For storage potatoes, start off harvest immediately after the vines have died back again normally on their own and have been lifeless for about two weeks. To verify maturity, dig up one or two check hills of potatoes. The skins on mature potatoes need to continue being firmly connected to the tubers when rubbed with a finger. If the skins on the tubers are skinny and rub off effortlessly, the crop is not absolutely experienced and will not retail outlet perfectly. Hold out a couple additional days before harvesting.
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Potatoes can tolerate a light-weight frost, 30 to 32 degrees, while still in the floor, but heavier frost will have an affect on potato good quality and shorten their storage lifetime. Freezing temperatures bring about the potato flesh to change gray or black.
Choose a warm, dry day to harvest. With a spading fork, dig up the hills getting cautious to dig considerably ample away from the main plant to keep away from bruising, skinning, or chopping the tubers. Gently brush off a vast majority of soil, but do not wash them. Washing decreases storage lifetime and raises the potential for rots.
Type out any potatoes destroyed through harvest and use them for contemporary taking in as shortly as probable. Weakened potatoes are likely to rot in storage.
Curing and storage
Right before placing potatoes in storage, the tubers need to be cured. Treatment potatoes at a temperature of 45 to 60 levels and higher relative humidity (85-95%) for two weeks. Therapeutic of minimal cuts and bruises and thickening of the skin takes place during the curing method. Use perforated plastic bags to provide the substantial humidity desired in the course of curing.
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