You know what? According to the literature, this is a very bad time to be moving your grasses... But, necessity causes us to break all the rules. AND, sometimes the rules need to be broken!
I think you will probably be quite successful if you have to move your grasses in November.
I would suggest
- move them as is - don't divide them (if possible)
- make sure you plant them FIRMLY, stomp that dirt down around their roots & then mulch - it couldn't hurt.
- trim the tops back by 1/2
-give them lots of TLC in the spring.
oh .... & of course, Cross your fingers! :o)
A.
btw, necessity caused me to move 10 Panicum virgatum 'Rotsibler' plants last fall from a zone 5 garden to a zone 3/4 garden. They all survivied!

I agree with A.

The key to success is to fully water the plant in as you are back-filling.

Dig a much larger planting hole than you need. Set the full rootball in and twist it around to seat it. Start backfilling, tamping firmly. Stop half-way and water in the backfill. Then finish filling it in and tamping, and water it in again.

I'm not sure cutting the tops back by half is necessary now, because most warm season grasses in your zone are probably nearly dormant by now. If you do, however, a neat trick is to patiently cut the top growth in 2-3" lengths and using them for your mulch.

I still have well over 100 potted grasses to get into the ground this fall, and at the rate I'm going, it'll be December before I finish.

Donn, I was suggesting cutting back by 1/2 to reduce root movement. Winter winds pushing against the entire upper mass of grass can cause newly planted clumps to 'lodge' (pull their roots out of the ground).
good luck with all that planting :o)
A.

Thank you all for giving me feedback. I appreciate your help. I'm going to take your advice and let you know the results in the spring. (and of course, cross my fingers!)
This is a treat forum! I could spend days here!

About 5 years ago, my sister had put her house on the market, she and her H had already moved out, and it took about 6 months to sell. She had some nice big Gracillimus, and she offered my mother and I some divisions before the closing. Being completely ignorant of the usual guidelines of ornamental grasses at the time, we went up there over Thanksgiving weekend (!), dug up 2 of the huge Gracillimus, hacked and sawed and divided the heck out of them, leaving 1 division in each place.

I planted my 3 divisions in my front border along the street, which is sandy lean soil and exposed to brutal winter winds. I didn't mulch them and minimally watered them. Believe it or not, 2 of the 3 survived the winter! I have since given one away, and the other is now a huge clump of grass.

In my experience, this cultivar has turned out be quite rugged - I would expect similar results from most Miscanthus anyway, especially with pampering. Cool season grasses would be even more amenable. Definitely go for it.

I planted a prairie dropseed (sporobolus heterolepis) on Oct 31 and watered it well that day, which was 4 days ago. In reading some of the above advice, I get the idea that I need to water it a lot more. It was very rainy last week, but has been dry since the day I planted it. Should I water it every day for another week ? Also, when should I mulch it? It's still in the 50s here in the Chicago area.

If your soil drains well, daily watering for a week certainly won't hurt it.

S. heterolepsis is hardy to at least zone 3, so you probably don't have to mulch it any more than allowing autumn leaves to collect in the foliage.

I have potted Miscanthus to worry about this winter. I want to keep it potted. Think it'll survive a Zone 5 1/2 winter in New Jersey?
The in-ground grasses are all doing well. I thought if I just put the pots in protected areas onto earth (rather than cement), they'd have a chance.

skyelement...you'd better put the pots IN the ground, rather than just on the ground. You lose 2 hardiness zones with a container plant, which would take you well below Miscanthus' range.