Lifting, Curing, and Storing Potatoes Harvested in August
August is prime time to dig up early and maincrop potatoes. To enjoy crisp, flavorful spuds well into autumn (and even winter), it’s important to lift your potatoes carefully, cure them to toughen up their skins, and store them the right way. Here’s your step-by-step guide to lifting, curing, and storing an August potato harvest for maximum freshness and flavor.
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Signs Your Potatoes Are Ready to Lift in August
- Early potatoes: Flowering finished weeks ago and foliage is yellowing or dying back.
- Maincrop potatoes: Leaves are fully yellow or brown; plants look “spent.”
- Skin test: Rub a tuber with your thumb—if the skin doesn’t rub off, potatoes are ready for storage.
How to Lift Potatoes
- Pick a Dry Day: Wait until soil is not sodden—drier weather keeps potatoes clean and makes lifting easier.
- Cut the Foliage Down: For maincrops, cut all the stems to ground level a week before lifting to toughen skins and reduce blight risk.
- Gently Dig Out Tubers: Loosen the soil with a garden fork, starting about 30cm (12 inches) from the plant to avoid spearing tubers. Lift carefully.
- Collect All Potatoes: Don’t leave any in the soil; even tiny ones can sprout or attract pests next year.
- Brush Off Soil: Shake or lightly rub off excess earth, but don’t wash.
Curing Your Freshly Dug Potatoes
- Lay Out in a Single Layer: Spread your potatoes on trays, newspaper, or hessian sacks in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated shed/garage OUT of direct sunlight.
- Cure for 1–2 Weeks: This toughens the skins, helps cuts heal, and boosts storage life.
- Keep Dry: Do not allow rain or condensation to dampen the potatoes during this stage.
Storing Potatoes for the Months Ahead
- Pick Only Undamaged, Healthy Tubers: Use up any scuffed, green, slug-damaged, or forked potatoes first.
- Keep Cool and Dark: Store in paper/burlap sacks, shallow boxes, or crates in a frost-free, airy space—2–5°C (36–41°F) is ideal.
- No Plastic Bags or Sunlight: They cause sweating, rot, or greening (toxic and bad-tasting).
- Check Regularly: Remove any that sprout or rot to protect your whole crop.
- Do Not Refrigerate: Too cold and potatoes can turn sweet or mushy.
Extra Tips
- Label Your Crop: Especially important if you lifted several varieties for flavor and cooking use.
- Chit Small Potatoes: Keep tiny, undamaged tubers for next year’s seed potatoes.
With a bit of care at harvest, your August potato crop can last for many months—tasting as good as the day you dug them!