How To Properly Preserve Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, appear pretty hardy. And while nature has definitely designed them to last through a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t indestructible. Rapid changes in temperature and elevated humidity, for example, can easily ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, caring for your seeds is straightforward. Keep reading to learn how.
Your Seeds Are Still Alive
Most people forget this, but it’s real: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they sprout, however, they are in dormant rest, much like some animals when they hibernate. And like all organisms, seeds can perish. When keeping your seeds, you’ll want to provide them the optimal conditions to ensure they last until you’re ready to sprout and plant them.
Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four main enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Preferably, you want to preserve your seeds in cold, dark, and dry place. If possible, keep your seeds in their factory packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve specifically designed our packaging to safeguard our seeds until you’re ready to germinate them.
If your seeds get hit by light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will trigger them to use up their nutrient stores before they ever reach soil, meaning they won’t have the food they need to grow. Elevated humidity, on the other hand, can trigger fungi to grow on your seeds.
Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is certainly one of the greatest threats to your seeds. Here is how various levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:
| Ranges of Relative Humidity | Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds begin growing. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds raise respiration and storage fungi become major problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Brief storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Mid-term storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Long-term storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Lower longevity than seeds stored at slightly higher humidity. |
Seeking advice on managing humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide offers key tips for maintaining healthy cultivation environments.
Storage Methods to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For temporary storage, dim cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is usually fine. Try to keep your seeds out of areas of your house that are prone to the typical temperature changes of your regional environment.
If, for example, you reside in an area with very warm daytime temperatures and low nights, try to protect your seeds from these changes and don’t store them outside in sheds or garage.
For long-term storage, it’s best to keep your seeds with a desiccant, such as silica gel, in an airtight container inside the icebox. Remember that accessing the door of your fridge can actually create some pretty dramatic temperature shifts. If you happen to have another fridge that gets used less often than the one in your kitchen, pick that one to preserve your seeds.
Again, when possible, keep your seeds in their factory packaging. If you do open packs of seeds and have remaining seeds, transfer the additional seeds directly into a sealed container.
Ziplock bags, for example, are excellent because you can extract all the air from them to form nearly vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once vacuum-sealed, put your bag inside a dark plastic bag or dark container to guard your seeds from your refrigerator light.
Dry fridges are the top choice to store seeds. The problem is when there is humidity in the fridge, since humidity is the most dangerous enemy for https://nativesusa.com/ (nativesusa.com) seeds (worse than temperature, light, oxygen…). For this reason, it is recommended to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.
Can You Store Seeds in the Freezer?
Yes, cannabis seeds can be stored in the freezer. The lower the temperature, the less quickly they decline. However, it’s usually not required to freeze your seeds. Maintain the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to preserve your seeds for up to half a decade and still get excellent germination rate.
Determining Which Seeds to Plant and Which to Store
When you’re ready to sprout your seeds, inspect them and germinate any seeds with issues to the outer shell first. The outer shell of your seeds is made to protect the volatile genetics inside. Seeds with damage in the outer shell are far more vulnerable and can’t be stored.
At Royal Queen Seeds, we take pride in our work and want to ensure every grower only has the top 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 support team immediately.
Methods for Germinating Aged Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all found stray seed somewhere at the depths of forgotten drawer or cupboard. Here are several tips on how to sprout weed seeds:
Pre-treatment with fortified carbonated water
Before germinating your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water enriched with fulvic acid, enhancers, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use room temperature water and soak your seeds for half a day in a dark place.
Scratch your seeds
Aged seeds often have an extra tough outer shell. Lightly scratching this shell with fine sandpaper can help moisture and warmth penetrate your seed at the time of germination. Try lightly scarring your old cannabis seeds just before immersing to help them germinate.
Eliminate your seed’s ridge
The ridge is the somewhat elevated side of your seed. Like other parts of the shell, this ridge can become extremely tough over time. Removing it gently with sharp Stanley blade can help your seed sprout.
Score open your seed
In a last attempt to germinate your seeds, creating a small cut in the shell may help. However, this is no magic solution, and you’ll need to be careful to avoid damaging the inside of your seed. If you hurt the embryo, the seed will never sprout.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t sprout no matter how long you try. When possible, avoid purchasing more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any problems at the time of germination.