Ways To Effectively Keep Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, look pretty hardy. And while nature has definitely designed them to withstand a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren't immune. Sudden changes in temperature and high humidity, https://nativesusa.com/) for example, can easily ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, looking after your seeds is simple. Keep reading to learn how.

Your Seeds Are Alive

Lots of people forget this, but it's real: your cannabis seeds are alive organisms. Before they germinate, however, they are in dormant rest, similar to some animals when they sleep. And like all life forms, seeds can expire. When preserving your seeds, you'll want to provide them the best conditions to guarantee they last until you're ready to sprout and plant them.

Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four key enemies:

1. Humidity
2. Temperature
3. Light
4. Oxygen

Preferably, you want to preserve your seeds in cool, dark, and arid place. Whenever possible, keep your seeds in their factory packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we've specially designed our packaging to shield our seeds until you're ready to grow them.

If your seeds get exposed to light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will trigger them to deplete their food reserves before they ever see soil, meaning they won't have the nutrients they need to germinate. Excessive humidity, on the flip side, can encourage fungi to grow on your seeds.

Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds

Humidity is definitely one of the largest threats to your seeds. Here is how different levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:

Seeking advice on managing humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide provides key tips for maintaining healthy cultivation environments.

How and Where to Store Your Cannabis Seeds

For brief storage, a dark cupboard or drawer with steady temperatures is usually fine. Try to keep your seeds clear of areas of your house that are prone to the typical temperature changes of your local environment.

If, for example, you live in a location with very warm daytime temperatures and cold nights, try to shield your seeds from these changes and don't store them outside in a shed or garage.

For extended storage, it's ideal to keep your seeds with a desiccant, such as silica gel, in a sealed container inside the icebox. Remember that accessing the door of your icebox can actually produce some pretty major temperature shifts. If you happen to have a second fridge that gets used less often than the one in your kitchen, use that one to store your seeds.

Again, when possible, keep your seeds in their initial packaging. If you do unseal packages of seeds and have remaining seeds, transfer the remaining seeds directly into sealed container.

Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can eliminate all the air from them to form practically vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once packaged, put your bag inside dark plastic bag or opaque container to guard your seeds from your icebox light.

Low-humidity fridges are the top choice 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 recommended to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.

Can You Preserve Seeds in the Freezer?

Yes, cannabis seeds can be kept in the freezer. The colder the temperature, the less quickly they decline. However, it's usually not required to freeze your seeds. Meet the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to maintain 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 grow your seeds, examine them and germinate any seeds with damage to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is made to protect the delicate genetics inside. Seeds with cracks in the outer shell are a lot more vulnerable and can't be stored.

At Royal Queen Seeds, we excel 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 packing. If you notice any damage to your RQS seeds, get in touch with our customer service team immediately.

Tips for Germinating Old Cannabis Seeds

We've all discovered random seed somewhere at the back of an old drawer or cupboard. Here are several tips on how to grow weed seeds:

Pre-treatment with fortified carbonated water

Before sprouting your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, germination booster, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use room temperature water and soak your seeds for half a day in dark place.

Scar your seeds

Aged seeds often have very tough outer shell. Carefully scratching this shell with fine sandpaper can help moisture and warmth enter your seed at the time of germination. Try lightly scarring your old cannabis seeds just before submerging to help them grow.

Eliminate a seed's ridge

The ridge is the slightly elevated side of your seed. Like sections of the shell, this ridge can become extra tough over time. Taking off it gently with fine Stanley blade can help your seed sprout.

Cut open your seed

In final attempt to grow your seeds, creating small cut in the outer casing may help. However, this is no miracle cure, and you'll need to be gentle to avoid harming the inside of your seed. If you hurt the embryo, the seed will never germinate.

Remember, some old seeds just won't germinate no matter how much you try. If possible, avoid purchasing more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any difficulties at the time of germination.