Fresh apples all year round, or how to store fruits in a cellar for the winter

foto14690-1There is no doubt about the benefits of apples. Fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals that can be obtained throughout the winter, but for this they must be properly stored.

Gardeners stock up on crops in the fall. At the same time, apples are bought by people who are accustomed to correctly planning their budget. In season they cost 2-3 times cheaper.

Read about whether and how to properly store apples in the cellar all winter and minimize losses, what should be the storage temperature in the basement, read the article.

Can fruit be kept in the basement in winter?

You can store apples in the cellar. It is this room that is the best place for "wintering" fruits... With a properly organized process, you can enjoy juicy and tasty fruits before the onset of heat.

Optimum temperature and humidity

foto14690-2Optimal temperature for storing apples - 0 degrees. Lowering it will cause the fruit to freeze.

If it is warmer in the cellar, they will quickly deteriorate. At positive temperatures, fruits actively release ethylene... This gas promotes their ripening, due to which the shelf life of the crop is significantly reduced.

The humidity level in the cellar should be kept at around 85% -95%. Under such conditions, apples will not shrivel and wilt.

Storage preparation

Before sending the crop for storage, it must be properly prepared. If you ignore this step, the fruit will quickly go bad. Not only the fruits themselves, but also the cellar need preparation.

Which varieties are suitable?

Early ripening fruits are not suitable for storage... They are eaten fresh, immediately after harvest. Mid-season fruits can be stored for about 2 months, so they are most often not lowered into the cellar.

In winter, late-ripening varieties are harvested. They do not lose their taste for more than six months. They are harvested unripe.

You don't need to eat such fruits right away, they are still too hard and sour. Sweetness appears as it ripens. The skin of the fruit is thick, so the pulp is reliably protected from drying out and getting inside the infection.

Best stored fruits of the following varieties:

  • foto14690-3Gloucester;
  • Antonovka;
  • Melba;
  • Idared;
  • Fuji;
  • Ligol;
  • Gala;
  • Simirenko;
  • Cortland;
  • Gloucester;
  • Golden Delicious.

How to prepare apples correctly?

Before putting the apples away for storage, you need to sort them out. Sort out beaten, rotten and scratched fruits. Only even and healthy fruits are lowered into the cellar.

Different varieties of apples are kept separately from each other. Even one early ripe fruit, accidentally falling into the wrong box, can harm the entire crop.when it starts to rot.

Medium-sized fruits are selected for the winter. Small and large apples are stored worse.

Room requirements

Not every cellar is suitable for storing apples. The room must meet the following requirements:

  1. foto14690-4Ceiling height - from 2.2 m. If it is low, then condensation will accumulate on it, which is an ideal breeding ground for mold and bacteria. In such conditions, the fruit will quickly rot.
  2. Not concrete floor. It should be lined with bricks or dry boards.
  3. Whitewashed walls. They are treated with lime and copper sulfate every year. This prevents the appearance of fungus. 10 liters of water will require 1.5 kg of lime and 150 g of vitriol.
  4. High quality ventilation. If the hood is weak, then additional fans will be required.

Before laying the harvest, they must be cleaned in the cellar, shoveled all the garbage. Rotten boards and boxes are replaced with new ones. If this is not possible, then the damaged areas are burned with a soldering iron.

Boxes of salt or charcoal in the corners help deal with high humidity... They will absorb excess water from the air.

Storage rules

Correctly selected containers can increase the shelf life of the crop. You can't just sprinkle apples on the basement floor. They are placed on shelves, in boxes or in bags. In boxes, fruits will be stored for 3 to 6 months.

In boxes

Vegetable crates are one of the most popular crop storage options.... They can be made of plastic or wood. The bottom of the box is lined with paper or cloth.

Apples are not piled in a heap, they are placed in a checkerboard pattern. When laying, you need to act carefully, trying not to scratch the healthy skin with the stalk.

It is not recommended to put all the harvested crop in one box. Otherwise, the lower fruits will crumple and deteriorate. The optimal weight is 25 kg.

In order to save space, you can put boxes on top of each other, but not close... There should be a gap at the top for air ventilation.

