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| 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? |
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| When some one says to dry the the tubers, they mean to dry them to the point where they are not wet on the outside and the cut portions have healed and dried too. If you dig them when it is dry outside and the tubers are already dry it may only take one day. If you dig them after very wet weather it may take five or more days. The idea is to get them to the perfect combination of dry and cured but not dried out or too wet. And then you want to preserve that ideal moisture content throughout storage. If you put them into very dry vermiculite or wood shavings they will dry out too much. Many people are wrapping the tubers in plastic wrap when they are at the proper moisture level and the plastic keeps them at that proper moisture level. If you use vermiculite, wood shavings or peat moss it must be slightly moistened(very slightly!) and the mixture of vermiculite or whatever placed into a plastic bag of some sorts to preserve the correct moisture level. Tubers left out of a storage medium will shrivel. In some parts of the USA there is very little humidity, the tubers will dry quickly in exposed storage mediums. In more humid areas like the Northwest, that happens much less. So in one sentence: Dry the tubers to the point that they are dry to the touch and the cut portions have healed, then preserve that level of moisture throughout storage. |
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