my dh is bringing home #40 of potatoes for $5. so now i need to figure out how to store them. i have an unfinished basement, and has a big half wall/or big shelf made of concrete. it is about 3 ft x 8 ft long. do you think i could make some kind potatoe place there? put newspaper down and spread them out so they have plenty of air circulation. i dont know the temp down there, it is always cooler, and it stays dark unless we turn on the light, there is no windows. i think it must be moist though, bc it smells moist. and occasionally if we get a hard rain, we will have moisture on the floor in there, but not onthe shelf. do you guys know any other ways i could store them so they last as long as possible?
That sounds ideal if you keep them dry. We've got a section of basement that's a cold room. Basically it's a corner room with no insulation on the outside walls but will be insulated on the inside walls to keep out the heat from the rest of the basement. It's meant to be just what you already have, a cool, dark place to store stuff.
thanks, i thought it would be ok, it is only 40 lbs, so i would think that would be gone by christmas, lol. i will try it and see, he isnt bringing them home till wednesday, so i have a few days to clean it up. i have another?, we live in the country, so i wonder if there is a way to keep bugs or rodents out. we have ouir house sprayed every spring summer and fall. but we have the occassional mouse in the winter, bc we are surrounded by fields. i did get another kitty, a girl this time, and so the two cats have already been bringing up dead mice to show us their talents,lol. im just hoping i can keep them out of the potatoes. i dont think you can put them in any airtight container, bc you want them to have air circulation, not be piled on each other, or they will rot. i thought about making a screened type of box to go over the top?? with just a framed screen for the sides, to provide air circulation, but keep the pests out, lol. i dont know, i will have to think some more. your cold room sounds neat, so about how cool would your cold room get? i thought about sectioning off part of our basement and adding insulation on the ceiling and inner walls, and also, putting a duct that goes out the floor of the basement to allow the cool air in from ouit side and a duct that goes out of the top of the room to allow the warm air to go back out, with maybe an exhaust hooked up? i read about that on line somewhere.
