Sorry for your loss Eric 😩
It is indeed a tricky balance of humidity and cold (but not too cold,) and I’m sure it changes year to year. This is only my second year attempting to store tubers and I have also had the best luck with coarse vermiculite in containers. My boxes were repurposed shoe size boxes (all the plastic drives me nuts too!) I let the tubers dry and wrapped some in plastic wrap, put some into the boxes with vermiculite, and each batch went into a separate Igloo cooler. I also placed a hygrometer in each box to keep track. Whenever I’d check on them, I’d add a damp sponge or towel to keep up the humidity. I live in Central Virginia and used a stone bulkhead that is unheated but adjacent to the heated basement.
The ones in plastic wrap did OK too, but the vermiculite in boxes seemed to provide just the right cushion of airflow and insulation. Both methods are a little bit annoying to check, but the Bluetooth monitors are excellent!
As a control, I put some extra tubers into another cooler with vermiculite. It’s the cardboard “compostable” type cooler that doesn’t really seal. For the most part, those are shriveled and moldy, in spite of having been left with some dirt on them. They were not high value to me, so it was worth it for the sake of experiment.
And of course, certain varieties did better than others. Ferncliff Copper looks like it could have thrived if I just shoved it under a rock for the duration. They’re waking up (slowly,) so I won’t be able to fully assess my storage success until I see results. But I’d agree that vermiculite in a box is a good bet. And $13 for a GoVee monitor is about the best money you’ll ever spend. Good luck!!
