Elephant Ears - need help with storage.

I bought 2 elephant ear bulbs this spring & they really grew nice. One of them was huge. I have dug them up & washed all the dirt off of them, but I'm not sure what to do about the roots & the stalk (I cut it about 8" above the bulb). Do I just let it dry out in a dark, dry place or do I cut them off? Need any information I can get. There wasn't any with them when I bought them. I'm in zone 5.
Jan in Illinois

Jan, I'm in zone 5, too. I pot mine up & keep them in my house, in front of a sunny window, and enjoy them all winter!They're just too cool looking to put 'em away in a box all winter!

Dawn, These elephant ears got too big to use as a house plant. The leaves on one of them were humungous. My husband couldn't get over how large they were. I only have 2 sunny windows to put plants in front of, & the space is already taken. I've already dug them up & cut the stalks back about 8" from the bulbs. I rinsed all the dirt off of the roots & think I'll put each of them in it's own netted bag, like potatoes & onions come in & hang them from a nail from an overhead beam in the basement where they can continue to dry out, but not be up against something where they might rot. Thanks for your comments. If I had enough sunny windows, though, I'd be tempted to try growing them inside.
Jan

Jan, here's the process I'm following:

"...The tubers of ... elephant's ear (Colocasia esculenta) ... should be dug before a hard frost. Cut the tops back and allow 2 inches of stem to remain. Dry for 2 to 3 weeks in a frost-free location, shake off the soil and remove the dried stem. Pack in peat moss, vermiculite, sawdust, or wood shavings and store at 45 to 55 degrees."

In case you have caladiums too (I do), here's how to handle them: "Caladium (Caladium xhortulanum) tubers should be cured for a week in a warm location and stored in packing material at a temperature around 60 degrees."

This was excerpted from the following article: http://www.ent.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1996/9-13-1996/cormtuber.html

Hope it helps you!

Some also dust the bulbs before storage to prevent pest infestations'

I don't know what they are but they sound really neat...does anyone have a picture?

Mummy, I think there are pics of several varieties of elephant ears in the database. You can search by the common name, or try Alocasia or Colocasia - it's probably hard to get an idea of scale from most photos, but some varieties can get - well, as big as elephant's ears :)