How do you prevent sweet potatoes from rotting in the cellar? The latest practical tips are here
Sweet potato is one of China's main food crops, and most sweet potatoes have now been harvested. For some growers with high yields, they cannot sell them all, so after harvesting they need to be stored in cellars. However, many people find when storing sweet potatoes that they often rot, seriously affecting growing returns. So how should we store them to prevent sweet potatoes from rotting in the cellar? Now let us introduce it to you!
1. Select carefully
Before storage, first select the sweet potatoes to be stored well, removing frost-damaged, wounded, pest-damaged and green-headed potatoes. And after harvesting they should be put into the cellar in time, but before being put into the cellar the sweet potatoes should be dried in the sun for about 3h to reduce their moisture and avoid rotting caused by excessive humidity. Try to avoid storing overnight, and it is best to treat the sweet potatoes with chemicals before storing them. First soak the sweet potatoes in agents such as new high-fat film for about 8 minutes, then take them out and air-dry the liquid, which can effectively prevent the threat of pests and diseases and reduce rotting during storage.
2. Disinfect in time
A few days before harvesting the sweet potatoes, the cellar should be disinfected to prevent bacteria in the cellar from infecting the harvested sweet potatoes. First, sweep the cellar thoroughly and clear away the debris and garbage in it, and try to avoid washing the cellar with water. Because the cellar has low temperature and no light, it is very difficult to dry once wet. If the humidity is too high, it can easily cause the sweet potatoes to rot. After cleaning the cellar, sprinkle quicklime powder evenly and thoroughly over the cellar to disinfect it, eliminate bacteria in the cellar and control the incidence of disease.
3. Stack reasonably
When storing, observe the size of the cellar; do not stack blindly and do not fill the cellar too full. After storage, keep about 1/3 of the cellar's space, to avoid stacking too full and making ventilation difficult, which affects air exchange. Otherwise, the temperature in the cellar will rise sharply, oxygen cannot be exchanged in time, and oxygen in the cellar will be insufficient. If oxygen is insufficient, the sweet potatoes will produce a large amount of alcohol, seriously affecting storage. This causes alcohol poisoning in the sweet potatoes, triggers pests and diseases, and causes rotting.
4. Strengthen management
After everything is put into the cellar, management of the cellar should be strengthened. In the early storage period, be sure to do a good job of ventilation and cooling, and drainage and dehumidification. Keeping the temperature at about 12 degrees is the best storage temperature for sweet potatoes. The cellar humidity should also be maintained at about 80%, and must not be too high or too low; if too high, it will trigger pests and diseases and cause the sweet potatoes to rot. If too low, the sweet potatoes will lack internal moisture, become shriveled and lose commercial value. If the humidity in the cellar is insufficient, a small amount of water can be sprinkled, and then in the middle and later periods attention should be paid to keeping warm and preventing cold, and preventing wind and snow from entering.
The above is a brief introduction to the tips for preventing sweet potatoes from rotting in the cellar. Sweet potato cellar rot is a problem that many friends often encounter during storage. Therefore, everyone must do the preparatory work before and after storage, strengthen management, and avoid unnecessary losses that affect economic returns. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can help everyone!