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.