Those fabulous tubers that the Dahlia makes so freely. There seems to be some mystery about digging and storing Dahlias, but it is very easy. This is what to do. . . Cut off the top growth. Leave a few inches of stem exposed above ground to act as a handle and as a place to tie the variety label.
Some folks move the stake label to the stem right away, even before digging.
Remove the stake. The stem should not be full of water, nor hollow enough that water could fill it. If it is water filled, you must dig immediately and trim the stem back to solid tissue. Sometimes rot will have already produced those brown streaks that extend into the healthy white tissue of the tuber. This is a bad sign.