Root Crops
Root crops such as beets, carrots, celeriac, kohlrabi, rutabagas, turnips, and winter radishes should not be put in storage until late fall. Root crops keep best between 32° and 40° F. They require high humidity to prevent shriveling. Continued storage at 45° causes them to sprout new tops and become woody.
Large and overmature root crops may become tough and stringy in storage. Small and immature root crops probably will shrivel.
Dig root crops when the soil is dry and the temperature consistently low. Prepare them immediately for storage. Cut the plant tops about a half inch above the crown. Beets will bleed unless 2 to 3 inches of the top is left. You may wash the roots if you let them dry again before storing. Do not expose them to drying winds, and be sure they are cool when put in storage.
Prevent bitterness in carrots by storing them away from fruits such as apples, which give off volatile gases while ripening.
Turnips and rutabagas give off odors, so don’t store them in your basement. Find a separate spot, or store them with other root crops and vegetables in an outdoor cellar or pit. Turnips may be left in the garden longer than most other crops. They withstand hard frosts, but are damaged by alternate freezing and thawing. All other root crops can be stored together in your basement storage room.
VEGETABLE-FRUIT STORAGE GUIDE
| Low Humidity | |
|---|---|
| 80-85 | cure pumpkins, squash |
| 55-60 | pumpkins, squash |
| 45-50 | acorn squash |
| 32 | onions |
| High Humidity | |
| 80-85 | cure sweet potatoes |
| 70 | mature green tomatoes—to ripen |
| 55-60 | tomatoes at mature green stage—to store sweet potatoes |
| 45-48 | potatoes for highest quality |
| 38-40 | potatoes—to prevent sprouting |
| 32-40 | beets, celeriac, kohlrabi, turnips, carrots, rutabaga |
| 30-32 | apples, pears |
Root crops keep their crispness longer when bedded in layers of moist sand, peat, or sphagnum moss. However, perforated polyethylene bags and box liners are easier to use than bedding. Root crops can be stored in crates or boxes in moist air, but they gradually lose moisture and quality unless polyethylene liners are used. Carrots and beets may be stored in 10-gallon crocks or any container that will prevent excessive shriveling.
Quick dipping of dried and trimmed turnips, rutabagas, or parsnips in wax will prevent shriveling. Float a layer of jelly-type paraffin on top of a kettleful of heated water which is deep enough to cover the vegetable. Dip room temperature vegetables quickly through the layer of wax.
For a thinner, harder wax film add a little salt and 10 to 20 percent clean beeswax.
Potatoes are the principal root crops you will probably store. Potatoes are eaten from the time they are of sufficient size for early use until storage time, and during storage when the vines have fully ripened.
If potatoes are harvested before maturity the skin may flake off easily. They are all right for immediate use, but not for storage. Immature potatoes shrink badly, bruise easily, and will not keep well very long.
For storage, potatoes should be allowed to mature and develop a thick skin. When the tops lie down the tubers should be mature enough for storage.
Dig potatoes carefully to avoid bruises, for better storage life.
Handle newly dug potatoes with care until the surface has dried or cured a few hours or more. You can keep them in baskets or slatted crates in single layers at first.
Store sound mature tubers in darkness at a minimum relative humidity of 95 percent and 45° to 48° F for highest quality. For very long storage keep at a temperature of 38° to 40° to prevent sprouting. The starch changes to sugar if potatoes are held below 45°. Potatoes may not show any external effect from exposure to these lower temperatures, but sometimes darkened tissue will be seen if the potato is cut and exposed to air.
Light causes considerable “greening” in potatoes. The green portion contains an undesirable substance that gives a bitter flavor.
Sweet potatoes that are well matured, carefully handled, properly cured, and stored at 55° to 60° F can be kept until April or May.
Sweet potatoes are easily bruised and cut. Handle them carefully and as little as possible. Put them directly in storage containers at harvest.
Cure freshly dug sweet potatoes by holding them about 10 days under moist conditions at 80° to 85° F. In the absence of better facilities, sweet potatoes can be cured near your furnace. To maintain high humidity during curing, stack storage crates and cover them with paper or heavy cloth. If the temperature near your furnace is between 65° and 75°, the curing period should last 2 to 3 weeks. After curing, move the crates to a cooler part of your basement or house where a temperature of about 55° to 60° can be maintained.
In houses without central heating, sweet potatoes can be kept behind a cookstove or around a warm chimney. If you keep sweet potatoes this way, wrap them in fireproof paper (to slow down temperature changes) and store them in boxes or barrels.
Sweet potatoes are subject to damage by chilling. Do not store them at 50° F or below.
Outdoor pits are not recommended for storing sweet potatoes, because dampness of the pits encourages decay.