In packages

foto14690-5Gas exchange takes place inside the hermetically sealed bag, due to which the shelf life of apples increases. They ripen slowly, gaining flavor and juiciness. No more than 4 kg of fruit are placed in one bag.

You cannot tie packages right away... They are left open for 7 hours to cool the apples to basement temperature. Only then can the fruit be packaged.

4-5 holes are enough for ventilation. Make them with a toothpick or a match. In bags, apples will remain edible until warm. Winter varieties can be stored in them for up to 7 months.

On racks

If the harvest is not too large, then it can be compactly placed on racks. Cover the shelves with clean paper. Fruits are laid out in 1 layer, cuttings up.

There should be a gap between the apples so that they do not come into contact with each other. Cover them with cardboard and lay out another layer of fruit.

This arrangement allows you to control the safety of the crop and remove spoiled fruits in time. Fruit stays fresh on shelves for up to 4 - 5 months.

In paper

foto14690-6To prevent apples from touching each other and not rotting, they can be wrapped in paper. For this purpose, ordinary white napkins or newspapers are suitable.

Each fruit is wrapped in several layers, and then stacked in layers in a suitable container.

The paper will absorb excess water and retain ethylene inside the container.... Fruit is perfectly stored in it for 4-6 months.

In the ground or in the sand

Apples packed in plastic bags can be buried in the ground. A hole is dug to a depth of 0.5 m. Spruce or spruce branches are placed on the bottom.Their smell will scare away rodents. The bags are cooled in the cellar, after which they are lowered into the ground, covered with spruce branches and another layer of earth. You can insulate the pit with fallen leaves.

Some gardeners keep their crops in the sand... To destroy microbes, it is calcined. They fill the bottom of the container, lay the apples in an even layer, on top of each other.

The gaps are covered with sand. In this way, the harvest is stored in barrels, boxes and boxes. The filled container is covered with a lid.

Apples are stored in the sand for about 4 months. In the ground, in bags, they can lie up to 5-6 months.

In bags

foto14690-7Apples are stored in bags in the same way as in bags. The only difference is that the bags "breathe" by themselves, so there is no need to make additional holes in them.

If the bag is designed for 25 kg, this does not mean that it needs to be filled to the top.... There should not be more than 10 kg of apples in one container.

It is better to lay the bags on the floor or on the shelves, rather than place them near the wall. This method allows you to extend the shelf life of apples to 4-5 months.

Harvest processing before laying

To increase the resistance of the fruit and increase the shelf life, before placing in the cellar they are processed one of the following formulations:

  1. A weak solution of potassium permanganate. The fruits are soaked for 2 minutes.
  2. Glycerin.
  3. Iodinol solution. It is sold in pharmacies as a throat rinse. The fruit is soaked in it for 30 minutes.
  4. Calcium chloride solution 4%. Fruits stand no more than a minute.
  5. With wax. It is melted in a water bath and apples are dipped into it in turn.
  6. Ultraviolet light. Under the BUF-60 lamp, the fruits are kept for about half an hour, laying them in one layer and placing them at a distance of up to 1.5 m.
  7. Alcoholic tincture of propolis. 0.5 liters of alcohol will require 100 g of propolis. Before processing the fruits, the tincture is heated to 40 degrees.
In no case should you wash apples with plain water before placing them in the cellar. Such treatment will strip them of their natural protective layer, and they will quickly deteriorate.

Regardless of the composition with which the apple was covered, it must be thoroughly washed before eating. All products are safe for human health if not eaten. These substances cannot penetrate into the apple itself. Therefore, before eating it, the fruit must be washed in hot water.

Choosing "neighbors"

foto14690-8You need to place the apples in the cellar correctly. Fruit has the ability to absorb odors from other foods.

They also produce ethylene themselves. This plant hormone accelerates the ripening of nearby vegetables.

Apples tolerate the neighborhood only with pears, since they have similar storage requirements. It is better to keep them away from other crops.

Worst neighbors apples:

Conclusion

Save apples for the winter not difficult. Late-ripening varieties thrive at freezing temperatures. There are many storage methods: in bags, in the ground, in boxes, in paper and more. The main thing is to properly prepare the fruits for the upcoming wintering..

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