Nothing wrong with planning ahead, Mary. Especially if things aren't exactly right. After I saw so many of my tubers shriveling a year ago, I vowed that I would saran wrap a lot of them when I dug in the fall, no matter if it took longer. Plans are made to be broken but I ended up wrapping about 1/3 of them. As far as I can tell by looking through the clear wrap and feeling them, they seem to be doing alright. I've only found two rotters so far. I don't have the pre-wrap dryness factor down pat, like Geof does, but maybe I'll eventually learn.
The ones I stored in entire clumps looked okay a couple weeks ago. I haven't checked since then. I didn't wash any dirt off when I stored them in plastic bags. I recently read where someone said they actually added a couple handfuls of dirt to the bag thinking it would help hold just enough moisture/humidity to help prevent shriveling. I just don't have room to store well over 100 clumps that way.
There are a lot of opinions about whether to wait for a frost to dig the tubers. I read that Ted Kennedy says waiting for a frost isn't necessary because the tubers will have cured by late fall. If I had waited for a frost this past year, I probably wouldn't have dug until after Christmas. A couple years ago I waited and the first thing I knew I was digging through 8-10" of snow before we ever had a frost. lol
