Christie, it's been several years since I planted mine, but, as I recall, I just stuck them sideways into the soil to the point where the top of the seeds were barely covered.
It's true - I gathered seeds in summer or fall, put them in my closet, then took them out in spring and planted them then. My house is cool in winter, because I don't like to use much heat, just enough to knock off the cold edge at night. Still, it's not as cool as a refrigerator, so I don't know why mine germinated, but every one did, the germination rate was amazing!
Each seedling had two stems, very weird. Let me know what yours look like. Nobody else has commented about the double stems, but I assume mine couldn't have been different from the norm.
Sherry

Christie,

I had really good luck with wintersowing these seeds. Like Sherry, I just covered the seeds.

Sandy

Thanks!
I do remember reading somewhere that they have double sprouts so that must be normal for them. It is weird. I can't think of any other seeds that have done that.

I would think you would just cover the seeds no deeper than the size of the hard seed...in nature, they sit on top of the soil. I'm no expert because I have seeds I want to try to propogate myself.
Prairie Moon says they need a 60-90 day cold moist strat followed by a 60-90 day warm moist strat followed by a second cold moist strat or 2 years for germination! So that is probably why I haven't been successful with my seeds. The seeds I cold stratified last winter were out over the summer in their bag & are now in the frig again...so we will see if that works!
I bought 2--3 gallon Hop Ash trees at Texas Discovery Gardens Fall Plant sale this month that weren't very big but the curator said that the first several years...the Hop trees establish their roots before growing bigger. Makes sense but the price was $25 each but I bought 2 anyway! I had tried buying them from Mossy Oak Nativ Nursery for cheap & they all died! Hopefully, these 2 will make it & thrive! I also bought a Prickly Ash after not having success germinating seeds I had collected from a friend's tree. I get very impatient! ;o)
Good luck!

I put seeds on a moist paper towel last year. Now I have many healthy seedlings. So I agree with you all.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Congratulations on your seedlings Forest. Welcome to Gardenweb! I saw on your member page that you just joined today.
My seeds haven't germinated yet but it's barely February so I didn't expect them to. I saved some back to sow in the spring just in case.

Christie, I want to start some wafer ash trees so I was glad to read this thread. I'm not sure where to plant them though. I had kind of wanted to put one or two out in the yard and some in the woods, but I'm not sure if they can thrive in the sun or not because I believe I had read that they're an understory tree. I'll have to do more reading, I guess.
Cathy

Just wanted to update - I discovered seedlings today! I winter sowed some seeds in late January and then some more around mid February and both have a few sprouts just starting to poke up through the soil.
When it stormed a couple weeks ago, I brought them inside and stuck them in my basement because I planted them in styrofoam cups and I didn't want them to blow away. I had completely forgotten that they were down there. My basement is fairly warm where they were, close to the south windows. I was so glad to see some sprouts when I remembered them and went down to get them today.

Sherry - I didn't see any with two sprouts but they're just barely poking up so they may still do that.