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Firstly - buy your seeds from a proper tree seed nursery - the results you get will depend on the seed freshness, and critically, how it was stored before you bought it. Foil pouches and refridgeration help maintain the seed quality, which in turn has a direct effect on what percentage will germinate.
My seeds have arrived and are well labeled and very well packed
First thing we need to do is hydrate the seeds so I fill some pots with warm water and put the seeds in to soak. Initially they will mostly float, and over the next 24-48hrs they will sink - any that remain floating will not stand any chance of gerrminating so will be discarded. If you have a stuborn batch change the cold water for more hot each day.
Once they sink they are ready for stratification - this is a controled way to put the seed through an artificial winter so the batch germinate this year rather than next ! To create the artificial winter we put the seeds in a normal household fridge but they must not dry out, or grow mould so the conditions are quite critical - (Added to that different tree seeds need different timing). I have used wet paper towel in the past but some seeds went mouldy but the following method has been perfected by a commercial tree seed grower.
The soaked seeds are mixed with powdered charcoal as this is a totally natural way to stop moulds from developing. I use normal lump wood charcoal powdered up for this stage, and will mix a little powder with the damp seeds. Next we make up a media to stratify the seeds in. This will be equal parts powdered charcoal, sphagnum moss and perlite, which should be sterilised really to kill off any spores or bacteria that could infect the seedlings.
  
The perlite is already heat treated so i'll just put the moss and charcoal in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 C. All the ingredients are mixed together and made damp, then put into shallow trays ready for the seeds. I'll add the seeds and cover with plastic film then pop into the fridge for the next 6-8 weeks. Once a week the clingfilm is removed to let fresh air so mould doesnt start to grow.
The method above will be fine for the Black pine and red pine seeds but results with white pines will be poor because these seeds are 'Deeply Dormant'. To stand a chance of getting 60-70% germination with the white pines the seeds are kept at room temperature for 2 weeks and then soaked for 48 hours before being mixed with the charcoal and chopped moss that is damp but not wet. The stratification is 2 stage - 40% of the time cold in the fridge and 60% of the weeks in a warm place, either a warm room or heated propogator will do. The white pines are labelled 36 weeks total ! so who knows when we will hopefully get some to germinate, but I'm going to give them 12 weeks in the fridge then move them to the propogator and see what happens.
Seeds planted, lids labelled, ready for the fridge. Open once a week for fresh air and a little spray if they are looking very dry. | 
