On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 5:36:25 PM UTC-4, IGot2P wrote:
On 10/8/2014 3:43 PM, Steve Peek wrote:

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 3:01:48 PM UTC-4, IGot2P wrote:

On 10/8/2014 11:00 AM, Steve Peek wrote:



On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 12:23:33 AM UTC-4, IGot2P wrote:



This year we planted sweet potatoes in our garden in SE Iowa. Had a bit







of frost a couple of nights ago so I dug them today and Googled on how







to store them. To my surprise they need to be cured before storing.















Most of the instructions that I found said that they should first be







kept in an area of 80 to 90 degrees F with approximately 80 to 90







percent humidity for 7 to 10 days. I can no doubt use a small half bath







in our shop for the area and I could keep it at 80 to 90 degrees F with







a small space heater but the humidity would be only around 55 percent.







OTOH, I could put a small humidifier in the area and no space heater to







get the humidity up to around 85 percent but the temperature would only







be around 65 degrees F.















I definitely do NOT want to put both the space heater and the humidifier







in this small 4' by 6' area at the same time so which is more important







heat or humidity?















Maybe the space heater and a bucket of water????















Thanks for reading my looooong first post.















Don







They will cure just fine at a lower temperature for a longer time. Pile them where they were dug and throw a tarp over them, weight the edges and leave them for a couple of weeks. Bake one and try it, should be sweet and delicious.



HTH,



Steve (who needs to dig his sweet potatos)











Steve, thanks for your response, it was appreciated and reassuring that



the planting, weeding, and digging was not a wastes of time and effort.



Everything that I had read basically stated that if I didn't do exactly



as they suggested that I just as well toss them out.







Late last night I did put a small space heater (turned on low) and a



bucket of water in the small area that I mentioned. I just checked it



and the temperature is 85 degrees F and the humidity is 65%. Not exactly



what they suggested but after your response I think that it is close enough.







Don



SE Iowa is pretty far north for sweet potatoes, did you make a decent crop?





I think it was a really decent crop but what do I know, it was the first

time I ever planted them. 12 plants in a 24' row produced a heaping 5

gallon bucket.

Very nice! Even though I live in the #1 sweet potato state it took years for me to learn to grow them (before the internet). Two years ago I had one that weighed just under 9 pounds.