I have had zero success storing dahlias in any sort of media such as vermiculite, wood chips, newspaper, etc. I have only one dahlia now. I might try the 'keep in a pot' method for it this year. That's the way I have always stored my cannas.

Popmama, I have tried everything for storing dahlias! Frustrating when you are always hearing people say, "It's so easy." Regardless of what people say for how to prepare them: if you don't have the right temperature, it won't work.

I have had more success with tuberous begonias. But even with those I have transitioned to storing in their pots. You can often buy a hanging basket full of tuberous begonias fairly inexpensively. The tubers in those are very small and they would never survive digging and storing. I chuck the whole basket into my sump pump closet - the coldest spot in the house - once it is dry. I start checking in March: once I see little nubbins emerging, they come upstairs into the warmth and light.

raee, I will try storing the glads in the basement. I was afraid they might get desiccated.

My guess is that they are dead (now), but they almost certainly will be by next year. They will run out of stored sugars and probably also dessicate.

I am wondering if there is any way to STOP them from desiccating. When I tried storing dahlias using the "saran wrap" method, they rotted. When I tried storing them in peat or vermiculite, they dried up.

The only way I've ever been successful with tender bulbs (besides just not worrying about them, glads and dahlias usually overwinter fine here) is to leave them in a pot and once or twice water lightly over the winter.

I have never had an issue storing them in an unheated basement. Part of the basement was unfinished so humidity - or lack of it - was not an issue. Dahlia tubers would get rinsed of all dirt, allowed to air dry so the surface was not wet and then wrapped in newspapers. Glad corms and other winter tender bulbs were tucked into slightly moistened sawdust or sand.

I finally stopped doing that as it was just too much bother and left the glads in the ground. Dahlias and cannas I planted in containers and then stuck the entire container in the basement for the winter. No watering. That way, I could put the containers back out early to maximize growth as my ground soil heats up very slowly in spring.

I am Zone 5b. I used to have that attached to my Houzz name, but even though I've tried to edit to put it back in, it won't show up anymore.

I could try sand for the glads. I had not thought of that. I will be short of space in the sump pump closet, with everything else going in there (Including the fig tree). If I put each variety in its own pot of sand, I can stack them.

Glads in the ground did come back once; but that was an exception.