How to store potatoes on the balcony in winter: storing potatoes and vegetables in a box, with your own hands to keep the container

Potatoes have long been used by people for food, and in order for the tubers to retain their taste, as well as useful substances, they must be stored correctly. In a city apartment does not always manage to store this root. But, nevertheless, there is a way out, it is the storage of potatoes on the balcony.

Proper storage of potatoes on the balcony in winter

If storage of potatoes is planned in winter, it should be collected in warm and dry weather, all harvested tubersAnd dried in the shade, in the open air, protecting from direct sunlight. After the potatoes are sorted, picking off damaged or sick tubers them, should be eaten first and stored separately from healthy tubers.

To store tubers on the balcony, it is necessary to create optimal conditions such as.

It is not difficult to make a chest that can be made from wood or use a plastic container. It is also important to provide a ventilation system, without it, the potato can begin to rot. Also, ventilation is important for maintaining the optimum humidity level, the humidity in such a store should be about 40%.

To store potatoes on the balcony, it is necessary to create optimal conditions for the

. It needs to be insulated:

1. . As a heater, foam should be used.
2. Suitable thick foil insulation.
3. Inside the box on the bottom, you should put a grate to create an air gap.
4. If the balcony or loggia is glazed but not heated, then in this case it is necessary to make heating inside, for this many craftsmen insert inside usual incandescent lamps, which are switched on for several hours per day.

Some replace the lamps with a heating cable used in warm floors to maintain an optimum temperature of 2-6 ° C.Before each use, a similar box or chest should be decontaminated, for this it must be washed with a solution of soap with hot water. After drying, the entire surface is treated with lime and a solution of copper sulfate.

Safe storage of vegetables on the balcony in the winter

In addition to potatoes, on the balcony in winter you can successfully store vegetables, but on condition that the balcony is glazed. If it is open, storing vegetables will be simply meaningless. To store vegetables, you need a box that you can make with your own hands from improvised materials, even from an old small refrigerator.

Main, inside maintain the optimum temperature, humidity and for the convenience of tracking these parameters you can buy a thermostat connected to incandescent lamps or the heating wire.

The same storage of vegetables on the balcony depends on their grade, as well as on what type of storage box is used. Most vegetables are perfectly stored at temperatures from 0 ᵒС to + 5 ᵒС, but on a balcony, even if it is glazed, it is impossible to create such practically constant temperature, and therefore it is necessary to use a special box.

To store vegetables on the balcony in winter, it is necessary to maintain the optimum temperature

The storage system is:

• Double drawer;
• Between its walls is a heater;
• Inside there is a heating and ventilation system;
• The box can be low in height and can even be used as a seat.

Another type of storage system can be a bag manufactured in an industrial way, it is made of 2-3 layers of fabric, between which is a heater. Inside there is a heating wire and a temperature sensor. Such a system takes up little space, and in summer it can be folded and stored. Self-made options for storing vegetables can be practically any, even in the form of a single-winged cabinet or even a storage system with drawers. Everything depends on the capabilities of the person and the size of the balcony.

Tips: how to store vegetables on the balcony in winter

The apartment does not always have enough storage space for the harvested crop, and it is not always possible to create optimal conditions in a warm room. Optimal storage of harvested crops on the balcony, especially in the cold season. In this case, there are a number of conditions under which it will be possible to keep all vegetables for a long period fresh and tasty.

The balcony must be necessarily glazed and preferably insulated, the warmer it will be on the balcony during the winter, the less effort it will take to build a storage box for vegetables.

Traditionally, the storage area is chosen by the end part of the balcony, installing a special box for storing vegetables. The temperature inside such a container should be from 0 ᵒС to + 5 ᵒС.Instead of incandescent lamps, many craftsmen use a resistive heating cable with a thermoregulator.

You can store vegetables on the balcony in the winter in a warmed case

It is usually manufactured as follows:

• Made of wood with double walls;
• Between which is inserted a heater;
• The dimensions of the box depend on how much vegetables are planned to be stored;
• To maintain the optimum temperature inside such a structure, traditional incandescent lamps are usually installed in a closed tin case, including several hours a day.

Vegetables in such a warmed box, for better preservation, should be kept slightly differently, for example, root crops will be perfectly stored in the sand, for this they are placed in a container and poured into clean sand. Potatoes can be stored in bulk, but the height of the layer of potatoes should not be more than 1 m. Cabbage is placed with cobs, wrapped up with layers of paper, without having to put heads on each other, if possible, it should be stored in one layer.

We make a potato box on the balcony with our own hands

You can create a box for storing potatoes in winter with your own hands, for this traditionally used material such as wood. Before you start manufacturing, you need to determine the size and volume of storage, the location of its placement on the balcony, and then you can stock up on the material and start manufacturing it.

The manufacturing process itself is not complicated:

• Cutting bars and plywood or boards to the required dimensions, the bars will be a frame, start with the bottom bars, attaching them to the vertical bars, and the horizontal frame is already fixed on top;
• Plywood sheets or boards are attached to the base;
• On the first layer of plywood or boards is attached a layer of insulation, it can be foam, foam - the cooler on the balcony, the layer of insulation must be thicker;
• On top again the box is lined with plywood or boards;
• The drawer cover is made separately, and fastened with hinges and also insulated.

A storage box for vegetables is easy to make by hand

To maintain the optimum temperature inside the box, install a small tinplate of tin, inside which is installed a pair of incandescent lamps, the wires leading to the lamps must be placed inMetal hose or a non-flammable corrugated PVC pipe for increased safety.

For ventilation, it is necessary to make several holes in the bottom and top of the box, to control the temperature in the middle of the box, a thermometer is installed so that it can be easily removed and inserted.

Tips: how to store potatoes on the balcony in winter( video)

A self-made vegetable box can be used in summer to store things, and in winter, things are taken to other places. Using the above methods of storing vegetables, as well as making boxes for storage, you can successfully save the harvested crop for a long time.