When we harvest our potatoes (we're not huge growers, but generally grow between 1000-1500# a year), we spread them out under tarps (to keep light off) and let them dry and cure for 2-3 days. Then we sort them... any rotten ones go directly into pails while we're digging them (and are immediately burned). Any tubers showing a damp spot after curing go to the burn pile as well.
Small tubers are set aside for animal feed... our son has half a dozen hogs on pasture, and he cooks the potatoes for them. They love them!
We sort out the seed size potatoes and store them separately... easiest way to figure what is the right size is they should be the size of a large hen's egg.
"Number 1" tubers (good sized, but not giant, and fairly uniform in shape... no cuts or damage) are put in baskets and crates and stored in the root cellar. Outsized tubers, or those with slices or damage from digging, as well as weirdly shaped ones, are usually offered to a neighbor with a big family. A few years ago, I took them 4 bushels of "culls" for their pig... the Mom took one look at them, said, "no way are those pig food", and promptly took them to the house! I guess if you've got 12 kids, there are enough hungry mouths... and hands able to trim and peel even the awkwardly shaped ones...
So far, our potato plants look really good this year. Hubby has been spraying them every 10 days with copper, to keep blight from starting. They are in full bloom now, so in a week or so, I'll start scrabbling under the hills for the first new potatoes. If the heat hasn't ruined the peas (they don't set pods if it's over 90... and they are in full bloom right now as well), we'll be able to enjoy buttered new potatoes with peas and sweet onions... yum!
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