Question
I have gathered alot of the seeds to make my chances of getting several trees to start. Can I open the red outer shell of the seed & stratify the yellow inner seed, or just do the whole thing? My Time Life tree book, using holly berries as an example, breaks the seeds open & drys them on papertowels. Then they seal in airtight jars with fungicide & stratify in the fridge. The book is vague on length of time to keep them cold. It's late September now, should I keep them cold till early spring & then pot them? I will do what it takes to have the best chance of success for 20 to 25 trees, so treat me like a small child & give me details, please.

Answer
Hi Vickie,
Thanx for your question.  Leave the magnolia seeds intact when you plant them.  One thing you can do is plant the seeds now, about an inch deep in pots and leave the pots outdoors for the winter.  This will ensure the appropriate stratification period.  Make sure that you keep the pots watered if you're not getting regular snow or rain.  The seeds will germinate in the spring after the last frost.  The other thing you can do is place the seeds in a damp paper towel and place them inside a plastic baggie.  Place the bag in the fridge and leave it there for 60-90 days.  After that, remove the bag from the refrigerator, remove the seeds from the paper towel and plant the seeds 1 inch deep in a pot.  Keep the pot about 8 inches below a 40-watt shop light and make sure the room the pot is kept in is kept warm (75F).  Germination will occur in a few weeks.  When growing seedllings indoors, allow the seedlings to grow several inches tall and grow at least one set of true leaves.  The first set of leaves are seed leaves that nourish the young plant.  They will eventually fall off.  Gently prick the seedlings out of the pot and put them in separate pots.  After the last frost, place the seedlings outdoors in the shade where they are protected from direct sunlight, wind, rain, hail, etc. for 10 days.  After that, plant your seedlings in direct sunlight.  For seedlings grown outdoors and stratified over winter outdoors, they won't need the shade protection as they will already have been "hardened off" by growing outdoors unprotected.  I hope this helps.
Tom