Storing root crops

[Chic Rustler]

How long do root crops like beets, turnips, parsnip, and rutabaga store if kept cool? And how do you store them? I plan on planting ALOT of root crops this spring and im hoping none go to waste

 

[baymule]

How long do root crops like beets, turnips, parsnip, and rutabaga store if kept cool? And how do you store them? I plan on planting ALOT of root crops this spring and im hoping none go to waste

Haha, good question. For me and you--EAT THEM. Or can them. Store root crops in our climate......I guess they could be pre-cooked. I would love a root cellar, but that is way far down the project list. How do you propose to keep them cool? In an air conditioned room? Beets, I would can. Rutabaga, if you will notice, in the grocery stores, they are waxed. I think I would cube them up and can them too. I raised a LOT of turnips in my spring garden. I stored them in a pig-then ate the pig.

Here you are, asking a question and I am trying to be funny. Seriously, I think you are showing admirable ambitions. I just don't know how to store said root crops in our climate. Maybe if you raised them as a fall crop, they might last longer in the winter.

On TEG, a fellow gardener (in Idaho-there we go-not in our hot climate) he dug a hole, dropped in a metal trash can, stuffed hay all around it and packed his carrots in it. he put the lid on, covered with hay and a rock.

Long ago, in lieu of a proper root cellar, people built a clamp. A clamp is basically a hill of dirt over a hill of say, potatoes. The theory being that the dirt insulates the vegetables and protects from freezing....didn't you say you have gophers? What a nice thing to do for the little varmits..... feed them all winter! Brain flash-people did cover the potatoes with lime, supposedly to keep insects and varmits away.

Out of all the possibilities, I like the trash can idea the best. Maybe make a radiant heat barrier cover for it?

 

[baymule]

Dig a trench where you are going to plant your potatoes. Fill with rabbit manure and toss in some lime just because potatoes like it and our sand is devoid of nutrients. Cover with soil and mulch. Mark the ends of the trench so you can find it when you are ready to plant. Let it set over the winter, should make you some bodacious potatoes. Manure tea as a booster during growing season is good. I don't think it would make them scab.

 

[Britesea]

Potato scab is caused by a bacterium-like organism, Streptomyces scabies, that overwinters in soil and fallen leaves. The organism can survive indefinitely in slightly alkaline soils, but is relatively scarce in highly acid soils. It is transmitted to plants by infected seed tubers, wind and water.'

Potatoes need to be kept moist and cool - not as cold as a refrigerator or it turns the starch into sugar and your potatoes end up tasting sweet. Of course, you can just bring them into a warmer area for a week or so and the sugar will go back to starch, but who plans ahead that far?

I found I prefer to dehydrate the buggers. Shredded, they make wonderful hash browns when reconstituted as the texture stays a bit firmer and they don't disintegrate like fresh potatoes can. If you cut them into slices to dehydrate, they are very good for scalloped or au gratin, and not too shabby in a stew. I tried dehydrating diced potatoes and that was a bust. No matter how long I cooked them, they still ended up with a little kernel of hardness in the middle.

I love the idea of the trash can, except you might want to rig up some sort of way to pull stuff out easily, like a net or a wire cage, or you will be lying down in the snow or mud trying to reach the ones at the bottom of a 4' deep hole in the ground. Also, it might be a good idea to dig the hole a couple inches wider and deeper than the trash can, and fill in with sand or something to allow water to drain away quickly or it might get inside the can and rot all your goodies!

 

[Chic Rustler]

Potato scab is caused by a bacterium-like organism, Streptomyces scabies, that overwinters in soil and fallen leaves. The organism can survive indefinitely in slightly alkaline soils, but is relatively scarce in highly acid soils. It is transmitted to plants by infected seed tubers, wind and water.'

Potatoes need to be kept moist and cool - not as cold as a refrigerator or it turns the starch into sugar and your potatoes end up tasting sweet. Of course, you can just bring them into a warmer area for a week or so and the sugar will go back to starch, but who plans ahead that far?

I found I prefer to dehydrate the buggers. Shredded, they make wonderful hash browns when reconstituted as the texture stays a bit firmer and they don't disintegrate like fresh potatoes can. If you cut them into slices to dehydrate, they are very good for scalloped or au gratin, and not too shabby in a stew. I tried dehydrating diced potatoes and that was a bust. No matter how long I cooked them, they still ended up with a little kernel of hardness in the middle.

I love the idea of the trash can, except you might want to rig up some sort of way to pull stuff out easily, like a net or a wire cage, or you will be lying down in the snow or mud trying to reach the ones at the bottom of a 4' deep hole in the ground. Also, it might be a good idea to dig the hole a couple inches wider and deeper than the trash can, and fill in with sand or something to allow water to drain away quickly or it might get inside the can and rot all your goodies!

Sand? That's our soil.

 

[baymule]

Sand? That's our soil.

Yeah, we have all the amenities of the ocean, except the water, seashells and fish!

 

[treerooted]

Do you have a root cellar or equivalent? It's all about temperature maintenance.

I don't have anything so I've been accumulating ideas, there's lots out there. I'm curious to see what others use.

I have tried things like wrapping in newspaper in a box out in a shed...but I just ended up with frozen and then mushy produce.

 

[Chic Rustler]

the trash can idea would work awesome for fall crop. Fill it with straw and put the vegetables in it for winter.


I suppose canning seems best for spring crops. I think I'm going to plant them in the spring and the fall. From what I can tell all those cold weather crops like to be planted early and harvested before it gets hot. That would leave plenty of time to replenish the soil and plant again in September.





So.... about the trash can. Would that work for potatoes as well. They harvest a bit later in the year, right?

 

[baymule]

What kind of potatoes are you going to plant? I always planted red skinned potatoes, generically known as "new potatoes". I guess that meant to eat them NOW as opposed to eat them later, who wants to eat "old potatoes?" I planted them in mid to late February, harvested in mid to end of May. It gets hot, they die. I read on the TEG forum, up north people plant later and harvest in the fall. You mean to tell me, their potatoes grow all summer and don't shrivel up, scorch and die? Well, I'll just be dad-burned. I tried canning potatoes, didn't like them. I have cut them into hash browns, blanched and dehydrated them, I liked that method of preservation.

Keeping potatoes cool is the problem for us. I had a friend that scattered them in his garage. he said he lost a lot of them to spoilage, but he grew a lot to make up for the losses.

 

[Chic Rustler]

I was thinking of doing the red potatoes. Not quite as big as the russet but faster. So plant them early too? And harvest when the plant dies, right?