Long-term root vegetable storage- regular fridge OK?

13 years ago

I just had to throw away 50# of storage carrots and it's making me cry. I need to devise a better plan for next year... my root cellar is just inadequate. (We have water flowing under the house and the root cellar -even though well insulated and ventilated to exterior- won't stay cool enough.)

I need to do something better next year. This is for one family's use, so we're not talking about vast quantities: maybe 75# or so.

Can I use a home fridge for this? How could I keep the humidity up where it needs to be? Would it have enough airflow? What do you do for long-term carrot/parsnip storage?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,

Stacey

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Comments (5)

adrock430
13 years ago
Granted I did this on a smaller scale (20# rutabaga), but it worked great: I used damp sand in 5 gallon buckets and they stayed firm all winter long, still have some left. I'm going to scale it up to a big trash bucket this year...I hear you can use damp sawdust as well

I've found that the fridge just doesn't cut it, not enough humidity.
Stacey Collins
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks--- I wonder if I could put the buckets in the fridge? The problem is: the root cellar gets too warm (it fluctuates too wildly, too... 40-60+ degrees!) so even with the damp sand thing, I fear they'd still rot/mold.
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My first question would be, do you have enough insulation between your house and root cellar? Maybe your house is keeping your root cellar too warm. As far as keeping long term, I don't. My market ends in October and doesn't start back until April/May. There are a few books I would recommend you read, maybe from the library, Stocking Up and RootCellaring are 2 that come to mind instantly. I use my Stocking Up (I have 3 editions) for alot of my questions. Good luck Marla
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Thanks for all your thoughts! I do grow two types... I've refined this over many years. I plant an early, sweet variety really early, which we eat in early/mid summer. Then in late spring/early summer I plant my storage variety, so it'll be ready in September/October. I also plant a second crop of the "early" (non-storage) type in mid-summer, for fresh eating later in the season. My storage crop is Bolero, and I plant Mokum and Nelson for the sweet types. I've thought about freezing, which I may do this year to at least part of the crop... it's just that I do so much other freezing (beans, peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, fruit) that I was trying to minimize that time-consuming activity :) I'm also GC-ing and DIY-ing the major house/yard reno, and trying to work too, so I don't have much extra time. And definitely not for canning, though I always love seeing macybaby's canning pics!!! I do have a remote temp/humidity sensor in my root cellar room. Temps in there -even in the dead of winter when its 0 degrees F outside- are never lower than about 45 F. I really think it's the water flowing beneath the house. You can see the path it takes across the lawn, underground, because the snow is always thinner there and melts very quickly in spring. Is the water warm? I don't know... One thing I may try is moving the ventilation tubes (I have two, in the proper high-low configuration, with blast gates and all that). Right now they draw air from the crawl space below an addition. In order to make them draw from the exterior, we'd have to drill/chip large holes through the masonry walls of the house. There's not even a wood sill to go through, it's all thick concrete :( However, I'm a little reticent to do all that work (and make big holes in the house) if it won't solve the problem. For instance: what about in fall when it's warm outside? How to cool the crops down in Oct, November? I wish I had a "cool" space, but the garage freezes solid, and I've no in-between zone :( And you guys are right, too... maybe I just need to adjust my expectations and decide that having our own carrots until early March is darn good enough :)
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glib
13 years ago
I do not get how your root cellar gets that warm. Is it, or is it not, exposed to outside temperatures?

Anyway, I have two root cellars. One is just a large hole in the ground near my garden, covered with 1.5-2ft of leaves. It is a bit of a pain to get in and out of (you have to move a lot of leaves, plus any snow on top), but works very well otherwise. It contained rutabagas, turnip, cabbage, and cardoon. For next year I may prepare some hardware cloth cages, each with a mix of veggies, to simplify extraction.

The other are simply plastic totes, in the garage, on the ground and against the home wall. Covered with a tarp, they go down to about 30F, which is not enough to freeze anything (veggies freeze at 27-28F). Other parts of the garage, off the ground and/or on the outer wall, do freeze. One tote contains potatoes, rutabagas, turnip, onion. The other has apples and pears. I have to have two of them because whole cardoon plants take a huge amount of space.

I agree with others that the fridge is not good enough for carrots. For your case, buckets full of sand in the garage, covered with a tarp, will do (just a tote will not have enough moisture). The hole with the leaves will be perfect for you (I am sure humidity is close to 100%), if you can control voles.

A good way to control them is to leave the hole open, and away from the leaves, until very late in the season. Then on Thanksgiving weekend you fill it and cover it, while leaving a good amount of leaves in the original pile.
laceyvail 6A, WV
13 years ago
I am one person and I store my root crops in the veggie drawers of my fridge. They keep great. Still have the last of the carrots, turnips and beets. You'd probably need a second fridge however. (I used to store them right in the ground where they grow, but the voles put an end to that.)
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
13 years ago
There must be a dozen variations on containers in the ground for storage, which is what a root cellar is (but it has to be in the ground and the door closed to be effective). Using The Google should return dozens of pictures of underground storage. My potato catalog must have 6 pix of ideas that people implemented.

Dan

Long-term root vegetable storage- regular fridge OK?

Comments (5)

adrock430

Stacey Collins
Original Author

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glib

laceyvail 6A, WV

Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

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Long-term root vegetable storage- regular fridge OK?

Comments (5)

adrock430

Stacey CollinsOriginal Author

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glib

laceyvail 6A, WV

Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Stacey Collins
Original Author