..... but some refrigerators actually dehydrate. I know my frost free fridge dehydrates most things. So one has to be careful there. Rule out the unattached shed as it is too cold. If you have an extra "beer fridge" which does not dehydrate, you could set it well above the freezing temperature. Is there a part of your garage that is colder than other parts, where they could be wrapped up and insulated with old blankets, and put into a box ( after the initial fungicide/saran wrap treatment)? ...just some thoughts.

Alexa, the area of your garage that is next to your inside wall can be anywhere from 3 to 5 degrees milder than the other parts of the garage simply by heat making it thru the wall.

If you can put the clumps into boxes, surrounded by peat moss/dry sand/vermiculite....or electronic bubble plastic...it might be protected there sufficiently.
It would depend a lot on just how severe your winter is.

You didn't mention it but are you aware of the "saran" wrap method of cocooning dahlia rubers for overwinter storage.
It takes quite a bit of courage to actually tear all the individual tubers off the clump and expect them to come to anything in the spring.
But that is how the American Dahlia Society now emphasizes growers to do.

I too have a heated garage and lost last year's tubers in fridge. I wrapped them in newspapers and they were all mushy when I unwrapped them. Any help would be appreciated.

I stored all my tubers at 72 degrees this winter, in boxes in my dining room. I had intended to relocate them in my cold cellar, but never got around to doing it. They were fine. More important to dahlia storage is humidity fluctuation then temperature (and fridges are notoriously bad in this regard). Sure, 45-50 degrees is ideal, but don't get stuck on the 'rule of thumb.'

There are lots of different ways to store your tubers, and the fridge is one of the worst. Search 'overwintering dahlias,' or 'storing dahlia tubers,' and lots of pertinent posts will come up for you to browse.

Sorry you lost your tuber crop... please don't lose heart, as we all have made colossal gardening mistakes and try to learn from it for next time.

Thanks so much for your advice, I will try them in the garage this winter as we keep it about 65 degrees, did you pack them in peat moss?

I have used peat moss... not my favorite way, as the tubers are covered in the dark dust. I know several growers that have excellent results with it, depending on the moisture content of the material.

With any storage medium, its a balancing act of wicking away excess moisture and not allowing the tubers to dry out. Lots of ways work, but you have to experiment with different ways to find the best for you. I suggest taking the biggest tuber maker this fall, and dividing it up so you can store the same variety several different ways. In the spring, you can compare the methods and decide which direction you want to go the following fall.

Thanks!

Sorry, wish I had a 'silver bullet' answer, but storage is a tricky one. If another grower gives you only one method, don't be lulled into thinking that their method will automatically work for your unique situation.

Thanks!

I stored my tubers in a drawer of an old dresser in my attached garage that was about 50 degrees over winter. I covered the tubers with dried leaves and all my tubers shriveled up. Lost them all. Thanks for all the advice in advance. We shall try again this year. I buy them at big lots so not really $$$. But I hate losing them.

Where I live it gets way below freezing and every time I've tried to store them in an outbuilding I've lost them. I'm considering storing them in my extra fridge in a box of shavings. Any thoughts?

The year I lost mine was when I stored them in the refrigerator wrapped in paper. Shriveled and molded.

I successfully used a refrigerator in our shop to store mine. I put them in vermiculite in a big blue storage container with snug lid. It took up the whole fridge. Set the fridge for about 45 degrees and I don't think I lost more than a couple out of 200 tubers. The plastic bin protected them from the dehydrating effect of the fridge.

Daurelle Chapman can you tell me what tub you used? picture?

It was something like this. I took out all the shelves in the fridge and used the biggest tub that would fit. I keep the lid snug so it wouldn't dehydrate them too much. You'd be surprised how many tubers can fit in a tub! Good luck! Oh, I tried the plastic wrap method last year.... lost more that way.