This is another example of the never-ending contradictory information that I've seen or heard as pertaining to the care or growing of Dahlias..... I'll probably start a thread just about that erroneous and contradictory internet advice later.

But anyway, I had previously read that after digging up tubers and washing them off, you need to dry them, but I wasnt sure how long to set them out for. So, once again, I made the mistake of going to an online website hosted by an 'alleged' expert on dahlias. This guy says to set the tubers out for 4-5 days to dry before storing them. So, unfortunately, I took that advice and set them out in a relatively cool and relatively shaded area in our house- connected greenhouse last thursday. I checked on them every day, and on Fri and Sat they looked fine. But when I looked at them on Sunday(day 3), they were badly shriveled up and drying out.

So I quickly grabbed a spray bottle and began spraying them with water over and over, but that wasnt enough, as their skin was loose and even wrinkled. So I decided to wrap them in moist paper towels and store them in the dark overnight in my cool attic. The next day I looked at them and they had soaked up most of the moisture from the paper towels and were about 80% recovered, but I decided to re-moisten the paper towels and store them over night again.

The next day(Tuesday), they looked much better, and were mostly firm again. They are still left in slightly damp paper towels now, as I have not had time(or newspapers and boxes) to properly store them yet, but I will tomorrow(Friday). In the mean time, they are individually placed in plastic shopping bags with the tops open slightly so that air can circulate a bit.

Now, I had previously read contradictory advice pertaining to how dry or moist the potting soil or storage medium should be. One person will say the soil should be dry, and the next will say it should be moist. Also, more contradictory advice about whether to store them in plastic. One person says definitely NOT to, and the next person recommends storing them in plastic bags(!!?!?!!)

My problem, is that I now know exactly how fast these tubers can dry out, and if you dont check them but once a month, they could be completely shriveled up and dead in that time. So I question whether it's a good idea to store them in completely dry medium.

What do you think about initial drying of the freshly rinsed tubers, and how dry or moist the storage medium should be?