This is long, but I'm frustrated. I dig my caladiums up every year and store them in my house. I first tried storing them in my unheated garage years ago and they all died. They are currently in my laundry room, which stays cooler than the rest of the house, but is part of the house and is heated. My problem is, I always lose some of my tubers because they dry up and die. Most of them survive, although shriveled, but I always lose some. I didn't lift them until November this year and I rinsed them, dried them for a couple of days and stored them in dried peat moss. I first stored them directly in the peat moss and placed them in cardboard boxes, but there was so much moisture in the peat moss that the boxes were actually becoming damp and soft, so I had to take them out and let the peat moss try some. Anyway, I've been checking them and spraying them with a little water every few weeks since the first of January because I could tell they were starting to dry out. I finally just decided to take them all out and really look at all of them and some are shriveling on the bottom and a couple of them are so dry I know they are already dead. So, how are you suppose to keep them in good shape for 6 months? I can't plant them outside until the first weekend in May because our weather is not stable until then. Last year, I started them indoors in lasagna pans at the beginning of April, and that worked out ok although it took up a lot of room in my house. They didn't start to sprout until the end of April, but they started growing roots. I'm in central Alabama, zone 8 but bordering on zone 8B. I probably have 150 tubers, but I've had some of them for a few years now. I usually buy a few new ones every spring, but I really like to keep them from year to year so that I have lots of different varieties. Any thoughts? Would it hurt to put them in damp peat moss now or will that cause them to rot?
