Harvesting Potatoes
Tips on Harvesting Potatoes
Now that you have gone through all the trouble of planting them and watching them grow, harvesting potatoes is your next step. So how do you go about harvesting potatoes?
Harvesting potatoes really depends on the type of potatoes that you have planted. Different types of potatoes have different needs. New potatoes, for instance, are typically the first ones to be harvested. Once they get large enough, and keep in mind that they will be quite small anyway, you should ease them out of their hills with your hands.
If the season has been particularly moist, then you should pull out the entire plant, take off the potatoes that are ready, and them put the plant back into the ground where it can continue to produce more potatoes. However, once you have pulled them out of the ground it is important to put them back in quickly so that they don’t remain in the sun for very long.
If you don't want to use your hands, you can also use a 5 or 6 pronged fork. This will allow the dirt to fall between the prongs and then you will have a fork that is full of potatoes.
The main crop of potatoes in the north is harvested around September, right before the first frost of the season. Since the weather is cool during this time, the tops of the plants will start dying and the last of the energy will be sent from the vines to the tubers.
When harvesting potatoes during this time, you should wait until the weather is dry and warm, preferably after a time that there hasn't been any rain or at least very little rain. It is best, too, that you don't harvest them on days that are very sunny since the sunlight can turn the potatoes green and this can actually change the flavor of the potatoes.
Once you have started digging out the potatoes, you will be able to gauge how deeply you should dig your fork. This will keep you from digging too deeply where you might injure the potatoes. You still might end up with some spikes, of course, and these you should just plan on eating since they won't holdup very well.
After you have dug the potatoes up, you should leave them outside for about an hour so that they can dry a little bit. This will also help most of the dirt fall off the plants as well. Some people brush the dirt off with a soft bristled brush, but resist the urge to wash them since this softens them and they can be difficult to dry once they have gotten wet.
Potatoes should be stored in the dark where sunlight is unable to reach them. Sunlight can penetrate them through some containers such as burlap bags and this can make them green which is something that you want to avoid.
If you consume too many green potatoes, you might find yourself getting sick. One way to remedy this is to cut away the green parts of the potato before cooking it or eating it. You have probably found that potatoes turn green sometimes when you purchase them from the supermarket. Although leaving them in the sunlight can green them, storing them in a place that isn't completely dark can also turn them green which is why some people use a potato box.
For winter storage, you want to keep them in a place that has good ventilation and moderate humidity. The preferable temperature is around 35 degrees Fahrenheit. You can usually count on potatoes storing well for about 6-8 months. The warmer it is, the faster they will shrivel and start sprouting.