Potato Clamp

[leicestershirelass]

Has anyone made one?

Was it successful?

As we've grown more potatoes and crops this year, I'd like an efficient way of storing them, so considering building a potato clamp ..... but wondering;

• when potatoes removed, will the clamp collapse and have to build a new one each year?
• if you have a lot of root crops to store do you have to build several clamps?

Or is there something similar that can be built/created that can be used year after year?

[Snadger]

When I used to grow maincrops (which I don't any more) I tried storing Desiree spuds in a clamp. It worked very well indeed. If you have a dry spot on your plot, possibly under a tree or hedge for instance, this will be the best place to situate your clamp.
Put down a thick layer of straw. Put spuds on top in a pyramid shape. Cover with a thick layer of straw. Dig a trench around the whole lot. This gives you the soil to cover the clamp and also lets water drain away into the trench. Leave a few wisps of straw out the top. Once the rains come it consolidates into a stracture that is strong enough to stay put even after removing a lot of tatties.

It does though, take a bit of nerve to stick your arm, full length into a hole to retieve the last spuds....always worried me that it would be an ideal rats nest, even though it never was!

[leicestershirelass]

Thanks for the info Snadger ...

wonder if you could use small bales of straw to create the structure and put the potatoes in he middle, then cover with mud???

[Snadger]

Thanks for the info Snadger ...

wonder if you could use small bales of straw to create the structure and put the potatoes in he middle, then cover with mud???

Anything that is frost free should be adequate!

The farner next to where I live used to put his spuds into a barn. He would surround them with straw bales and heap bales on top.

The problem is that rats like eating tatties and love nesting in straw!

[leicestershirelass]

The problem is that rats like eating tatties and love nesting in straw!

I don't like the sound of that

... shame they don't hibernate over winter!

[Snadger]

I don't like the sound of that

... shame they don't hibernate over winter!

No..............they just get hungrier!!!!!

[Patchninja]

I've heard here that you can just store them in a dark place - with an apple!!! Don't ask me why LOL

[Alison]

I dig mine up and store in hessian sacks in the garage - for me it's much easier to just put the light on and pick them out rather than going out into the garden / lottie with a torch and risk the rats in the middle of winter