How to Increase Humidity in Root Cellars

Root cellars require high humidity levels to protect your produce.

A root cellar preserves root vegetables and produce without modern refrigeration. One of the most important factors for a successful root cellar is humidity. If your cellar's humidity is too low the crops may shrivel. Before considering raising your root cellar's humidity you should know its current humidity level. Purchase a hygrometer to measure the humidity, which should be between 90 and 95 percent for root cellars.

Things You'll Need

• Hydrometer
• Root produce
• Sand or damp sawdust
• Buckets
• Sheets or blankets
• Water

Instructions

1. Spray water moderately on your root cellar floor if it's gravel. Gravel floors help trap the moisture and increase humidity as they get wet. This does not work for dirt or concrete floors.

2. Pack your crops in sand or damp sawdust. Do not wet the saw dust too much. You don't want your crops getting wet and risking rot.

3. Place buckets or pans of water inside the root cellar. This helps increase humidity no matter what type of floor your cellar has, and it works well with concrete floors, since you can't simply wet the floor like a gravel-floored cellar.

4. Hang wet sheets or blankets in the root cellar. This raises humidity with all types of flooring and may be a good choice with cement, since some other methods are not applicable with cement flooring.

5. Pay close attention for condensation. If this occurs, ensure that none of your crops are under any dripping areas and consider trying a different method for increasing humidity.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have not built your root cellar yet opt for a dirt or gravel floor over cement. While you can still increase the humidity in root cellars with cement floors, dirt floors may not need extra humidity and gravel floors are easier to humidify than cement.

• Check your hygrometer as much as possible to ensure proper humidity levels are maintained. This is especially important when trying to add more humidity to the root cellar.

References

• Organic Gardening and Homesteading: Root Cellar
• Hobby Farms; Produce Bound Underground; Rick Gush
• Adventures in Local Food; Root Cellar Basics; December 2010
• Floyd County In View; Root Cellar Basics; Al Durtschi