On Terry's website, the rule of thumb for raising conos from seeds is to water them consistently for the first 15 months while keeping them cool and shaded. I grew my seedlings under fluorescent lights, which generate a fair amount of heat. I reckoned the extra heat and light caused them to sheathed over at the age 8 and 11 months old.
Because it's almost spring here in Canada, would it be a good practice to force them out of their shells (i.e. skipping their first dormant phase) by continuing watering and feeding them, but this time placed them on my windowsill which is much cooler?
They are a little small but honestly to me they look okay. I personally wouldn't try to force them out of their sheaths right now, rather let them have a short dormancy first. Honestly though I am not as experienced with cono's as many of the others here so some might say different.
