Will Cannabis Genetics Be Banned?<
Ways To Correctly Preserve Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their hard outer shell, seem pretty hardy. And while nature has definitely designed them to hold up various variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t immune. Quick changes in temperature and high humidity, for example, can quickly ruin collections of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is easy. Keep reading to find out how.
Your Seeds Are Still Alive
Most people forget this, but it’s worth remembering: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they grow, however, they are in a state of rest, similar to some animals when they rest. And https://nativesusa.com/ (https://nativesusa.com/) like all organisms, seeds can die. When keeping your seeds, you’ll want to give them the best conditions to guarantee they last until you’re ready to sprout and plant them.
Ideal Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four primary enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Optimally, you want to preserve your seeds in a cool, dark, and moisture-free place. Whenever possible, keep your seeds in their factory packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve carefully designed our packaging to protect our seeds until you’re ready to germinate them.
If your seeds get hit by light or quick changes in temperature, these conditions will make them to deplete their food reserves before they ever see soil, meaning they won’t have the nutrition they need to grow. Elevated humidity, on the contrary, can cause fungi to grow on your seeds.
Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is easily one of the largest threats to your seeds. Here is how various levels of humidity (% relative humidity) impact your cannabis seeds:
| Levels of Relative Humidity | Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds sprout. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds raise respiration and storage fungi become significant problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Short-term storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Intermediate storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Extended storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Lower longevity than seeds stored at somewhat higher humidity. |
Looking for advice on handling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide gives key tips for maintaining healthy development environments.
Where and How to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For brief storage, dark cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is usually fine. Try to keep your seeds out of areas of your house that are susceptible to the typical temperature changes of your regional environment.
If, for example, you live in a region with very warm daytime temperatures and cool nights, try to protect your seeds from these changes and don’t keep them outside in sheds or garage.
For prolonged storage, it’s best to keep your seeds with desiccants, such as silica gel, in a sealed container inside the refrigerator. Remember that opening the door of your fridge can actually produce some pretty significant temperature shifts. If you have have another fridge that gets accessed less often than the one in your kitchen, pick that one to keep your seeds.
Again, whenever possible, keep your seeds in their initial packaging. If you do open a pack of seeds and have extras, transfer the remaining seeds directly into a sealed container.
Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can extract all the air from them to form practically vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once vacuum-sealed, put your bag inside opaque plastic bag or dark container to guard your seeds from your refrigerator light.
Low-humidity fridges are the ideal to store seeds. The problem is when there is dampness in the fridge, since humidity is the biggest enemy for seeds (more harmful than temperature, light, oxygen…). For this reason, it is recommended to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.
Can You Preserve Seeds in the Freezer?
Yes, cannabis seeds can be preserved in the freezer. The more extreme the temperature, the slower they decline. However, it’s generally not necessary to freeze your seeds. Meet the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to keep your seeds for up to five years and still get excellent germination rate.
Determining Which Seeds to Germinate and Which to Store
When you’re ready to sprout your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with damage to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is made to protect the sensitive genetics inside. Seeds with cracks in the outer shell are far more vulnerable and won’t be stored.
At Royal Queen Seeds, we take pride in our work and want to make sure every grower only has the top genetics in their garden. That means we check all of our seeds before packaging. If you see any damage to your RQS seeds, get in touch with our help team immediately.
Techniques for Germinating Aged Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all located random seed somewhere at the bottom of an old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to germinate weed seeds:
Pre-treatment with enriched carbonated water
Before growing your old seeds, try submerging them in carbonated water enriched with fulvic acid, enhancers, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For best results, use room temperature water and soak your seeds for twelve hours in dark place.
Scar your seeds
Older seeds often have an extra tough outer shell. Gently scratching this shell with light sandpaper can help humidity and warmth penetrate your seed at the time of germination. Try gently scarring your old cannabis seeds just before submerging to help them grow.
Take off the seed’s ridge
The ridge is the marginally elevated side of your seed. Like other parts of the shell, this ridge can become extra tough over time. Eliminating it gently with a sharp Stanley blade can help your seed grow.
Score open your seed
In final attempt to grow your seeds, creating a small cut in the shell may help. However, this is no miracle cure, and you’ll need to be careful to avoid damaging the inside of your seed. If you damage the embryo, the seed will never germinate.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t grow no matter how much you try. Whenever possible, avoid buying more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any issues at the time of germination.