How To Correctly Keep Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, seem pretty hardy. And while nature has clearly designed them to last through a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren't invincible. Rapid changes in temperature and excessive humidity, for example, can quickly ruin a batch of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is simple. Keep reading to find out how.

Your Seeds Are Still Alive

Lots of people forget this, but it's real: your cannabis seeds are alive organisms. Before they grow, however, they are in a condition of rest, similar to some animals when they rest. And like all organisms, seeds can die. When preserving your seeds, you'll want to offer them the optimal conditions to ensure they remain viable until you're ready to plant and plant them.

Ideal Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four key enemies:

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

Optimally, you want to keep your seeds in cold, dark, and moisture-free place. When possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we've carefully designed our packaging to shield our seeds until you're ready to germinate them.

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

Influence 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 handling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide gives key tips for preserving healthy development environments.

Storage Methods to Store Your Cannabis Seeds

For short-term storage, a dark cupboard or drawer with stable 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 live in a location with very hot daytime temperatures and cold nights, try to safeguard your seeds from these changes and don't keep them outside in sheds or garage.

For prolonged storage, it's recommended to keep your seeds with a desiccant, https://nativesusa.com/ (https://nativesusa.com) such as silica gel, in an airtight container inside the icebox. Remember that opening the door of your fridge can actually produce some pretty dramatic temperature shifts. If you have have a second fridge that gets opened less often than the one in your kitchen, choose that one to keep your seeds.

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

Ziplock bags, for example, are perfect because you can extract all the air from them to form an almost vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once vacuum-sealed, put your bag inside opaque plastic bag or dark container to protect your seeds from your icebox light.

Dry fridges are the ideal 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 more extreme the temperature, the slower they decline. However, it's typically not essential to freeze your seeds. Maintain the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to maintain your seeds for up to 5 years and still get a high germination rate.

Understanding Which Seeds to Plant and Which to Store

When you're ready to grow your seeds, inspect them and germinate any seeds with harm to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is built to protect the volatile genetics inside. Seeds with damage in the outer shell are far more vulnerable and won'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 check all of our seeds before packing. If you find any damage to your RQS seeds, reach out with our support team immediately.

Methods for Germinating Older Cannabis Seeds

We've all discovered random seed somewhere at the bottom of old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to sprout weed seeds:

Pre-soaking with enhanced carbonated water

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

Scar your seeds

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

Eliminate your seed's ridge

The ridge is the marginally elevated side of your seed. Like other parts of the shell, this ridge can become extra tough over time. Removing it gently with a sharp Stanley blade can help your seed sprout.

Cut open your seed

In final attempt to grow your seeds, creating tiny cut in the seed's shell may help. However, this is no miracle cure, and you'll need to be gentle to avoid hurting the inside of your seed. If you damage the embryo, the seed will never grow.

Remember, some old seeds just won't sprout no matter how hard you try. When possible, avoid getting more seeds than you intend to plant so as to avoid having any difficulties at the time of germination.