I'm in process with peonies myself...they're awaiting their warm season to grow roots, then cold season to actually sprout above ground. This is my first time with peonies.

I have grown clematis texensis which required four years to be transplantable in the landscape and two years to germinate.

Put them outside, let the seasons and rainfall wash over them. If there's extended drought, water them. Otherwise, just wait. I very seriously question that 30-60 days warm is enough to grow a sufficient root system.

Interesting. So you would not suggest that I keep them in the house at all, but rather do the whole process outside. I do understand that the process is really just to mimic what would happen in nature from a seed dropping from the ground in the summer. The idea that I "couldn't let it dry out" was a bit scary. But, also I wonder if it would rot or mould if I overwatered it.

It is possible...but the general rule is that a plant is made to live outside (perhaps in a different climate) and can cope with the elements in a general way. Things dry better outdoors with sunlight and wind.

It works better and is a lot less trouble.

You might want to take a look at the peony forum on garden.org, there is info about growing from seed and grafting on stickies at the top of the strings. Starting them inside with the warm then cold cycles is supposed to make them germinate faster, at least a year less than planting directly outside but you can't prove it by me--every time I've tried it inside I ended up with moldy seeds...

I did manchurian apricots a few years ago and they germinated well without the warm cycle, I just put them in soil and left the pots outside over the winter. I think three out of five seeds germinated.

I've had good success with peony and tree peony seeds using indoor methods. I have a bunch of tree peony seeds undergoing warm moist stratification indoors right now.

For large seeds like peony seeds, I just plant them directly in cells in 511 mix, water it and let it drain, then put everything in a Ziploc bag. The bag seals in the moisture and I don't have to water it at all from that point onwards.

For the warm stratification, I just leave them indoors, anywhere I have space - it stays about the right temperature. Then I move them into the refrigerator for the cold stratification, and then I start them under lights, also indoors, and grow them under lights until they are big enough to move outside.

I haven't had any noticeable mold issues with this method. Trying the "damp paper towels in Ziploc bags" method produced mold 100% of the time for me no matter how I tried to sterilize the materials.

I agree that 30-60 days seems short for the warm stratification period, at least for peonies. 3-4 months is closer to the recommendations that I've read, and what has worked for me.

I am trying tree peony seeds for the first time using the indoor method - so far so good. I checked my seeds this past week and several have little radicles growing. I potted mine in a 1:1 peat/perlite mix and have them on top of a warm fish tank light in a 1 gallon nursery pot. I water them once weekly to every other week to make sure the soil stays moist but not water logged. I did not bag the pot to trap in moisture. They have been warm stratifying like this for 2-3 months. I am going to give them a couple more weeks warm stratification before moving them to my unheated garage for cold stratification. As the garage warms up with the arrival of spring in a couple months, I am hoping to see little sprouts at which point the pot will be moved outside in the sun.

When you say "checked your seeds" do you mean that you took the peat/perlite off them to have a look or are they not totally covered? I guess the seeds are large enough to find them easily. I'll be eager to hear how they turn out.

They are buried ~1-1.5" under the surface, I carefully moved soil away little by little until I found the seeds and then checked for any root growth (which I found!). The seeds are large enough to find easily. I'll see if I can't take some pictures and upload them.

I will try to upload photos. Here is a pic of the potted seeds on top of my fish tank as well as a zoomed in picture of me checking the seeds. In the bottom middle of that picture you can see a single tree peony seed with a white radicle emerging on its rite side and growing down into the soil.

The method worked well for me! A week or two after I posted the above pictures, I moved the pot of germinated seeds into my unheated garage for the rest of winter and into early spring. As soon as the days warmed up enough to start warming up the garage as well (sometime in April), I moved the pot of tree peony seeds outside and let them come up naturally. I have a good number of newly emerged leaves now!