Fire disturbance not only alters the structure and function of forest ecosystems but also affects community regeneration and succession of forest ecosystems. In the present study, we investigated the effects of plant ash on germination and seedling growth of four pine species(Pinus massoniana, Pinus yunnanensis, Pinus elliottii,and Pinus taeda) grown from seeds collected from the Huangfengqiao State Forest Farm, Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, China. We used plant ash collected locally from a forest fire site of a P.massoniana secondary forest. Four ash treatments consisting of low (4 kg/hm²), medium (8 kg/hm²), high (16 kg/hm²), and control were used. The seeds were sown with plant ash in Petri dishes and plant pots measuring 20 cm×20 cm×20 cm. There were three replicates of 30 seeds for each species in each treatment used in a completely randomized design. The experimental data were then analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of our experiments show that:1) germination of all four studied species was more negatively affected in the plant ash treatments than in the control group, and the germination rates for all four species decreased with increasing in the quantities of plant ash. Germination of P.massoniana decreased by 60.16%, 91.63%, and 99.15% with low, medium, and high plant ash treatments, respectively. P.yunnanensis, P.elliottii, and P.taeda showed similar trends, but no germination was observed in high plant ash treatment. 2) On average, germination time was higher for medium ash treatment than for low ash treatment. In addition, the average germination time for P.elliottii and P.taeda was higher than that for P.massoniana and P.yunnanensis regardless of the quantities of plant ash or incubation conditions(in Petri dishes or in plant pots). 3) Seedling mortality differed between the four species at 14 weeks after sowing. P.massoniana and P.yunnanensis had lower seedling mortality rate than did P.elliottii and P.taeda in the control experiments. The mortality rate increased as the quantities of plant ash increased. 4) No significant differences of seedling growth were detected among the plant ash treatments of four species. P.taeda had the highest total dry weights of seedlings(0.038 g) at 14 weeks after sowing followed successively by P.elliottii(0.031 g), P.yunnanensis(0.027 g), and P.massoniana(0.024 g). The average dry weight of leaves was 0.026 g for P.taeda, 0.019 g for P.elliottii,0.017 g for P.yunnanensis, and 0.016 g for P.massoniana. However, the average dry weights of roots and stems were similar and were approximately three times lesser than that of leaves. Our experiments did not show obvious promoting effects on germination and seedling growth of plant ash. Nonetheless, higher germination rates and shorter mean germination time were observed for the two native pine species, P.massoniana and P.yunnanensis, than for the other two species, P.taeda and P.elliottii, suggesting that the selection of the right tree species is important in order to aid in vegetation restoration in burned areas and natural regeneration after fire disturbance.