Methods To Correctly Keep Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their hard outer shell, appear pretty hardy. And while nature has certainly designed them to last through many variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren't invincible. Rapid changes in temperature and excessive humidity, for example, can quickly ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, caring for your seeds is straightforward. Keep reading to discover how.

Your Seeds Are Still Alive

Lots of people forget this, but it's true: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they germinate, however, they are in dormant rest, similar to some animals when they hibernate. And like all organisms, seeds can perish. When preserving your seeds, you'll want to give them the optimal conditions to make sure they remain viable until you're ready to plant and plant them.

Ideal Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four primary enemies:

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

Preferably, you want to preserve your seeds in cold, dark, and moisture-free place. If possible, keep your seeds in their factory 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 hit by light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will trigger them to consume their nutrients before they ever reach soil, meaning they won't have the food they need to germinate. Elevated humidity, on the other hand, can trigger fungi to form on your seeds.

Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds

Humidity is easily one of the largest threats to your seeds. Here is how various levels of humidity (% relative humidity) affect your cannabis seeds:

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

Where and How to Store Your Cannabis Seeds

For temporary storage, a dark cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is generally fine. Try to keep your seeds out of areas of your house that are prone to the normal temperature changes of your local environment.

If, for example, you are in a location with very warm 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 prolonged storage, it's ideal to keep your seeds with desiccants, such as silica gel, in an airtight container inside the fridge. Remember that accessing the door of your refrigerator can actually cause some pretty dramatic temperature shifts. If you happen to have a second fridge that gets used less often than the one in your kitchen, pick that one to store your seeds.

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

Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can extract all the air from them to make an almost vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once packaged, put your bag inside opaque plastic bag or dark container to guard your seeds from your fridge light.

Dry fridges are the best to store seeds. The problem is when there is humidity in the fridge, since humidity is the worst enemy for seeds (more dangerous 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 preserved in the freezer. The lower the temperature, the slower they decline. However, it's usually not required to freeze your seeds. Maintain the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to keep your seeds for up to 5 years and still get excellent germination rate.

Understanding Which Seeds to Grow and Which to Store

When you're ready to germinate your seeds, examine them and germinate any seeds with issues to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is made to protect the delicate genetics inside. Seeds with breaks in the outer shell are much more vulnerable and won't be stored.

At Royal Queen Seeds, we excel in our work and want to ensure every grower only has the finest genetics in their garden. That means we examine all of our seeds before packing. If you notice any damage to your RQS seeds, contact with our support team immediately.

Tips for Germinating Old Cannabis Seeds

We've all found random seed somewhere at the depths of an old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to germinate weed seeds:

Pre-treatment with enriched carbonated water

Before germinating your old seeds, try submerging them in carbonated water enhanced with fulvic acid, germination booster, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For best results, use lukewarm water and soak your seeds for 12 hours in dim place.

Scratch your seeds

Mature seeds often have an extra tough outer shell. Lightly scratching this shell with light sandpaper can help humidity and warmth penetrate your seed at the time of germination. Try lightly scarring your old cannabis seeds just before soaking to help them sprout.

Remove a seed's ridge

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

Score open your seed

In a last attempt to sprout your seeds, creating small cut in the seed's shell may help. However, https://nativesusa.com/, https://nativesusa.com, this is no magic solution, and you'll need to be careful to avoid harming the inside of your seed. If you damage the embryo, the seed will never sprout.

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