Forcing oaks into dormancy?

[nwmn]

I've been thinking recently about this. I would like to get my oaks to grow their first flush of leaves and then force them into dormancy, then break dormancy while growing in the basement this winter. I noticed this year that my oaks grew fast then basically shut off from the time I moved them outside until leaf drop. Is there an effective way to essentially get two growing seasons or more out of oaks in a winter/spring/summer? I think I read something on the other site about this? I would guess that you'd need the white fluorescent bulb as well as the red spectrum bulb then let them sit in cold for a while then bring them back to life?

Is this stupid crazy to think like this? I think it'd be a fun test, and maybe get a bigger seedling to plant instead of one that sprinted then stalled it's growth. Would this 'confuse' the tree and in turn make it sick if you're artificially causing it into and breaking dormancy?

 

[Jim Timber]

Given the tap root isn't making any progress in the container, I'm not sure your desire to accelerate top growth is in the best interest of the tree long term if the seasonal shift trick worked as planned.

I'm also not sure it would work, considering the tree can only grow as quickly as it's available light, nutrients, and genetics can grow. If there was a feasible way to fast-forward the seedlings biological clock, I'd suspect the commercial market would be doing it by now, since it would increase productivity and reduce time-to-market, significantly reducing overhead expenses in caring for a tree prior to it's merchantability. This is the kind of thing Agronomy programs at universities are doing experiments on all the time.

 

[sandbur]

Several years ago, I posted a similar question on the dark side concerning spruce. A local person had been doing it for decades and I think he used a root cellar to get two growth spirts per year. Cold dormancy and wake back up.

Jim has some good concerns with the oaks.

 

[SD51555]

It's not just oaks. On most stuff I've planted, the above ground growth is about done in mid to late June. What you don't see happening is that the roots are continuing to develop below ground, and I think that's what makes it possible to blow out a ton of new growth in the first six weeks of the following spring.