My largest order of tubers for this spring arrived today. I'm in a zone 5b and probably shouldn't plant them outside until the end of May at the earliest.

The majority of them have a sprout, a few have a couple inches of growth.

I'm thinking I will put them in pots tomorrow and leave them in the barn at least until I see some growth and the weather warms up. What do you all think about this plan of attack?

Do you think I risk rot using a pre-moistened potting mix?

No responses yet, so I'll post what I found out for other beginners like me ...............

A friend that has grown Dahlias for years told me that if I pot them up, to make sure the soil is dry.

She also told me that she keeps her new arrivals in a refrigerator until she is ready to plant them. Make sure there is no fruit or vegetables in the fridge .... no food at all is best. Apparently the issue is with the gasses given off by fruit and veggies.

Most of my tubers are still in saran wrap. I don't plant till the end of May and I don't have enough sunny windows to accommodate all the plants. If I start them too early, I end up with tall, spindly plants before time to put them into the garden. My new arrivals are put into zip lock bags of potting mix. The mix is just to keep the tubers from drying out too much, so I don't add water. It seems a little dampness kickstarts them into too much growth before I'm ready. I'll get serious with the starting and potting toward the end of this month. Some of the tubers are anxious and have sprouts that have poked their way through 2 or 3 layers of saran .

Some people pot them up when they arrive. I've heard that making sure the soil is slightly damp/not wet is key to getting them to start growing (and ensuring the tuber doesn't rot).

I leave the tubers in my unfinished basement, and plant them out in my garden mid-May. If they arrive in wood chips, I move them into a vermiculite filled plastic shoebox (I had storage issues with wood chips my first year, and there will be no more of that storage method allowed in my house).

I may pot up a few tiny tubers in the next week or two, and put them outside when it is warmer, then move them into my shed/basement overnight (depending on the weather).

Things were much easier years ago when I planted the sprouted (sometimes unsprouted) tubers directly into the soil. The down side was that during rainy springs I'd lose a dozen or more to rot. That's when I began starting them inside in flat trays of soil. After they developed the tiny hair roots that allowed them to absorb more moisture, they were planted and losses to rot were reduced. Four or five years ago, I started potting them a month or so before planting time thinking this would lead to earlier blooming. And it did! Problem was not having enough sunny windows and the chore of carrying 200+ plants in 24" planters outside on sunny days for several weeks gets to be too much. By mid May, it's usually warm enough to leave them out all night. I think I'll try direct sowing a few this year.

Melissa, the first time I stored tubers, I used saw dust. By the time I checked them, they were like leather. I could have used them to re-sole my shoes. LOL Never again!

I start mine when it is warm enough to leave them outside. I plant them in gallon pot filled with an excellent potting mix. When they have sprouted I plant them in the desired locations. The potting soil has greatly improved my garden soil after several years. I haave very sandy soil.

My dahlia tubers have started to arrive as well. I overwinter my tubers in my attic and as the new tubers arrive, I put them into the box in the attic with the other tubers. I cannot plant mine out until the end of May, so it is going to be awhile.

I too, do not have enough room or windows in my house to start the tubers early.

I went to the Ohio Dahlia Society's tuber sale Saturday. I only bought 3 tubers but had some nice conversations with very knowledgeable people. One guy in particular had the cleanest, plumpest tubers I've ever seen. I latched onto him for advice. After digging, washing and dividing in the fall, he wraps the tubers in newspapers and lets them dry for up to a week before saran wrapping and storing. I asked if the tubers didn't shrivel during this, what seemed to me, long drying process. He said they were kept in a cellar where the temp during the winter can get down to the mid 30s. While he agreed that humidity plays a huge role in storage, he said my attic temp of mid 50s was a bit too warm. This fall, I'll consider storing in the crawl space in baskets lined with window screen to keep mice from snacking. I've had pretty good luck storing in the attic in the past. But I'm always looking for improvement.