This is my opinion only, and it ain't based on past experience (not to mention I don't know anything about the climate and growing conditions of your new place)....try to leave as much soil around the roots as possible; transport each plant in something - a pot, several plants to a cardboard container, a bucket, anything. Note that I'm assuming the time out of the ground will be minimal, and that you'll be able to plant in your new garden almost immediately.

BTW, you definitely have my sympathies! We've bought a new house but are still in our current one. I've currently got over 150 pots of daylilies at the new place, but I had no time to plant - nor will I. If necessary, I'll put all of them in the garage.

But there's more: I'm STILL moving plants from my current garden. At last count, I have several cardboard boxes and about 20 paper grocery bags CRAMMED with daylilies and other plants. Just this afternoon, I dug up around 20 daylilies, perhaps more!

I place each plant, which I've dug with as much soil as possible, on a sheet of newspaper. Before I do that, I place the label on top of the paper, with the ball of soil going on top of the label. I bunch up the paper around the plant and stuff in a box or bag.

Too late to plant, ergo, each one will have to be potted up and overwintered in the garage.

Back to you and your problem - People with more experience than I have with daylilies may have different advice for you. In that case, you should follow theirs LOL. It's not just that I've never done this before - my plants have a short move, and they get repotted asap.

At this point in the year, I would take only things that are expensive, and my seedlings. Anything I could replace easily and inexpensivly would stay there. There will be enough stress in moving and unpacking, let alone trying to move a bunch of plants, and get them planted down there. If it were Spring, I just might be stupid enough to try moving them all. I have probably 300 to 400 cultivars and I don't even want to think about all the seedlings.

If they were mine and I had time I'd dig as many as possible, place them all in plastic grocery bags with a good root ball and head south. If you have metal tags they would go in the bag with the plant and I'd also get the plastic slip on tags and put one on the hand hold of each of the bags. When you get to SC unload, I'd heel them in, in rows, somewhere like a veggie garden if it's cleaned off and available until spring when you have time to decide where you want them. If you can't plant them immediately but think you can within the next month, I'd tie the sack off down around the crown of the plant if foliage still has any height to it so that moisture is held in.

I've moved daylilies way up into December. I didn't necessarily want to but had to and they did fine. Morss and Kirchhoff were still planting daylilies here last year in their move up into December. You just do the best you can. You might loose a couple and on the other hand you may loose none. If you don't dig and take them it's a sure fire bet you loose them all....

Janet

Janet ~ great advice, I think.

I rented a Uhaul truck to move my 300 daylilies & 200 other plants last Spring. Built several shelves with freestanding 2x4 end and center rectagular supports and 8ft plywood sheets.
This involved lots of lifting, but produced a 100 percent survival rate.

The iris moved with just the dirt that stayed on when I dug them up, tucked rhizome to rhizome on plastic flats & they grew fine in partial shade until I got them planted much later.

Good luck with your move!

I moved almost 400 daylilies this summer. We sold our house immediately and I had to pack that up plus move plants. I simply dug them up, put them in plastic grocery bags and moved them to our lot (we were building)and stuck them in the ground. That was in June - and we had a mini drought with no rain for almost two months. Hauled water to them only once and it appears they have all survived. My philosophy was, I was going to lose them if I didn't move them, so took a chance. My advice - go for it.

Annie

So the consensus is to leave lots of dirt on the roots, and pack them in plastic grocery bags then? That I can do. I have no idea where I'd be living yet, so I could possibly heel them in, but more than likely I'll be putting them in pots. It will probably be a rental for a few months while we get a feel for the area. Unless we find the dream house on the first scouting visit, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks for all the advice so far, I really appreciate it!

Got a friend or family member who'll babysit them for the winter?

Janet

Daylilies are a hardy tough plants. Dig and pot, I am in zone 5 and grow hundreds in pots, they overwinter fine, I plant in hardwood mulch, DL do not like heavy soils. Then when you get to SC you do not need to worry tp get them into the ground right away. Call a few landscaping Companys, often they have pots that are going to the landfield and will give them to you free. Make sure you label them with a tag that can be tied to the plants so you do not loose ID.

While I don't have hundreds of Daylilies to move, I have moved the few I do have several times within a few years, and they've come back better than ever! Of course, I've stayed in the same state and have only gained or lost one gardening zone either way... but my point is... they are hardy plants, for the most part, and should do fine if lifted with some soil and replanted as soon as you are able...

I know how traumatic moving can be, but I always take as many of my perennials with me as possible! I even dug up my dwarf Lilacs and brought them along! Thinking back, the only plant that suffered any set back was a Siberian Iris... and I still can't figure out why it has refused to bloom for the past 2 years after moving... if it doesn't bloom this coming season, I'll move it to another location in the garden and hope it likes that better!

Good luck with your move!

In early October a friend of mine dug a clump of POINT OF VIEW as a gift plant and set it on the top of a post bare root. The individual never placed the order so when I was out to his place in March Robbie gave me the clump that had set bare root in full sun on top of the post and I took it home and planted it with others that were dug with some soil on the plants. By July I could not tell which were bare root for 5 months and which were not.

I would dig and wash and trim everything. I would trim the tops to 4" inches and the roots the same but many are uncomfortable with trimming the roots that way so do what you are comfortable. All the roots will die anyway and the only benefit of the old roots is to act as anchors. I would get the plastic open mesh bags and store each cultivar in a mesh bag so it could breath. Then I would store them in a cool place that did not freeze but where they would get good air circulation.

As long as the roots are kept dry they will be fine bare root and they won't grow during the winter months anyway.

In the spring when the ground temperatures remain at 54 degrees F. or above I would plant them.

If you decide to use plastic bags it has to be temporary. If left too long in plastic bags that do not breath there is a huge risk of mildew and rot. If you take soil then the microbes in the soil will reduce the rist of rot as long as the soil is kept dry.

The worst risk of all is cold and wet or cold and damp which is a recipe for rot and anaerobic pathogens.