Ways To Effectively Store Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their durable outer shell, look pretty hardy. And while nature has certainly designed them to withstand various variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren't indestructible. Quick changes in temperature and excessive humidity, for example, can easily ruin collections of seeds. Luckily, looking after your seeds is straightforward. Keep reading to learn how.

Your Seeds Are Alive

Lots of people forget this, but it's worth remembering: your cannabis seeds are active organisms. Before they sprout, however, they are in a state of rest, much like some animals when they sleep. And like all life forms, seeds can perish. When preserving your seeds, you'll want to give them the ideal conditions to ensure they survive until you're ready to plant and plant them.

Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four main enemies:

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

Ideally, you want to store your seeds in cold, dark, and moisture-free place. When possible, keep your seeds in their factory 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 hit by light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will cause them to use up their nutrient stores before they ever touch soil, meaning they won't have the food they need to sprout. High humidity, on the flip side, can trigger fungi to develop on your seeds.

Impact of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds

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

Need advice on handling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide offers key tips for maintaining healthy development environments.

How and Where 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 susceptible to the normal temperature changes of your regional environment.

If, for example, you are in a region with very hot daytime temperatures and cold nights, try to shield your seeds from these changes and don't store them outside in sheds or garage.

For long-term storage, it's recommended to keep your seeds with desiccants, such as silica gel, in sealed container inside the icebox. Remember that opening the door of your refrigerator can actually create some pretty major temperature shifts. If you own 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 initial packaging. If you do break packs of seeds and have extras, transfer the additional seeds directly into sealed container.

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

Moisture-free fridges are the top choice to store seeds. The problem is when there is humidity in the fridge, since humidity is the worst enemy for seeds (more harmful 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 more extreme the temperature, the less quickly they decline. However, it's typically not required to freeze your seeds. Maintain the conditions we outlined above, and you should be able to maintain your seeds for up to five years and still get high germination rate.

Determining Which Seeds to Grow and Which to Store

When you're ready to grow your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with harm to the outer shell first. The shell of your seeds is built to protect the volatile genetics inside. Seeds with damage in the outer shell are a lot 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 finest genetics in their garden. That means we examine all of our seeds before packing. If you find any damage to your RQS seeds, contact with our help team immediately.

Tips for Germinating Old Cannabis Seeds

We've all found stray seed somewhere at the bottom of old drawer or cupboard. Here are several tips on how to grow weed seeds:

Soaking with fortified carbonated water

Before germinating your old seeds, https://nativesusa.com/) try immersing them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, enhancers, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use lukewarm water and soak your seeds for twelve hours in a dark place.

Scratch your seeds

Aged seeds often have extremely tough outer shell. Lightly scratching this shell with light sandpaper can help moisture and warmth reach your seed at the time of germination. Try carefully scarring your old cannabis seeds just before soaking to help them germinate.

Remove the seed's ridge

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

Score open your seed

In a last attempt to germinate your seeds, creating small cut in the seed's shell may help. However, this is no magic solution, and you'll need to be gentle to avoid damaging 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. When possible, avoid getting more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any problems at the time of germination.