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I’m no expert but I hobby raise potatoes.
Most of the store bought ones actually have been chemically treated to make them not grow sprouts.
I raise about a half dozen varieties and mine will last a long time.
My mother grew up on a farm in Germany and hers would last until the next planting season.
Their survival is based on how they are stored.
If you are in an apartment I’d guess a short month or so.
Mine are stored in a cool dark area with plenty of ventilation.
I’ve only lost them due to the occasional heat wave or me just not keeping up on them.
Turns out they were poisoned by the fumes from their stored, rotten potatoes!
There's not much that smells worse than a rotten potato (and that includes dead bodies), so I'm not surprised. OP, you'll definitely know when they go bad.
This. I use the sharp tip of a paring knife to dig out any sprouts and eyes. You don't want to eat those. The potato is a member of the nightshade family. Many species are poisonous, and that includes your potato. Sprouts and stems of the potato contain solanine; a glycoalkaloid which can be toxic. Besides, the stored nutrients a potato uses to sprout is nutrients (and money) gone to waste because you can't eat them. Don't buy potatoes so "new" they're still green either. The green bits should be cut off so that's a waste too.
I keep my potatoes on in a box on the floor of my pantry. It's cool and dark there and not as moist as a plastic bag in the fridge. Stored where there's light, a potato will sprout eventually. I don't eat a lot of potato, so I don't buy in bulk. If you can't finish a bag of potatoes before they start sprouting, you bought too much and wasted your money no matter how much the bag cost.
Potatoes turn green when they've been exposed to light for too long.
I watched a YouTube history/mystery show about a pioneer family in the Midwest (I think) who all died in their basement under mysterious circumstances. Turns out they were poisoned by the fumes from their stored, rotten potatoes! Attacked by killer potatoes . But if you store them correctly and not for too long, you should be okay. I have to say that after watching that show I've been dumping potatoes if they have even the smallest sprouting going on.
I read that somewhere…
Growing up…. My parents would go to northern maine and buy
Hundreds of pounds ( Maine still is a top 3 state of potato harvesting)
They’d put them in an open bin in the basement… well after a few months the eyes would be sprouting
And they’d be an increasing potato “ smell “
Never knew they emitted a harmful gas ..
If kept dry, cool and out of the sun , the potatoes I buy .. 5lb bags
Always last months ..
Last year we tried growing potatoes a small amount
For a trial … and they started off great .. was about ready to flower…( YouTube videos .. they start growing below the soil when they flower above … well, all the sudden they died before they flowered ( all the rain we had thinking too much water.. ??
Well we just left it.. and months later after we harvested the other veggies… we dumped out our potato grower… and there were over ten small decent looking potatoes… surprised us …
Very hearty!!
That’s a lot of spuds for one person. We have potatoes almost every day, two of us, and that’s more than I would buy at one time. If they are a lot cheaper than 5# at your grocery store, just keep them until they start to spoil and throw the rest away.
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. But if you store them correctly and not for too long, you should be okay. I have to say that after watching that show I've been dumping potatoes if they have even the smallest sprouting going on.
