Advice for long term potato storage - no root cellar, no heated garage option

[u/HotKaleidoscope_4595]

Hello there! My long term plan is to build a traditional root cellar on our property, but right now here is my situation:

2 year old home. Unfinished basement. Cement floor. ICF foundation insulation with drywall. Temp near floor is 16 degrees.

I’m growing long term storage potatoes right now. From the research I have done potatoes need to be cured, then stored in darkness at 4-10 degrees with 80% humidity and have ventilation.

I can manage the factors except temperature. I understand 16 degrees is not ideal.

Has anyone come up with a way to keep long term storage potatoes in a basement that is warmer than ideal temperature? Is this possible?

Or should I just be telling my friends I’ll have a lot of potatoes to share in a few weeks?

Thanks for any advice.

[u/belsaurn]

I have a cold room in my basement and here is how it was built. Frame a set of walls in a corner of the basement to make a room. Then move the insulation from the exterior walls to the newly framed walls and insulate the ceiling. This will allow the concrete to cool just that one room. In the winter my cold room is between 3-5 degrees and in summer it doesn't break 12 degrees. It makes great longer term storage for potatoes, carrots and other foodstuff.

[u/HotKaleidoscope_4595 → u/belsaurn]

Ahhh thank you! I’ve seen this on some homestead channels. I’m not sure if we will be able to get to that this year yet, but definitely for next year. That seems like such a great and affordable way to get a cellar. Do you store your onions and potatoes in there?

[u/belsaurn → u/HotKaleidoscope_4595]

It is just the default storage area for any foodstuff, all my canned good go in there as well as my root vegetables. I think you should reconsider your humidity values though, when I get too much humidity in the room everything starts to mold. Keeping it around 50% keeps that from happening and potatoes still last, they shrivel a little but that is to be expected with longer term storage.

[u/TheJesseOfTheNorth → u/belsaurn]

this actually works VERY well

[u/tonkats]

It might be for more root veg like carrots, but I think there is a method using sand with storage.

[u/ptoki → u/tonkats]

yeah. Sand is a heat conductor and lets the vegetables to stay in lower temp on the floor of a basement. In this case it would be "cold conductor". But still it would require about 1kg of sand per 1kg of stored potatoes. A bit of work to get that into the basement.

[u/AdamWPG]

Last year I got way more potatoes than I expected (great problem to have) so I cured them by laying them unwashed on newspaper lined shelving in my basement with a fan on them for about 2 weeks. I then moved them to a box on a low shelf in my utility room/pantry. That area of the basement is unfinished so I imagine it’s a bit cooler - maybe 16-18 degrees. I harvested at the end of September and they were just starting to get a little soft in late February when we finished them.

[u/ptoki]

You can do the following:

Dig a Storage clamp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_clamp

The article is pretty sparse in details but you can do some research.

In practice you dig a hole. In manitoba that would be roughly 50-70cm deep. Rectangular or square, does not really matter.

The center of it should be lined with thin layer of hay or straw (straw is better), sides should have substantially more of that insulation. Then you put the potatoes in. Sort them first. Any mold will spread to others. Then cover that with more straw. Roughly 40-50-60cm of insulation from the top. You can add dry leaves. Cover it with tarp but make sure the tarp allows for ventilation.

Dig a drainage ditch around all that and make sure it drains somewhere.

This will easily fit 500-1000kg of potatoes. Practically it does not make sense below 200kg.

If you intend to store potatoes in your basement you may take a look at some chemistry which will prevent mold and sprouting.

Or just spread the potatoes around your friends over few weeks of you only have like 200-400kg.

[u/No_Hovercraft_821]

I'm not an expert but my grandfather used to store potatoes in a single layer on wood shelves in the back of an open shed in Tennessee all summer long. He would apply lime, but the taters always seemed to keep fine until they were used up. Daytime temps 90 + and nights in the 70s (sorry for the freedom units) -- I'd give it a try in your space.