Rick, I like the way you say: "my plants get what the get, and if that's not good enough, that's probably all they're going to get anyway" Pretty much the same here too--a good way to determine stamina and garden hardiness. When it comes to transplanting, since I work with Trumpet and Aurelian types, I have it pretty convenient. Most, if not all, are pretty much dormant by mid Oct. That's perfect because my soil temperatures are still running in the 50's F. And if anything, the soil is a little dry--meaning the bulbs are a little more on the dehydrated side than waterlogged side. Around here, I have sandy loam base soil so the bulbs lift easily and clean too, so all I do is trim off any old dead anchor roots and replant in mid Oct. The same would apply to any A's, O's, LA's, LO's etc. that are dormant or nearly dormant by then.
But when it comes to OT's, it's a different story. If I wait around for them to go dormant, it would be late Nov. and then they only go dormant by a killing freeze. By then the soil is wet, the soil temps are trending downward into the mid to high 40's and the bulbs are what I call still 'green' with (I think) a pretty high moisture content. Hardly an incentive for rooting and not much time left before soil temps drop so low that very little rooting will occur. Not to mention a potential for bulb rot if we have a wet soggy winter. In your opinion, would it be better to cut these early to force dormancy so the bulbs are better conditioned to coincide with the optimum planting/rooting time? Readers need to keep in mind I live in zone 5A/5B, Zones higher than 6 may not have this circumstance.
