[DenimDave]

My wife stops buying potatoes and onions in Spring as the darn things sprout. Is there a way to prevent this?

I like my potatoes and onions! And would very much like to buy large bags of each.

 

[Hammerstrike]

Keep them in a cool / dark place would be my best advice. Someone may have a better solution.

 

[Aerindel]

My wife stops buying potatoes and onions in Spring as the darn things sprout. Is there a way to prevent this?

I like my potatoes and onions! And would very much like to buy large bags of each.

Keep them cool, dark.

I keep 100lb quantities of both in my food store room. When I buy in the fall they easily last until spring. When I re-supply in the spring, they don't last as well.

My storeroom is 35º all winter, but 60-65º all summer.

I think when you buy potatoes and onions in the spring, they are just leftovers of the same ones you bought last fall and so being eight months older, just aren't going to last as long.

Potatoes and onions need different storage conditions, and should be kept separate as each one releases gases that help ripen the other.

Both should be cool and dark, but onions should be as dry as possible, while potatoes like 50-60º humidity.

My onions hang in mesh bags from the ceiling, my potatoes lay in a large plastic tote with a dozen 1" holes drilled in it along the upper edges to control humidity (you want high humidity in there but nothing condensing)

 

[Justme11]

potatoes used to last a long time when I was a kid. Even just sitting in a bag on the floor.

Now they go bad really fast, even in the fridge drawer made for them. ANd onions go bad even faster.

Not sure what is different.

https://www.onions-potatoes.com/storage/potatoes.php

 

[lasers]

I am in a large potato growing region and potatoes are stored in large insulated sheds all around me. To my understanding when the fill each individual shed they have an idea of when that shed will be sold and then spray the potatoes in that shed with a chemical that prevents sprouting. The longer they intend to hold onto the potatoes the more chemical they use.

I have heard it referred to as sprout nip. I dont know if that is its actual name or how it is applied, maybe it can be bought in small amounts for home use.

 

[bunny]

I bought a lot of potatoes on sale one time, I pressure canned them . Some I diced and some cut into large pieces. Put in jar with boiled water and canned. Could probably add onions to jar. Also bought a large amount of onions one time. Cleaned them chopped some, sliced some and froze them and they keep a long time. packaged them 1 onion in each zip baggie for recipes. Had them all winter and they kept good.

 

[Justme11]

Sprout nip! thanks

http://www.evenspray.com/linked/sproutnip_label.pdf

CHLORPROPHAM FOOD GRADE 350 g per litre of isopropanol.
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Chlorpropham

"Sprout-Nip E.C. Potato Sprout Inhibitor is an emulsifiable formulation of food grade chlorpropham
for treatment of potatoes after storage to inhibit sprouting. It is mixed with water and applied to
potatoes in the packing line. SPROUT-NIP E.C. POTATO SPROUT INHIBITOR inhibits sprouting
by preventing cell division. Contact with the buds on the tuber is essential for results to be effective.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE
Potatoes must be clean and all bruises and cuts must have healed before treatment. Dirt on the potato
may prevent the chemical from reaching the buds. Application before wounds have healed will
prevent suberization and will leave the tuber open to infection by disease. Normally a minimum of
two weeks should elapse after harvest and before treatment.
APPLICATION EQUIPMENT
Sprout-Nip E.C. Potato Sprout Inhibitor is sprayed as a 1% emulsion to potatoes in the packing line."

Dang, doesn't look to me like something people should be eating.
Chlorinated phenyl groups are basically poison.

I see it is illegal in Europe, and also used as a pesticide. Listed to carry hazards of organ failure and cancer from exposure.

No wonder I don't like potatoes anymore.

 

[lasers]

When they use it around here the potatoes are dated depending on how much was used. They can NOT do anything with the potatoes until after that date. I assume it is to give it time to dissipate or break down.


You can also dehydrate potatoes. Cut them up, boil till soft and dry. If you dont cook them first they will turn black/purple as they dry. Salt or lemon juice or vinegar will keep them white, but boiling is easier.

 

[lasers]

Reading your research on sprout nip it looks like it is done at packaging time. Something else may be done just after harvest but way before packaging.

 

[Hammer 1]

When I was a kid, my neighbor used to grow red potatoes in SW Arkansas. He would store them under his pier and beam house. He would spread hydrated lime on the ground then dust the potatoes with lime. Don't know if that's safe or not. His potatoes did keep for awhile.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[browningv308]

I have sweet potatoes in my basement that are 2 years old, they almost dry out but re hydrate when baked for some reason. I keep them in a closet I built under the stairs, temps in my basement are high 60's year round.
When I dig them I never wash the dirt off and lay them out in the sun for about a week turning them every day. Then it's off to the closet in laundry baskets.

 

[Justme11]

Holy crap!

https://livingmaxwell.com/health-risks-conventional-potatoes

https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-018301_1-Oct-96.pdf

You know, pesticides were considered such a hazard, they were illegal to apply to food a month or so before harvesting.

This crap is used AFTER the food in harvested! And the people in the spraying area are wearing full body PPE.

At a minimum, don't eat the skin, but that damn stuff I am sure soaks straight into the potato. It is absolutely a poison and a carcinogen and it is applied at levels that will prevent a potato from budding, so still plenty toxic when you eat it!

Just bought my last damn potato. And those bastards don't even mention this on the news or on the label.

 

[TXplowgirl]

Holy crap!

https://livingmaxwell.com/health-risks-conventional-potatoes

https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-018301_1-Oct-96.pdf

You know, pesticides where considered such a hazard, they were illegal to apply to food a month or so before harbesting.

This crap is used AFTER the food in harvested! And the people in the spraying area are wearing full body PPE.

At a minimum, don't eat the skin, but that damn stuff I am sure soaks straight into the potato. It is absoloutly a poison and a carcinogen and it is applied at levels that will prevent a potato from budding, so still plenty toxic when you eat it!

Just bought my last damn potato. And those bastards don't even mention this on the news or on the label.

This is the reason my son and I are planning on growing our own this year.

 

[Justme11]

I was just looking to see where to buy seed potatoes around here.

Looks Like I gotta drive 40 miles to a tractor supply.

 

[lasers]

If you look up the dirty dozen list of most contaminated foods potatoes tend to be near the top of the list.

 

[S Roche]

I was just looking to see where to buy seed potatoes around here.

Looks Like I gotta drive 40 miles to a tractor supply.

Just buy the type you like at the grocery store. Set them out until they sprout, cut them up and plant em. I do it every year.

 

[Justme11]

Just buy the type you like at the grocery store. Set them out until they sprout, cut them up and plant em. I do it every year.

Well, if they have been sprayed with a poison that prevents them from budding, I assume that means they would not make great seed potatoes?

 

[S Roche]

Well, if they have been sprayed with a poison that prevents them from budding, I assume that means they would not make great seed potatoes?

No problem yet. 7 yrs so far. What poison do you speak of?

 

[BASS]

Just buy the type you like at the grocery store. Set them out until they sprout, cut them up and plant em. I do it every year.

I "always am told about the cutting and plantings of potatoes". What direction is the potato planted. "Eyes down or eyes right or eyes up"?

How do you "hill potatoes"?. I have no idea. I can build you a house but I am lucky to grow garden weeds. No.. NOT POT. Common weeds.

 

[A_SonofLiberty]

I have always planted them eyes to the top and gotten good returns.