Experiment TIme! My 'lean-to'style greenhouse shares a concrete back wall with my heated basement, and therefore stays above freezing all winter. The coldest it has ever reached is 37-38F. With our unusally mild Dec/Jan so far, it hovers from 40 to 50. This greenhouse is where I store my tubers, and it has worked well over the last few years. Now...I just checked on a few clumps (in cardboard boxes with pine shavings) , and while the larger, robust clumps look fine, a few smaller, weaker clumps have some shriveled tubers; others have some soft, punky tubers. I would really like to save these varieties. It's another two months before I customarily 'wake up' tubers. Sooo, my experiment is to pot up any troubled clumps and bring them into the heated basement where it averages low 60's. And as soon as I see sprouts poking out of the soil, move the pots back into the cool greenhouse, keeping the soil barely damp: I'm hoping the plants will just mark time until mid to early March. Do you think tender young shoots and their tubers will tolerate temps in high 30's?
