# Potato Storage



## Athens GA. (Nov 27, 2012)

Id like to have something that acts as a "root cellar" for storing potatoes, but I don't want to build one or even store potatoes under the crawl space of my house. I have a lot of 55 gallon drums on hand, and want to know what you all think of storing them (with maybe hay?) inside a drum. I could even burry the drum if need be to keep them cool, and alter the drum if need be. 

I could also store them in the house, but I've heard that an even cooler space is ideal. Let me know what you guys think about the drum idea, and if that's even necessary. Id like to keep them year round+


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## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

we used to put them under shade trees and cover with hay and/or leaves. they last quite a while if kept dark. here there isnt much you can do about temps without going under ground. they wont last the entire year but wont go bad as quick as in the house. good luck


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

a drum buried at an angle into a hillside . so you can reach in with straw in the bottom to helpwith air circulation as long as it doesn't get flooded with water drainage is important. as long as you can keep varmits and water out any hole dug below the frost line will work many old farms had a tator hole with a wooden box buried in the barn of shed floor .how about putting some plastic milk crates in your crawl space .I have a root cellar 1o x 12 feet dug into a hillside buried on 3 sides that works great ut after staying solid all winter they are starting to sprout now but with the garden planted hopefully they will make it till new potatoes can be found there


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Do you have a concrete floor and stem wall building? Garage? lay 2-2"x4" on the fllo. parallel about 18" apart. Then build a bin on top with holes in the bottom. Back corner of a garage works. Concrete floor stays cool and the holes in the bottom let the air circulate. Top needs to keep the light off the potatoes but let the air move. I throw a heavy blanket over the top of a slatted wood lid....James


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## Athens GA. (Nov 27, 2012)

I like some of those ideas. I'm in a mobile home without a basement. I just hate dealing with the crawl space. The buried drum sounds like a good idea. I could probably keep it somewhat air tight (lids that screw down), but is airtight better or worse? I could after all store in the house definitely during the winter, because I don't heat the whole house. There are rooms that stay outside air temperature. But I don't know how humidity comes into play in regard to a barrel in a room. Anyone?


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

I am your SC Neighbor. Last year we had several frontend loader buckets of potatoes. I layed down some hay in a shady spot between some trees that stays shady all day and spreaded the potatoes out. I have a pump station house I bought from the Water/surage company(looks like a big pipe cut in half to form a C--but its 6ft high in the middle) I placed this over them, put one end in it, hung a cloth on the other end to block the light some. We used potatoes out of it since we dug them last year---through the Summer, fall---all winter and I took the smaller ones in first part of Feburary and planted potatoes. There is still usable potatoes in there now. 


My thoughts if I did not have this Pump House would be to to use 2 sheets of exterior plywood making a A frame to put over them. I left the back end a few inches off the dirt/straw so air could move through it. Do the same with this. When you need potatoes it would be simple to tilt this A frame up some to get to them.

This is the first year in my 57 years of life that I and my Parents have ever had potatoes to last this long. My Parents always spread them under a shady tree and if it rained they got wet. I did what they did for years until a few years ago.

Keep them in a shady area, where air can move around them in a single layer, some what dark area covered from rain etc----they should be good.


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