Germinating hawthorn seed

Hi everyone. Recently I got some hawthorn seed and apparently it takes a long term to germinate, through a process of stratification.

The seller of the seed sent this advice:

Left naturally they germinate in the second spring after falling from the tree, so to imitate this, we suggest putting the seed in a polythene bag with the same volume of moist sand. Some growers rub the seed quite hard with sand paper before putting in the bag. Add the water gradually and if you get it too wet, just add more sand. You don’t want the seed to drown! Tie the top loosely.

The bag needs to be kept somewhere at room temperature for 30-90 days (sorry we can’t be more specific with this! Each batch is different) . I would be going for about 7 weeks, regularly shaking the bag to aerate the seed and adding slightly more moisture if it’s drying out.

Then the bag needs to be put in the fridge(not freezer) for about the same length of time, again shaking it regularly.

Sow in good quality soil based compost , about 4cm deep, in quite deep seed trays. Label, put somewhere reasonably shaded and make sure the tray doesn’t dry out. Be patient!

So, my question is, does anyone have a recommendation of somewhere to put the seed that's not a *plastic* bag? (Prefer not to use plastic.)

Thanks in advance!

I germinated a load last year by harvesting them in autumn/fall, leaving them outside for a month or so (protected from birds and rodents) and then planting in a very sand-heavy potting mix, about 100 berries in a large pot. I had a multitude of saplings to pick from a few months later.

A similar approach worked for honeysuckle and rowan.

I don't think it has to be plastic - the container is probably just to keep the fridge clean and stop the seed mix drying out. You could use something like a jam jar with a lid. Maybe open it to let air in before shaking.
I've had pretty good results with C. monogyna left outside in a pot with compost  here, but yes it does seem to take two winters: then they all start germinating at once!

Thank you both, I'm looking into it!