Hello Alberta_grower,
The reason the overwintering cycle is 4 months is because that's long enough to do the job, and the timeline allows for 3 sets of plants to each produce a full crop every year. Changing the timeline wont save anything on refrigeration (not freezing), the refrigeration will be running all year long since there will always be a set of plants in the cooler.
The raspberry plants wont be able to be harvested right after they come out of the cooler. That's when they will begin to grow again. If I want to have a continues supply I need 3 sets of plants so I can be harvesting from one set of plants while one is regenerating, and the other is in the cooler. Once the plants I was harvesting are done, the other plants will have had 4 months to regenerate and be able to be harvested from as well. The three sets of plants insures a continuous uninterrupted supply of fresh berry's, as well as a good overwintering period.
You can do the same thing with strawberry's. However you can buy bare root strawberry plants that have already been overwinters for as low as 5-10 cents a plant. Although, many growers selling the bare root strawberry plants only sell them during certain parts of the year. You can always buy extra, and keep them in the cooler, or make your own bare root strawberry plants from the runners.
P.S.
There is probably a minimum and maximum amount of time the plant needs to overwinter, although I couldn't tell you what that is specifically. I'm sure not all plants are the same. I'm taking my cue and timeline from mother nature. The length of an average winter in most areas.
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