Yes Coach, this is a very interesting topic. It has always been my understanding that dormancy, as Ken alluded too, is brought on by a shortening of daylight hours and dropping of temperatures. Different flora would have different cycles according to there specific climate. This I'm guessing would be genetically marked in that species code. Of course they can be 'tricked' into prolonging there growing season or exiting dormancy early. It is done all the time. Now it is also my understanding that this can only be done for a certain period of time before a plant would shut down regardless of artificially produced factors. The Prolonged growing season would definitely stress the plant. So your quest is to prolong the growing season without injuring your conifers. Conifers also require a certain amount of days dormancy before they are able to come out of dormancy. You would want this to happen in the following spring. Required dormancy for conifer species is probably documented somewhere. I'm sure you can stretch the season a month or two without any problems. Someone with more knowledge could probably pin it down to a more specific timeframe for you. Good luck

Reed, I love Tom Clothier's data base. It helps take a lot of the guesswork out of knowing when to plant seeds. At his website there's also a similar set of data for other plants like annual and perennial flowers. I first really came to understand the relationship between actual soil temperatures and seed germination/plant growth and performance from Dr. Sam Cotner's incredible book "The Vegetable Book: A Texan's Guide to Gardening". I also learned so much from him about the way air temperatures impact growth and performance of our vegetable plants. While there are many gardening books that I love, love, love and find useful, Dr. Cotner's book is the only book I consider absolutely essential and responsible for whatever success I have had in raising vegetables. I grew up in a gardening family so understood all about when we planted each vegetable, but reading Dr. Cotner's book in the mid- to late-1980s helped me understand it all in terms of, not dates, but rather soil temps and air temps. After that, vegetable gardening became so much more easy to understand and manage. I've completely worn out my first copy of Dr. Cotner's book, and my second copy is starting to look pathetically well-used. And for anyone who hasn't seen the soil temperature part of the OK Mesonet, I'll link the three-day average map below. You can increase your own soil temps by mulching the soil heavily in the fall to help hold in the heat, or by covering it with black plastic several weeks before you want to plant. You also can use clear plastic placed over PVC hoops to form low tunnels over beds you want to heat up. The same greenhouse effect that keeps plants warm in our greenhouses will heat up soil in a low tunnel in no time at all. I usually won't plant anything until my soil temps have been in the right range for good germination for 3-5 days and the forecast looks favorable for the next 10 days too. I take my own soil temps using a thermometer with a metal probe, but also check the Mesonet maps to follow general trends. If you have raised beds or sandy soil, you may find that they warm up more quickly than grade-level soil and more quickly than dense clay soil. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: 3-Day Ave Temp Bare Soil at 2

It's soil temp, not air temp. I don't know how cold your winter gets, but if the soil has sufficiently warmed you shouldn't have a problem with germination.

Here's my never failed me yet over 30 years method. New 18 oz. cups with hole drilled or cut in bottom. Potting soil (I like Miracle Grow seed starting mix) 8 qt size, 2 bags. Mix that with 1 pound bag of Vermiculite. Fill cups and wet soil with HOT water until water drains from bottom. Make small circle in soil with my thumb and plant 3 seeds. (Allow soil to cool just a little so it doesn't cook the seeds). Cover seeds with a tiny amount of soil (1/8 inch). Place all the planted cups on a tray under the grow light. Cover cups with plastic wrap. Put lights down to about 1/2 to 1 inch away from tops of cups. Don't let light touch plastic wrap. Set timer to on 16 hours, off 8 hours. Walk away. I almost always have tomatoes up in 3-5 days. Take the plastic off AFTER the tomato has shed it's seed coat. If they don't all do it at once, cut the plastic wrap off of the ones that have without cutting the tomato. I cut the extra tomatoes off at the soil line before they get very big. I keep the light so close after this that the tomatoes grow up into the light, but not enough to damage them when removing the tomato growth from the lights. I fertilize when the tomatoes get pale in color. For your stage of no germination... I would make sure the soil is damp, cover with plastic wrap, put the lights close to the plants, and watch. I am assuming you have used sterile potting soil. If you have no results in a week, start the over. (Something I did before I started my method.) Whatever you do, keep trying and you'll get it down. It's really fun when you get the hang of it. Here's my hot peppers for this year. I use the same method. The peppers take a little longer to germinate. Rebecca