Etelka, your row of dahlias is going to be beautiful. And the posts are unobtrusive. Surely, being painted green, your neighbors would understand they were there for a reason and leave them alone.
Dan, I think I will do a blend for storage this fall. I did like the saran thing, assuming I get them correctly dry. And a light dusting of fungicide (I coated them like chicken with shake and bake last time and I think it promoted rot being so thick and holding any dampness too much). I will cut up the obvious ones and put the others in bags like this year. If they look like they are drying out I will take a bucket of slightly damp peat and vermiculite down stairs and put it in the bags that look like they need a little moisture retention. Yup. That's my plan and as you say no plant survives meeting reality.
I don't dare go to Walmart. I simply couldn't resist buying some tubers. I vaguely remember buying some and am hoping it was last year because I don't see any bags laying around now.
I will start potting now since most have eyes. I did my inventory and added two new fields to report, one dahlia per page with picture, saying when it came out of storage (already had a field for when they went in) and 'Has eyes' and 'no eyes' indicating how many of each rather than simply one field that says 'eyes' yes no. I didn't have time yesterday to add up the ones with eyes but will do so today. I think I have enough soil (Promix) and am wondering what I could add to each pot to give them a good start. The next 8 weeks are critical. I should be able to put them under poly in the raised beds by the middle endish of April without fear of cold getting them. And they harden off really well in there. They never burn. I open the ends to get a good airflow if it is warm enough. I also have two fans going in the garage to get a little movement on the stems and to circulate the air to discourage fungus/mold.
