Propagating Magnolia by seed?

I noticed last week that my young yellow lantern Magnolia in my front yard was growing a few ugly blobs which I initially thought were deformed flowers or some type of weird fungus.  Then once my brain kicked in in and actually thought about it I worked out that these were actually the fruits which I had never seen before.  My initial reaction was to get rid of them as they use an enormous amount of energy to grow but it occurred to me that I hadn't actually seen magnolia seeds so left them.   

Over the course of a week or so the pink-ish blobs developed into cone like structures and then popped open showing the seeds.       


I collected the seeds, which are fleshy and bright orange (and look more like beans) then conducted some research on how to get them to germinate.  I had to put the beans in a place where they wouldn't mistakenly get eaten for skittles (hmmm, wonder what they taste like?  bags not trying).


After I collected them I found that the best way to propagate a magnolia is to take a cutting (this is by far the quickest as it takes 1-2 years to flower, as opposed to 10-15 from seed). In saying that, I still want to see if I can grow one from seed.  


From my research, I found that there are many different ways to germinate a magnolia seed.  So I just chose one.  


I soaked the beans in tepid water for 24 hours to help remove the coating.  I then squeezed the bean to force the hard glossy black seeds out, then washed the seeds again to remove any leftover residue. 

After this, I rubbed each seed with coarse sandpaper - the abrasion is needed to help moisture penetrate the hard coat and reach the internal embryo.   


 I then placed the seeds in a labelled bag with damp peat based potting mix and put in the fridge for a couple of months to imitate winter and preserve them. This is known as stratifying and is necessary for the seed embryo to germinate next spring.  

Stay tuned for results!