Curing potatoes before winter storage is an important process that will help assure longer storing times for your potato crop.
Potatoes are a super important garden crop around our place. They provide us with a fresh vegetable source for a big part of the winter months. We store our potatoes for the winter in a makeshift root cellar that we put together in a window well on the east side of our house. This root cellar provides a nice cool spot for our potatoes to sit in all winter. But before we put them away for the winter, curing potatoes for a week or so first is very important.
5 Tips-How To Cure Potatoes?
An important step to do before storing your potatoes is learning how to cure potatoes. Curing potatoes is really pretty easy. After we have harvested our potatoes we take them into our garage for the curing process. You simply spread your potatoes out on a surface we usually just spread our potatoes out on a big table in our garage.
There are a few things that are important to remember when you are curing potatoes:
Tip #1 Handle with care
When your potatoes are in the curing stage leave the dirt on, the less you handle them the better. Cleaning the dirt off right after you harvest potatoes could damage the skins. They don’t need to be cleaned off at this stage so just spread them out on a surface and let them sit.
Tip #2 Airflow is important
Try to lay the potatoes out flat in one layer, don’t pile them on top of each other, give them a little room to breathe.
Tip #3 The cooler the better
Ideal temperatures for curing potatoes would be 65 degrees or below, in the fall that is often pretty hard to accomplish. But do your best to let them sit somewhere as cool as possible.
Tip #4 Somewhere dark is essential!
Light especially direct sunlight is the enemy of potatoes. Light causes the skins of your potatoes to turn green. Green skins on potatoes taste terrible and are mildly poisonous. It’s important while curing potatoes to do it somewhere as dark as possible. A little light for a few days isn’t going to ruin your potatoes, but it is very important that you keep them out of direct sunlight and as dark as possible. So we like a nice dark garage with any windows covered.
I also like to cover the potatoes while they are curing with a light blanket or in this case a piece of fabric row cover. This helps keep the potatoes in the dark, to keep them from going green.
Tip #5 Let them sit and dry
How long should you cure your potatoes? Curing potatoes takes time, so just let them sit and dry. We set our potatoes out for a week to 10 days. After they have sat for about 5 days I go out and turn them so that both sides of the potato dry well.
I know curing may take a long time but you won’t regret it. Letting potatoes cure is such an important step and it will help them store better in the winter months.
Why is it Important to Cure Potatoes before Storing them?
Hardening skins
The first and most important thing is, that curing potatoes for about 10 days allows the skins of the potatoes to harden or toughen. This hardened skin will help the potatoes store for months!
Dries off all wet spots
Moisture is the enemy of any long storing food. Allowing your potatoes to sit out for 10 days assures that all of the potatoes are dry before you put them away.
Curing Potatoes allows damaged spots to heal
Potatoes have the amazing ability to heal damaged spots. Much of the minor damage done to the skins of potatoes while harvesting will heal if the potatoes are left out and exposed to the open air for 10 days. This assures that those damaged spots don’t become “bad” spots that will end up rotting.
Curing potatoes forces you to handle your potatoes
Having to set all the potatoes out on a table, turn them, and eventually clean them off, forces you to handle all of your potatoes. This way you are able to inspect them for rotten spots or damage that may become future rottenness. You can then pull these bad potatoes out and keep them from being placed in with the good potatoes where the rot might spread.
Bad potatoes show up quickly
Another nice benefit of curing is that bad potatoes show up quickly. You are able to spot rotten spots or even softer potatoes that just aren’t going to store long.
Allows you to sort by size (and type)
It is also super handy to sort by size. I sort by small, medium, and large. Small potatoes are a pain to peel and are better used for roasting and in soups where the peels can be left on. Medium potatoes are perfect for casseroles and for mashing. Larger potatoes are the best for baking. When you sort potatoes by size it makes them easier to use during the winter.
Setting all these potatoes out also allows you to sort them by size and variety. Some varieties of potatoes store longer than others. Russets potatoes last longer in storage than reds so if they are sorted by type you can use the shorter storage potatoes first.
I’ve also found that having all the smaller potatoes in one spot makes us see them and think about using them because they always seem to be the ones we put off using.
Getting Potatoes Ready for longterm Storage
Once your potatoes have sat for about 10 days take a little time to inspect and do a rough clean of your potatoes. I handle each and every one of my potatoes. Use a pair of gloves and handle each one. Rub off as much of the leftover dirt as you can (being careful not to damage the skins). This will make them easier to clean in the sink when it’s time to cook them.
I also look for soft spots, unhealed damage, and rottenness. Any potatoes with these types of problems I bring inside and store in the fridge until they can be used up. Also, look for potatoes that are overall soft, these too won’t store as long so I also pull them out to be used up quickly.
Learn more about storing your homegrown garden potatoes here.
Thanks for the info, I want to do potatoes next year and this will certainly help. I never knew you had to dry them. Good tip for sorting by size too
You dont say how long the stored potatoes will be good for.
It’s too hard for me to predict. It really all depends on the conditions they are stored in and also the variety of potato. Some types last longer than others. When properly cured and stored we have had potatoes last until the end of March, so roughly 6 months.
I get my potatoes from the store,they are wrapped in a plastic bag.Should I also cure them as they are moist in the bag?
First off, you need to grow some of your own! They are SO MUCH better tasting!! To answer your question, no those potatoes were cured by the grower and also likely treated with a gas to inhibit sprouting. But if they are moist then I would set them out somewhere dark for a day just so they dry off and don’t mold. Also take them out of the bag and store them loose in something that has better air circulation than a plastic bag.
Is there any way to fix a potato that is green on one side?
Nope, once it’s green it’s going to stay green. We just cut off the green part and eat the rest.
Thank you for the info. I did not know the green spots on potatoes are mildly poisonous. Unfortunately for me I cannot have a garden so I purchase my food from a grocery store. I assume the gas they use to inhibit root growth on potatoes is harmess. Do you know what this gas is? Thank you, Paul
Paul, I don’t know a ton about the gas used, but there are health concerns about the most commonly used gas, and it is banned in some countries. I did find this article that may help answer your questions the gas is CIPC and this article is about some alternatives:
https://www.potatogrower.com/2013/08/using-ethylene
Could you tell me more about storing potatoes in window wells? Are they covered? What is the temperature? What can I do to store potatoes in my window wells?
Connie, Here’s a post I wrote about my window well root cellar. I hope this helps:
https://ourstoneyacres.com/window-well-root-cellar
Thank you for sharing! The information was great and a great idea!
This is such an excellent article! I wish I had known these things along time ago! Thank you so much for your post.
Thank you for this helpful, practical information about potatoes. Can I save some of my potatoes and use as seeds to begin growing more potatoes?
Alice, yes you can! If you want to do that then you really need to make sure you keep the temperature down around 45 for storage. That way they will last long enough.
I had no idea that one cured potatoes. As you can tell I am new to gardening and homesteading and am on a mission to be be just a little dangerous! Thanks for sharing! Very helpful.
Thanks for the info, we are ready to harvest potatoes this week. Now, to find a cool dark place. It has been in the 90’s this week. Will have to give this some thought.