How To Effectively Store Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their hard 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. Quick changes in temperature and high humidity, for example, can easily ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is easy. Keep reading to discover how.
Your Seeds Are Alive
Many people forget this, but it’s real: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they sprout, however, they are in dormant rest, just like some animals when they hibernate. And like all living things, seeds can perish. When preserving your seeds, you’ll want to give them the best conditions to ensure they remain viable until you’re ready to germinate and plant them.
Optimal Conditions for Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds have four key enemies:
- Humidity
- Temperature
- Light
- Oxygen
Preferably, you want to preserve your seeds in cool, dark, and dry place. If possible, keep your seeds in their initial packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve specially designed our packaging to protect our seeds until you’re ready to grow them.
If your seeds get hit by light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will cause them to deplete their nutrients before they ever reach soil, meaning they won’t have the food they need to grow. High humidity, on the flip side, can encourage 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 different levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:
| Percentages of Relative Humidity | Effects of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds sprout. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds raise respiration and preservation fungi become major problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Short-term storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Medium-term storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Prolonged storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Shorter longevity than seeds preserved at moderately higher humidity. |
Seeking advice on managing humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide offers key tips for keeping healthy development environments.
How and Where to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For short-term storage, dim cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is typically fine. Try to keep your seeds clear of areas of your house that are susceptible to the natural temperature changes of your area environment.
If, for example, you reside in a location with very hot daytime temperatures and cool nights, try to protect your seeds from these changes and don’t place them outside in a shed or garage.
For prolonged storage, it’s recommended 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 fridge can actually create some pretty dramatic temperature shifts. If you have have an additional fridge that gets accessed less often than the one in your kitchen, choose that one to preserve your seeds.
Again, when possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. If you do unseal packages of seeds and have leftovers, transfer the additional seeds directly into sealed container.
Ziplock bags, https://nativesusa.com/ (https://nativesusa.com/) for example, are great because you can eliminate all the air from them to form an almost vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once packaged, put your bag inside opaque plastic bag or dark container to shield your seeds from your refrigerator light.
Moisture-free fridges are the best 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 preferable to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.
Can You Keep 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 generally not required to freeze your seeds. Maintain the conditions we described above, and you should be able to keep your seeds for up to 5 years and still get a high germination rate.
Determining Which Seeds to Grow and Which to Store
When you’re ready to grow your seeds, inspect them and germinate any seeds with issues to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is made to protect the volatile 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 guarantee every grower only has the finest genetics in their garden. That means we examine all of our seeds before shipping. If you notice any damage to your RQS seeds, contact with our help team immediately.
Tips for Germinating Older Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all located stray seed somewhere at the back of old drawer or cupboard. Here are a few tips on how to sprout weed seeds:
Pre-soaking with enhanced carbonated water
Before sprouting your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, boosters, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use ambient water and soak your seeds for half a day in a dark place.
Scar your seeds
Mature seeds often have very tough outer shell. Carefully scratching this shell with fine sandpaper can help humidity and warmth penetrate your seed at the time of germination. Try carefully scarring your old cannabis seeds just before soaking to help them grow.
Eliminate your seed’s ridge
The ridge is the somewhat elevated side of your seed. Like sections of the shell, this ridge can become extremely tough over time. Taking off it gently with fine Stanley blade can help your seed germinate.
Cut open your seed
In desperate attempt to grow your seeds, creating tiny cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no magic solution, and you’ll need to be cautious to avoid harming the inside of your seed. If you hurt the embryo, the seed will never grow.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t germinate no matter how long you try. When possible, avoid getting more seeds than you plan to plant so as to avoid having any issues at the time of germination.