Storing The Potato Crop

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Storing The Potato Crop

POTATOES can be successfully kept by the "pitting" method if the work ia carefully done. "Pitting" doeß not imply the digging of a pit, however, and above all things, good drainage must be provided. The site should cither be drained naturally or the best use made of the natural fall of the land. The best procedure is to dig a trench round the selected Bite, throwing the excavated soil into the centre. Level this off and tread well down, then cover with a good layer of straw. The potatoes are piled on this straw in the shape of an inverted V.

This shape is preferred to a circular or square heap, as more surface is exposed to the air, and rain is shed better. The sitee will, of course, be determined by the quantity of potatoes to be stored.

The danger of loss i 3 greater in large piles than in smaller ones, owing to the difficulty in cooling should heating or decay set in., So long as tho pile is not made too high, the length is of no consideration, but provision must be thade for ventilation. Small drainpipes

How to Make and Use a Pit

or pieces of galvanised downpipo make good ventilators, but failing these, it is an easy matter to nail together a few pieces of inch board of four to six inches width. Make sure that tho lower end of the ventilator reaches to the tubers./ The nearer the shaft reaches to the bottom of the pile of tubers the better will be the ventilation. It is a good plan to bore a few holes in the lower portion. Pile the tubers round the shafts. One .of the shafts should be inserted for every six or eight feet run of the pit. As soon as tho potatoes are in position, they should be covered with sufficient straw to excludo light. They can Do left like this tor a week or two, to allow time for "sweating," and thus the danger of heating will be obviated. Finally apply a heavy layer of straw, topping this off with soil well beaten

down with a spads, bo that the whole covering is about six inches thick. There iw practically no danger in "pitting" potatoes in this manner, provided the sweating is over before the final covering. They should keep in Eound condition until spring. Only sound tubers shou'd be stored, any doubtful ones being left out, as these might start decay and cause loss.