Storing Onions and Potatoes

[tortoise]

Option 1: Hot and dry (the garage)

Option 2: Cool and moist (the basement)

Which is better and why?

 

[mrbstephens]

 

[miss_thenorth]

How many potatoes are we tlking about? Are those the only two choices? Me--I'd go for the cooler one. I had 150# of potatoes stored over winter in the stairwell of my garage. My winters get to about -20C, but it didn't freeze in the stairwell. I don't know what the humidity was but it is not dry at all. Once it started warming up, they started sprouting, and were ready for planting.

 

[Mackay]

Cool and dry is the best but since you don't have that what if they were placed in wood shavings or sand.

Carrots store well in sand I know.

I just found this.

Avoid rinsing potatoes before storing.

Step 2
Place potatoes in a brown paper, burlap or plastic bag with holes in it.

Step 3
Store in a cool, dark, dry place. A root cellar, if you have one, is the best storage option.

Step 4
Make sure the temperature in the area is about 45 to 50 degrees F. Don't store potatoes in the refrigerator, or they will become too sweet.

Step 5
Avoid storing potatoes with onions because, when close together, they produce gases that spoil both.

Step 6
Store potatoes no longer than two months if mature. If they are new, store no longer than one week.

( I dont agree with this. How long they will store depends on the variety and the storage conditions. If you want them to store till May you have to find a variety that is known to do so.)

Step 7
Check on them occasionally and remove those that have become soft or shriveled, as well as those that have sprouted

 

[tortoise]

I think it is about 50# of potatoes. Not more than that.

So if they are separate, then potatoes in the basement, onions in the garage?

 

[chicken stalker]

We stored about 50+lbs of potatoes in our basement which is cool and moist. After we dug them up we laid them out in a shady area to dry. We left all the dirt on them, put them in 5 gal buckets and some cardboard boxes and put them in the darkest part of our basement. They lasted until spring.

 

[justusnak]

We stored our in the garage last year. Now, my garage is partly underground, so it stays cool in the summer, and never freezes in the winter. We stored them in a cardboard box, in a dark corner. They kept ALL winter. This year, I will store them in the garage again, but I am going to use a large wooden crate, and pine shaveings.
The onions, same area...well...in the garage, but in a dark cabinet...still cool. They too lasted all winter. They were in a basket.

 

[Farmfresh]

I ALWAYS wash my potatoes before storing them. I scrub them nice and clean (gentle on those soft skins) with lots of clean water. Then - and this is VERY IMPORTANT - spread them out in a shady breezy spot with no potato touching for about three to five days. They need to be good and dried out. Even if you don't wash them they still need to do this. It gives the skins a chance to harden up a bit before storage.

Then I put them in a mesh laundry bag or burlap bag and hang them in the darkest place I can in my basement. COOL and DRY if possible.

I treat onions in a similar fashion but I don't actually wash them, just sort of dry scrub the bulbs until clean clip off the roots and finally, after it is dried up, clip off the leaves.

Any damaged potatoes or onions are sliced (potatoes) or diced (onions) and then dehydrated.

 

[2dream]

I have my 80 + lbs of potatos stored in my house. (It was the only option.)
They are in inexpensive mesh pop up laundry hampers that fit perfectly under (of all things) a sofa table. I just placed the table up against a wall, draped with a really nice table cloth. I used wood shavings as a packing medium. I tried to make sure no potatos were touching. So far so good. Its been a couple of months now and they are still like new. I don't wash my potatos either.

 

[mamagoose]

My BIL stored about 50# in big rubbermaid totes with moisture absorbers in the bottom of the pantry in his apartment. They lasted all winter , spring and the begining of summer.