78 degrees isn't a cool place.

Potatoes for storage need to cure, to let their skins harden. This takes longer than a day or so and they need air circulation during the process.

>78 degrees isn't a cool place.Ahh, but it's the coolest place in my house, unless I should try and find room for them in the fridge. Would that be advisable?

>Potatoes for storage need to cure, to let their skins harden. This takes longer than a day or so and they need air circulation during the process.This was the process I was attempting by putting them in a bag and stowing them away for a few weeks before using. We don't have anything like a root cellar, and the garage is around 120 degrees.

I can a lot of my potatoes. They're ready to use and won't go bad. Since you don't have a way to store potatoes, this might be a solution for you.

When I cure my potatoes I lay them out one layer deep, with space between them, on newspaper and run a fan over them. I think the closed up paper bag didn't give them enough air circulation.

I harvest mine in the fall, when the root cellar is cool, so then I can put them away--but always in open bins (I use laundry baskets). I don't know what you should do in zone 9 -- maybe the fridge is your best bet? I've heard not to refridgerate potatoes -- don't know why not, though.

If you harvested in summer, it makes me think that what you had was maybe new potatoes -- and these don't store. Had the tops of the potatoes died back weeks ago? They need to cure in the ground first before digging.

So sad to lose potatoes!

Refrigerator works fine for potatoes. Cool and moist.

The reason people say not to store them there is that the starches can turn to sugar and give them a sweet taste. But this process reverses when you take them out.

Still, with new potatoes, they won't cure in the refrigerator. Best solution if you don't have storage is to start eating.

Hummm....was going to harvest mine in August, but maybe will let them keep going until the weather cools off a little more. Cured them in my garage last year in September, but right now it's about 90 degrees in there.

I'm guessing that at some point in this process you also washed them or at least rinsed them off? Bad idea.

In additional to all the above tips never rinse or wash potatoes intended for storing as it only encourages them to rot quickly. Dig them when the soil is dry and just let any remaining soil on them dry well then lightly brush off with your hands.

Dave

I think it is the potatoes we have now. When I was a kid in Cen-Tex we stored potatoes in the hot TX heat and they lasted several months. Now I do exactly the same and am lucky if they last several weeks. The best luck I've had was when I buy baking potato from the grocery store and plant them. The skin is rougher unlike the potato I planted. But they make a little more and keep a little longer than any other I've planted.

>When I cure my potatoes I lay them out one layer deep, with space between them, on newspaper and run a fan over them. Elisa, good idea about the fan. How long do you leave the fan running over them? And no, they're not new potatoes. They were fairly large and all the foliage had died back. Guess in Zone 9 we harvest earlier.

Digdirt, never washed 'em, just brushed 'em off once the soil had dried.

I think they're all considered new potatoes when just dug, before they're cured.

How long do you run the fan over 'em? I have some Yukon potatoes but they won't be ready for awhile.

I haven't found them to rot when washed off with hose spray.

Nor have I. But I cure them spread out in a single layer with a fan going and make sure they're not still wet when they go into storage.

Rotting is due to bacterial activity. Bacteria need moist environment, warm temperature and stagnant air to grow. Well dried potatoes , in cool place(like basement) can last for months unless they had previous injury. It also depend on the kind of soil they were growing in. That is why they keep potato soil more acidic.

Most bacteria cannot survive in acidic environment. Think about vinegar spray ! But that is going too far to preserve potato.

Although there is nothing wrong with washing them off, I think it's suggested not to just so another bacteria opportunity isn't introduced. As long as they are completely dry that's the main thing. I choose not to wash mine FWIW.

I have a community garden where I grow my potatoes and leaving them in the ground is not an option. I dug mine a couple of weeks ago and they were in milk crates until I could get them stored correctly. I thought the milk crate allowed for good air circulation. I was going to try the newspaper layering technique but before I could get that done, about 10 potatoes rotted out of about 100 lbs. Right now, I washed most of the potatoes and have them drying on a screen on saw horses in my garage. I am going to let them dry well for a couple of days and then go through them again to check for any with signs of rot. We will see how this works.

So what do you do with the potatoes that have been next to the rotten potatoes and have that nasty rotten potato liquid on them?

"So what do you do with the potatoes that have been next to the rotten potatoes and have that nasty rotten potato liquid on them?"

Wash them off and use first.