Not hijacking the thread about onions. We have been digging potatoes and this is the biggest potato crop I can remember in the last 45 years. Now the question is how to keep them from spoiling?

Low light cool location....
My basement worked great when I was raising potatos and needed to store them.

I leave mine in the ground until I need some
Cover them with wheat straw (heavy) and a waterproof covering
I do the same with sweet potatoes

Make sure your ground is fairly dry before covering the rows
Don't ask me how I know that

If you have voles nearby, covering the potatoes with straw will disappoint you.....ask me how I know...lol

First, you need to put them somewhere dark, with some air movement ( fans ). Get them dry, skins will “ set “. Never put them in the light, sun or artificial. They’ll turn green.

I have a great place to store potatoes. There’s an old dug well at my place ( 140 years old ). On the top, there’s a cement cap and a metal trap door. I lower bushel bags of potatoes into the well, ( the water is about 10 feet down ), and tie off the sacks about a foot above the water. It’s cool, but never freezes in there in the winter. I can store this years potatoes in August, next June, they still haven’t sprouted.

No matter what you do, you need to keep an eye on them and remove the bad ones periodically. To avoid the hassle I've taken to just canning them all.

I would dig mine just before I expected a hard frost, then lay them out on cardboard in my dark polebarn for 10-14 days to "harden". After that we would put them in cardboard boxes in out basement that is fairly dry. No problem having enough to eat all winter and to plant in the spring.

I dig them when the vines are totally dried up. In our heavier clay soils if you get a wet fall I have found you get problems. I lay them out in a cool dark place to dry for a week or so. I then softly rub off most of the dried dirt and then put on flat boxes about 1 layer deep and put in our garage that is at about 52-55 degrees all winter. I to use the seed for next season. Mine are all red Pontiacs. They keep well till early April. I also make several dozen sheets of lefse and freeze that is a way to store potatoes for spring and summer too. I go through them periodically and take out any that are going bad.

Bryce

I can not beat leaving them in the ground and dig as needed down here without some sort of thermostat controlled storage device. I've tried and just digging as needed has worked the best. They stay good until they resprout in the spring.

I dig mine as soon as the vines start dieing otherwise they rot in the ground, I spread them out in my garage where the air flows through keep it dark as possible I leave them there a few days then put them in egg basket or milk crate and take them to the cellar we have potatoes till March/ April don't store next to onions.

Storing early potatoes usually not greatly successful. For the skins to thicken up you need the foliage to die down completely. 45 to 50F would be temperatures to shoot for with low humidity and dark.

Unless you want thin skinned ( new potatoes ) , I leave mine in the ground until the stalks die off. We always have potato salad on the 4th of July, with new red potatoes. I went out today and rooted around under some plants, and got a few pounds.

Skins will thicken and store better. Gotta keep an eye out for garden voles….they’ll clean you out below the ground, and you’ll never know it.

Don’t try to over winter any spuds with shovel damage, or any that have some green on them. They’ll rot.

White potatoes will keep better than reds.

For storage: Keep in a cool dry place. DO NOT WASH THEM! Leave the dirt on and dust them with Ag Lime to prevent sprouting.