I believe that squash do best around 50 degrees and dry. I have mine on our sun porch, for lack of a better place. The temps fluctuate there and some are starting to spoil. Now dahlia's, I suspect prefer to have some moisture. I bet they would also do better at a somewhat cooler temp, as long as it doesn't freeze. Some of mine died, due to drying out, when I stored them in one of our out buildings. I've had better luck leaving them in the ground with a heavy mulch. But then, I I know this wouldn't work up North.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I have to dig my tubers and store them, have fourteen large berry boxes with three layers of tubers in sawdust, stored in my garage which stays at about 43 degrees...about three years ago had a car hauling trailer stacked about two feet high with tubers ready to be cut up...but we had a period of below 32 degree weather and I lost every single tuber, the water just drained off the trailer and they turned to mold as they thawed out......back to the squash...option number one is to store them in our spare bedroom (my wife is not happy with that)..option number two is to better insulated a room off the barn....I'm thinking I can put in something to take some of the moisture out of the air in the room and maintain the temp.....

Hello groall,

Regarding your comment about something to take some of the moisture out of the air and maintain the temp, a few years ago, I was raising tropical fish and had so many fish tanks running in the basement that I had to do something about the humidity (>75%, sometimes 85%). I bought a dehumidifier, which, over the course of several months, brought the humidity down to 30-40% or so. They do emit a fair amount of heat as well.

The drawback (for me, anyway) was the jump in the electricity bill. It's pretty easy to figure out whether you can stomach the cost. In case someone doesn't know, just multiply the wattage of the unit by the number of hours a day you expect it to run, multiply that by the number of days in the month, multiply that by your utility's electric rate and divide by 1,000.

Example:
800 watts x 12 hours a day x 30 days x $0.0982 per kWh ÷ 1,000 = $28.28 per month.

I don't know, of course, but I wouldn't think you'd be faced with removing as much humidity as I was. (My bill ran an extra $100 a month.) I was advised on the fish forum where I posted that I would have been better off if I'd used a good exhaust fan (something like 100 cu ft/minute).

Hope that helps, and good luck with your squash-keeping schemings.

Mrs.B......very good information....I imagine there are some not so expensive units out there, otherwise I might just as well buy the squash...but what I'm looking at will not be a huge room, maybe 6x10, and I guess I would just have to play with how many hours I run it and check the humidity and basically watch to see if the mold starts to form...in my dahlia tubers, I will give them a light bleach and water bath before storeing them..I might try giving the squash a dunk to.......

Ah, yes. Good point. The size of the room would make a big difference. I wasn't thinking. The fish room I was trying to get under control was approximately 600 sq ft. That would hold a lot of squash :) Also, it wasn't tightly sealed, so the humidity moved through the rest of the house, too.

A humidity absorbing product like "DampRid" might be just the thing for you. Basically, it's a bucket of moisture absorbing crystals. Some types turn color as they're exhausted. Some can be regenerated in the oven. I tried it before I went to the electric dehumidifier. The DampRid wasn't up to the job for me, but you can probably imagine why.

The bleach dip sounds like a good idea. I might try it next year. The last three squash are storing happily on the steps in the mud room, but, like you said, it is only January.

Mrs.B....I'm taking the last of my squash out to the low tec. disposal system but I was busy before they went bad and cooked up some large Hubbards and Australian squash, put meal size portions in freezer bags...never heard of the DampRid, have to look that up....might work in my small room, think I will pull the sheetrock to better insulate and seal it up better..I currently have a tall heavy wire rack in there...I left a few of my seedling dahlia tubers in there which never got cut up and put in sawdust...the tuber clumps have shrunk up but I see little sprouts on them...so there is hope for that room.....always wanted a mud room but I dig a hole four feet deep and water fills the bottom of the hole....

What a shame about losing the rest of your squash. Nice that you got some in the freezer, though. I split the last big Hubbard with my friend. I made a big pie and a little pie with my half and still had enough to fill several yogurt cups for the freezer. Mmmmm. I'm hoping for more of those next year.

'Sounds like you have a good plan to try out for next year. Good luck!