How To Properly Preserve Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their durable outer shell, seem pretty hardy. And while nature has certainly designed them to last through a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t immune. Sudden changes in temperature and elevated humidity, https://nativesusa.com/ (https://nativesusa.com/) for example, can rapidly ruin a batch of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is simple. Keep reading to find out how.
Your Seeds Are Living
Many people forget this, but it’s real: your cannabis seeds are active organisms. Before they grow, however, they are in dormant rest, just like some animals when they rest. And like all living things, seeds can expire. When preserving your seeds, you’ll want to give them the ideal conditions to ensure they survive until you’re ready to sprout and plant them.
Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four key enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Preferably, you want to store your seeds in cold, dark, and arid place. If possible, keep your seeds in their initial packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve specially designed our packaging to safeguard our seeds until you’re ready to germinate them.
If your seeds get exposed to light or rapid changes in temperature, these conditions will make them to consume their nutrient stores before they ever see soil, meaning they won’t have the nutrients they need to germinate. High humidity, on the contrary, can trigger fungi to form on your seeds.
Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is easily one of the biggest threats to your seeds. Here is how varying levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:
| Percentages of Relative Humidity | Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds sprout. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds increase respiration and seed storage fungi become a significant problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Brief storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Medium-term storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Long-term storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Lower longevity than seeds stored at moderately higher humidity. |
Seeking advice on controlling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide gives key tips for maintaining healthy growing environments.
Where and How to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For temporary storage, a dark cupboard or drawer with steady temperatures is generally fine. Try to keep your seeds away from areas of your house that are affected by the typical temperature changes of your local environment.
If, for example, you are in a location with very high daytime temperatures and cold nights, try to safeguard your seeds from these changes and don’t place them outside in sheds or garage.
For prolonged storage, it’s ideal to keep your seeds with moisture absorbers, such as silica gel, in an airtight container inside the fridge. Remember that accessing the door of your refrigerator can actually produce some pretty significant temperature shifts. If you happen to have an additional fridge that gets opened less often than the one in your kitchen, choose that one to store 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 additional seeds directly into sealed container.
Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can remove all the air from them to form an almost vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once sealed, put your bag inside a dark plastic bag or opaque container to guard your seeds from your refrigerator light.
Moisture-free fridges are the ideal to store seeds. The problem is when there is moisture in the fridge, since humidity is the worst 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 Preserve Seeds in the Freezer?
Yes, cannabis seeds can be stored in the freezer. The colder the temperature, the slower they decline. However, it’s usually not required to freeze your seeds. Meet the conditions we detailed above, and you should be able to preserve 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 germinate your seeds, examine them and germinate any seeds with harm to the outer shell first. The shell of your seeds is built to protect the sensitive genetics inside. Seeds with breaks in the outer shell are much more vulnerable and shouldn’t be stored.
At Royal Queen Seeds, we pride ourselves in our work and want to guarantee every grower only has the top genetics in their garden. That means we examine all of our seeds before packing. If you find any damage to your RQS seeds, contact with our help team immediately.
Techniques for Germinating Aged Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all found stray seed somewhere at the bottom of forgotten drawer or cupboard. Here are a few tips on how to sprout weed seeds:
Soaking with fortified carbonated water
Before germinating your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, germination booster, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use lukewarm water and soak your seeds for twelve hours in dark place.
Scratch your seeds
Mature seeds often have very tough outer shell. Gently scratching this shell with light sandpaper can help water and warmth enter your seed at the time of germination. Try gently scarring your old cannabis seeds just before immersing to help them sprout.
Take off a seed’s ridge
The ridge is the marginally elevated side of your seed. Like parts of the shell, this ridge can become very tough over time. Eliminating it gently with a sharp Stanley blade can help your seed sprout.
Cut open your seed
In a last attempt to sprout your seeds, creating a small cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no magic solution, and you’ll need to be gentle to avoid hurting the inside of your seed. If you harm the embryo, the seed will never grow.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t grow no matter how much you try. When possible, avoid buying more seeds than you plan to plant so as to avoid having any issues at the time of germination.