# storm cellar/root cellar???



## anette (Jun 20, 2008)

There is a concrete storm cellar on the ranch we bought last year. DH was my hero and cleaned all the accumulated yuck out of it... 

Now the question arises. Can I use this as a root cellar? Ive never had one, and Im not sure what all can go in there? 

Sure, I could google some info, but Id rather get it from people who actually know what they are talking about.

If anyone has a root cellar, please give me some information on how to use it.

anette


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

Well, is it easily ventilated? Can you raise the humidity and still readily change the air? How about getting shelves down there? Most stuff is best kept at almost refrigerator temperatures, but things like taters and onions do better a little warmer. What's directly above this room, and how is it insulated? 

I have a root cellar but it's very very old, and built for that purpose. I'm not sure how much will apply.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Don't put your apples and potatoes in the same root cellar. Can't help you too much with the rest, other than that I'd do it. Wish I had one.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I store apples, pears and potatoes in the same cellar but have a vent from near the floor of each bin. A root cellar can not be wet but needs to be humid. I used 3" pvc for the vents. Apples, pears, potatoes and other root vegy's do well in a cellar. Onions like dry and warmer like a pantry, squash likes dryer, cool conditions like a garage....James


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

Your root cellar can usually handle most things depending on where you put them. Cool or cold and damp goes on the floor; warmer and/or drier stuff goes up on shelves. We have an old brick floor that we can water with a watering can, and it releases moisture slowly. Good cross ventilation, too. Walls are brick and stone; the ceiling is plaster and lath.

I used to be told to not allow taters to be cold because the starches would turn to sugar; but recently I read of someone who advocated cold, and then putting them in a warmer area for two weeks before using to cause the sugars to change back to starch. While I haven't tried it yet, I think it sounds interesting. We used to keep them in a slightly warmer room in the basement, in bushel baskets.

We do keep our apples in the root cellar too; but our root cellar is pretty big. I'm guessing maybe 16'x20,' but I've never measured. Apples give off ethylene gas which hastens ripening of most everything; so you have to keep those kind of by themselves. I had them last on a shelf about halfway up the wall and under a window on the east side of the house. I don't know for sure, but I think ethelyne gas rises; so I hope it gets sucked out the window.

OOOOH, I bet I could pop a little exhaust fan in that window! The wall/windowbox is about a foot deep, with an old wooden shutter on the inside. I could sandwich the fan in between, no sweat.


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