Gardening with Chip

Storing potatoes at home

Potato storage can be a challenge. Our fall and winter temperatures are a bit warm for good, long-term potato storage. Since most people use an unheated garage or an outbuilding to store their potatoes, we aren’t in much of a position to slow potato sprouting beyond a certain period. It is worth noting that commercial potatoes are treated with a sprout inhibitor before they go into storage. At any rate, here are the best tips that seem to make a difference with Lower Columbia gardeners:

Plan on eating your potatoes by the end of December at the latest. If we get colder than normal weather, this might be extended by up to a month. Clean freshly dug potatoes by light brushing but don’t wash your potatoes before storage unless they can quickly air-dry in darkness. Inspect your potatoes and don’t store any that show signs of injury or disease. Don’t store apples or other fruits with potatoes. The fruits give off a gas called ethylene that encourages sprouting. Keep potatoes dark, dark, dark. Light stimulates sprouting. Remove sprouted potatoes as you notice them.

Potato storage containers should have some ventilation. Old burlap bags were perfect (good airflow but little light) but are now very hard to find. For years, people have also used slightly slatted wooden boxes or baskets. People using solid colored plastic bins should drill small holes in the sides for airflow. Same with solid color plastic bags (punch many small holes).

Low humidity can cause shriveling. Some people store their potatoes in slightly moist sawdust or sand. Other people feel that they get better results just in a ventilated bin or porous plastic bags without the sawdust or sand. High humidity, at our storage temperatures, tends to encourage sprouting, so aim to be on the dry versus the damp side. Again, some room ventilation is good, even if it is just the periodic opening of the garage door. Be alert to rodents finding your potatoes. Store them in a rodent-free location. Some potato varieties store better than others. Keep good notes and eat the poorer storage types first.

Lawn mushrooms

With the first fall rains, mushrooms will start showing up. Lawn mushrooms worry some homeowners. However, there is nothing that can be done to prevent them and, generally, the many are beneficial partners with the trees in the yard. Some mushroom-producing fungi recycle organic matter like old tree roots in the soil. A few of these mushrooms may be poisonous, so be careful with children or, sometimes, dogs. If that is a concern, a quick lawn mowing will obliterate the mushrooms. Since they emerge in waves through fall, you might have to mow several times.

Skunks in your landscape

(and under your house)

There aren’t many people that like skunks but, generally, I happen to be one of them. In our region, we have mostly striped skunks. I have found skunks to be relatively calm unless provoked by a dog, coyote, raccoon, or human.

However, it is not good if skunks den under your house. Skunks can get into a tussle, either with other skunks or some enemies. The results are all too predictable. Skunk spray is powerful and impossible to remove from underfloor insulation. The insulation must go. Sometimes, harder surfaces can be sprayed with a skunk smell neutralizing mixture. I will give one mixture below, but spraying de-skunking concoctions under a house is a bit risky, so be careful.

Check your foundation for openings and tighten them up. If skunks start to dig under your foundation or under manufactured home’s skirting, you can watch when they go out to forage in the middle of the night. Quickly put down some tight-mesh metal fencing to force them to leave. Warn your neighbors what you are doing at 2 a.m. Don’t do this when the babies are still underneath. At some point in the late summer, skunks usually leave. This is the time to batten down everything.

Skunks are omnivorous and do most of their foraging at night. Skunks do some good. They, like raccoons, will dig up little patches of lawn looking for crane fly grubs. They will also dig out ground-nesting yellow jackets and eat the immature larva. They give birth to three to six little ones in the spring or early summer.

If your dog or cat gets tagged with skunk spray, here is a formula that will help reduce the smell:

1 quart of hydrogen peroxide

¼ cup baking soda

1-2 teaspoons liquid dishwashing soap.

Mix together and work into the fur being careful to avoid the eyes. Wash off. You will need double or triple this recipe for a big furry dog.

Advice on future garden topics welcome by emailing me at chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu.