Ways To Correctly Preserve Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, look pretty hardy. And while nature has certainly designed them to withstand a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t immune. Sudden changes in temperature and elevated humidity, for example, can quickly ruin collections of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is straightforward. Keep reading to learn how.
Your Seeds Are Living
Most people forget this, but it’s real: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they grow, however, they are in a condition of rest, similar to some animals when they hibernate. And like all living things, seeds can perish. When storing your seeds, you’ll want to offer them the optimal conditions to make sure they remain viable until you’re ready to sprout and plant them.
Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four primary enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Ideally, you want to preserve your seeds in cold, dark, and arid place. Whenever possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve specifically designed our packaging to protect our seeds until you’re ready to germinate them.
If your seeds get hit by light or rapid changes in temperature, these conditions will make them to use up their nutrient stores before they ever reach soil, meaning they won’t have the food they need to sprout. Excessive humidity, on the flip side, can trigger fungi to grow on your seeds.
Impact of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is definitely one of the biggest threats to your seeds. Here is how various levels of humidity (% relative humidity) impact your cannabis seeds:
| Percentages of Relative Humidity | Impact of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds germinate. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds raise respiration and storage fungi become a significant problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Short-term storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Intermediate storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Extended storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Shorter longevity than seeds preserved at moderately higher humidity. |
Seeking advice on managing humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide gives key tips for preserving healthy development environments.
Where and How to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For temporary storage, dim cupboard or drawer with consistent temperatures is typically fine. Try to keep your seeds away from areas of your house that are prone to the normal temperature changes of your regional environment.
If, for example, you reside in an area with very high daytime temperatures and nativesusa.com) cold nights, try to protect your seeds from these changes and don’t keep them outside in a shed or garage.
For long-term storage, it’s ideal to keep your seeds with a desiccant, such as silica gel, in an airtight container inside the fridge. Remember that using the door of your fridge can actually cause some pretty major temperature shifts. If you have have another fridge that gets opened less often than the one in your kitchen, use that one to keep your seeds.
Again, whenever possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. If you do unseal packs of seeds and have leftovers, transfer the extra seeds directly into an airtight 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 sealed, put your bag inside a dark plastic bag or opaque container to protect your seeds from your icebox 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 dangerous 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 kept in the freezer. The lower the temperature, the more gradually they decline. However, it’s generally not necessary to freeze your seeds. Meet the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to maintain your seeds for up to 5 years and still get excellent germination rate.
Knowing Which Seeds to Plant and Which to Store
When you’re ready to germinate your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with harm to the outer shell first. The shell of your seeds is built to protect the delicate genetics inside. Seeds with cracks in the outer shell are a lot more vulnerable and won’t be stored.
At Royal Queen Seeds, we excel in our work and want to guarantee every grower only has the top genetics in their garden. That means we inspect all of our seeds before packing. If you notice any damage to your RQS seeds, reach out with our help team immediately.
Methods for Germinating Aged Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all discovered stray seed somewhere at the back of old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to grow weed seeds:
Pre-soaking with fortified 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 ambient water and soak your seeds for 12 hours in a dark place.
Score your seeds
Older seeds often have very tough outer shell. Gently scratching this shell with some sandpaper can help water and warmth reach your seed at the time of germination. Try carefully scarring your old cannabis seeds just before soaking to help them grow.
Take off a seed’s ridge
The ridge is the marginally elevated side of your seed. Like sections of the shell, this ridge can become extra tough over time. Eliminating it gently with fine Stanley blade can help your seed grow.
Slice open your seed
In final attempt to grow your seeds, creating a small cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no miracle cure, and you’ll need to be gentle to avoid damaging the inside of your seed. If you harm the embryo, the seed will never sprout.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t grow no matter how long you try. If possible, avoid getting more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any difficulties at the time of germination.