Collecting oak saplings

I've got access to around 20 oak saplings (between 1-5 yrs old, type as yet unidentified). I was, at Tony's suggestion, going to start training them in situ, but today I found out that the land they're on is due to be levelled in the next few months.
Bonsai4me suggests that collecting them whilst in leaf/active growth yields better results than when dormant.
Can anyone shed any light on this for me, please? I'm probably going to re-plant them into the ground and let them run for a few years.

Personally, I would wait until the've shed they're leaves. You could either collect them Autumn time, pot them or put in the ground and still have the benefit of some warm days for them to make some root before winter. As you are thinking of grow ing them on in the ground though, i would be thinking about future root development. Most of the root st this stage is likely to be tap, so i would leave collecting until Spring time, when you can deal with the reduction of the roots and get them in the ground to heal as quickly as possible

Thanks for that, Will. I guess with having so many of them the law of averages says that at least a few will survive!

Hi Steve, I agree with Will. I've lifted many Oaks in autumn and spring, from seedlings to 6" diameter trunks, and not had a problem yet. When you come to get those Bald Cypress, I'll show you a few.

Hi,
I forget where I heard it and I can't vouch for it, I was told to always collect oak in leaf. Survival rates are higher?
Anyone else heard something similar? I could have dreamt it of course.

Hhhm. Two against one. I wish I had enough time to try a few of each. At the moment I'm leaning towards Spring collection.

And Kev, I'm looking forward to it. Methinks I'll have to leave my wallet at home, though!

I have heard that too Jerry, Harry Harrington, I think, recommends collecting in leaf. As I said, I've never lost one using the traditional collecting in Autumn or Spring. I've probably lifted 20+ including three large beauties.