Sprouting on my potatoes

Question

We planted a fairly large garden of potatoes this year, with mixed results. After we harvested them, we put them in containers where the air could circulates and the temps were cool, and the room was dark. We did not clean our potatoes, storing them directly from the garden. I have heard that they will last longer without sprouting if you do not clean them.

My question is how long can you reasonably expect them to store before they start to sprout and get wrinkly? And, Is it possible to wait to long before we harvest. We live in Illinois. When we harvested our potatoes, it was beginning to get chilly,, but we had not had any type of frost yet.

Answer 1

It is best to harvest the tops first, and let them store in ground until right before the frost. You can expect, in perfect conditions, to store potatoes for up to three months. Usually this will not be the case, and you will start to see growth within a month or so. This just depends on how perfect the humidity and temperature are in your storage. They are still usable after this point, though. They just start to look a little rough.