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A few days after the first frost last week I cut off the leaves, most of the stem and dug up our dahlia tubers. While washing off the dirt they were hard like potatoes (with the occasional skewered one). I set them aside to dry in my garage (indirect sunlight, ok airflow and about 12-15ºC maybe).

The next day I came to see if they were dry. They're dry but they've shrunk a bit in size and most of them are now a bit squishy and soft to the touch. This happened last year as well and I'm not sure what I did wrong, all the research I did indicates the last dirt needs to be washed off and the tubers dried before storage.

I live in zone 5A.

What's a possible explanation as to what happened and how can I avoid this from repeating ?

silkroad
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    FWIW, I never wash the soil off of my dahlia tubers. If they were in pots, I just cut off the frozen foliage and put the pots in the root cellar (an old cistern in the basement, open to the basement now but closed with a door). If they were in the ground, I try to dig them when the soil isn't too wet or too dry, brush off what soil I can, and put them in the root cellar. I do not cover them with sand or anything - they're open to the air in cardboard trays. I do the same with Callas and Cannas. I never lose any. Temp in the cellar is maybe 12-15C. Humidity at 30-40%. – Jurp Nov 18 '22 at 21:28
  • The only thing I can find is [this](https://flowerduty.com/soft-dahlia-tubers/). Perhaps they are already damaged by frost. – Rohit Gupta Jan 29 '23 at 02:03

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