High Heat Dormancy...Collecting and Repotting

[August44]

I live in a zone 5-6 at altitude 3460'. We have very low humidity most of the time and rainfall of 13" or less per year. Like a lot of the West, we have had 100+ degree heat off and on for a month or so. I understand that trees can and will go dormant in weather like this and was told that repotting would be ok, but don't know about collecting yamadori or root pruning with repotting. I have and collect Lodgepole Pines, 5 needle Western Pines, Ponderosa Pines, Western Larches, and maybe a road trip for Mt Hemlock, so these are the ones I am asking about. Any experience or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I feel that this dormancy would stop happening as soon as we water trees regularly. They seem to adapt pretty fast.

I haven't succesfully collected or repotted anything in the summer ever. But I gave it a good 20 or so attempts.

 

[Paradox]

I would consider it risky

 

[0soyoung]

They (trees) are not really dormant. They are just done extending new growth. Stems are continuing to thicken, starch reserves are being accumulated and roots are growing. Because of higher temperatures, metabolism is running in high gear.

I think this is a good time to repot and/or collect pines, spruce, fir, psedotsuga (Douglas fir), thuja (western 'cedar'), juniper, and maybe even tsuga (hemlock, though I've encountered trouble fully bare-rooting eastern hemlock).

 

[August44]

I was told that this was a good time of the year by people who have done it and say that they will go out of this semi-dormancy after the heat goes away and the trees will have time to heal up roots that have been pruned/damaged before the freezes move in. I collected in the fall last year after the freezes were on and did very well, but did protect the trees in a shed over the winter that did not get below 34 degree F.