I went and dried them in the sun. . Brilliant!
we had our first frost and an unusually early 2 inches of show that is melted off already. The sweet potatoes will come in tomorrow. Do all potatoes and the sweet tubers need to be dried a full 2 weeks like garlic and onion? or can I reasonably just let them sit out a day or two than bag them up into paper bags?
jjconcepts - I don't remember my parents ever "drying" white potatoes before they were stored.
As to the sweet potatoes, all I did last fall was dig them up, and put them into wicker baskets - left the dirt clinging to them.
I always think that doing something "the wrong way" is a good teacher - you will forever remember not to leave your white potatoes out in the sun :)
Irish potatoes whether white, red, pink, yellow, blue, or black) don't need any special drying. Sweet potatoes do need to be spread out so that they get good air circulation as they lose the initial water. They sweat and the moisture as it accumulates aids rot. I have not noticed any advantage to leaving them unwashed, but the dirt may help to dissapate the sweat, especially if they don't have good air circulation.
ohhh never again.
It will be easier not to cure or dry them.. and now I have a wonderful bucket for some potato baseball with the nephew! :)
that will be fun.. thanks
-joe-
jj, you can easily lay your sweetpotatoes out in a warm room and cure them. Were it earlier, and warmer in your area, you could've laid them on the ground and let the sun dry them. Some folks here cure them in tobacco trailers at about 80º for a week or two, or even in their warm back room or the like. As for me, I don't think the best flavor comes out until they've sat a couple weeks at a warm temp; non-cured sweetpotatoes don't seem to have a good flavor to me.
As for your Irish spuds, if you think they are not worth saving you should Google potato gun. Those are great fun and I bet you and your nephew will have a blast!
Shoe
we are going to punkin' chunkin' in PA in a few weeks. i'll bring them along!
-joe-