If you intend to replant the started dahlias in a garden, just take any kind of potting soil or medium, put a layer in a flat, a pot, a tupperware square. Dampen it if needed, avoiding overwetting. Lay your tubers on the surface, cover their fat parts with another layer of medium and leave the heads/necks out to get the light. That ought to get them started: shoots and roots both. Moisten very modestly, if bone dry. You'll be able to plant outside in no time at all.

The only time I've used moisture crystals was when growing a dahlia in a large pot all season. They need the extra moisture retention, but a garden plant doesn't.

Where are you exactly?

I would love to plant them in the ground in April but isn't the soil to cool.. or frosts?

Let me know : )

Keriann~

I potted mine up early. I layed the tubers on top of some soil in flats, just like they show on dahilas.net. They did great!! They eyed up, and then sprouted, you can take sprout cuttings too if they throw off more then one shoot. that is really fun, and will get you more plants! However, I had mine in flats since February, and needed to get them into a little deeper soil, so I have them potted up in the pots that are a size down from 1 gallon. I water them very rarely, only when the leaves start to droop, and I water from bottom up, to make sure the soil is saturated when I do.

If they are going out into containers, the main thing will be to make sure it does not drop below freezing overnight. If they are going into the ground though, you will have to wait a few weeks I figure to actually plant outside.