I bought a couple of plants at the fall region 14 meeting this past Saturday.
The plants had a ton of roots, but it appeared to me the plants had been grown in a very heavy dense soil, maybe even compacted soil. All the roots were bunched up on top of each other making quite a mass of thick roots.
My concern when planting them was rot, would that mass of thick roots stacked so closely on each other start dying and cause rot? I pulled off all the black soft dying and dead roots, but that still left a mass of roots.
Does anyone plant this type of plant any differently that normal? It looked rather silly to sit those plants up on a dome of dirt being the roots were already stacked on each other. So I was actually tempted to cut the lower layer of roots off, but decided against it. Any thoughts?

I would just bury it w/maybe a small mound.

I wish I had more experience to give you a difinitive answer, Larry. Judging by the still-growing foliage, they were in good shape. maybe? I would just plant them "normal" and blame any issues in the spring on my post right here.

Larry I would cut out the center cluster and some on each side. If nothing else it would encourage new root growth. I grow in dense clay. Roger's cultivars don't look that way because he dug a hole I mean a hole when he planted his. Mine on the other hand look exactly like that. I just dug a hole big enough to plant.
That is just my opinion.

Hi Larry, I have dense soil and the roots on my plants are also dense as a result. I wouldn't cut any roots off, I would just plant without a dome. The density will not cause root rot, the roots are plenty healthy. The growth from this point forward will conform to the new growing conditions.

I visited a Daylily Farm to pick up a cultivar. The grower grew in compost and did not water. Some of those roots were over a foot long. Denser soil retains moisture and the roots don't have to travel far, but can produce many. The aforementioned Farm plants root system compensated for lack of watering by travelling far to seek moisture, producing far fewer roots.

I image the plant is a former chunk of mature clump. When I plant a tower of roots like that, I excavate a hole and amend with compost as usual, but more or less just put the plant in the hole and backfill with soil. As long as soil covers the roots, they do fine. I second Robin- I wouldn't remove roots, and the plant adapts. No problem.

Well, I do appreciate the replies. I did not cut any of the roots off, but was very tempted to do so being the mass of roots was so large. My soil was already prepared and amended, and I do dig deep holes. I did make a mound with a trench around it and sat the plants up on the mound, but that just did not look right. So, I mashed the mound down and just pretty much planted them in a hole.

Thanks for the acorn Larry, your hole sounds perfect. BTW, I've seen much worse than your roots, yours are mildly compacted. Just know when you get a root system like that, the grower worked 4 times harder (than average) to separate a clump for you.

I agree with Justine and Robin. Don't cut any roots and don't plant on a mound. I grow in heavy clay and many of my divisions look like that.