Ways To Correctly Keep Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, seem pretty hardy. And while nature has clearly designed them to last through various variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t indestructible. Rapid changes in temperature and excessive humidity, for example, can quickly ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is easy. Keep reading to learn how.
Your Seeds Are Still Alive
Most people forget this, but it’s worth remembering: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they sprout, however, they are in a state of rest, similar to some animals when they hibernate. And like all organisms, seeds can expire. When keeping your seeds, you’ll want to provide them the ideal conditions to ensure they remain viable until you’re ready to germinate and plant them.
Ideal Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four primary enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Ideally, you want to keep your seeds in a cool, dark, and arid place. Whenever possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve carefully designed our packaging to safeguard our seeds until you’re ready to plant them.
If your seeds get exposed to light or rapid changes in temperature, these conditions will make them to deplete their food reserves before they ever reach soil, meaning they won’t have the food they need to germinate. Elevated humidity, on the other hand, can cause fungi to develop on your seeds.
Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is definitely one of the largest threats to your seeds. Here is how varying levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:
| Levels of Relative Humidity | Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds sprout. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds raise respiration and preservation fungi become major problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Temporary storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Mid-term storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Prolonged storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Lower longevity than seeds preserved at somewhat higher humidity. |
Seeking advice on handling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide offers key tips for keeping healthy growing environments.
How and Where to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For brief storage, dark cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is usually fine. Try to keep your seeds clear of areas of your house that are susceptible to the natural temperature changes of your area environment.
If, for example, you reside in a location with very hot daytime temperatures and cool nights, try to safeguard your seeds from these changes and don’t place them outside in a shed or garage.
For long-term storage, it’s ideal to keep your seeds with desiccants, such as silica gel, in a sealed container inside the icebox. Remember that using the door of your fridge can actually produce some pretty significant temperature shifts. If you have have an additional fridge that gets used less often than the one in your kitchen, choose that one to preserve your seeds.
Again, if possible, keep your seeds in their initial packaging. If you do break a pack of seeds and have leftovers, transfer the remaining seeds directly into a sealed container.
Ziplock bags, for example, are perfect because you can remove all the air from them to create an almost vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once sealed, put your bag inside dark plastic bag or opaque container to shield your seeds from your refrigerator light.
Low-humidity fridges are the best to store seeds. The problem is when there is moisture in the fridge, since humidity is the most dangerous enemy for seeds (worse than temperature, light, oxygen…). For this reason, it is preferable to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.
Can You Keep Seeds in the Freezer?
Yes, cannabis seeds can be stored in the freezer. The colder the temperature, the more gradually they decline. However, it’s generally not essential to freeze your seeds. Follow the conditions we described above, and you should be able to keep your seeds for up to half a decade and still get a high germination rate.
Determining Which Seeds to Plant and Which to Store
When you’re ready to sprout your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with issues to the outer shell first. The outer shell of your seeds is designed to protect the volatile genetics inside. Seeds with cracks in the outer shell are far more vulnerable and won’t be stored.
At Royal Queen Seeds, we pride ourselves in our work and want to ensure every grower only has the finest genetics in their garden. That means we inspect all of our seeds before shipping. If you find any damage to your RQS seeds, contact with our customer service team immediately.
Techniques for Germinating Old Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all located random seed somewhere at the back of old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to sprout weed seeds:
Pre-soaking with enhanced carbonated water
Before germinating your old seeds, try submerging them in carbonated water enriched with fulvic acid, https://nativesusa.com, boosters, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For top results, use ambient water and soak your seeds for 12 hours in a dark place.
Scar your seeds
Older seeds often have extremely tough outer shell. Carefully scratching this shell with fine sandpaper can help moisture and warmth reach your seed at the time of germination. Try gently scarring your old cannabis seeds just before immersing to help them germinate.
Take off your seed’s ridge
The ridge is the somewhat elevated side of your seed. Like parts of the shell, this ridge can become extremely tough over time. Removing it gently with fine Stanley blade can help your seed germinate.
Slice open your seed
In a last attempt to grow your seeds, creating a small cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no guaranteed fix, and you’ll need to be gentle to avoid damaging the inside of your seed. If you damage the embryo, the seed will never grow.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t germinate no matter how much you try. Whenever possible, avoid purchasing more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any issues at the time of germination.