How To Correctly Store Cannabis Seeds
Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, look pretty hardy. And while nature has definitely designed them to last through a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t invincible. Sudden changes in temperature and elevated humidity, for example, can quickly ruin a batch of seeds. Luckily, looking after your seeds is easy. Keep reading to learn how.
Your Seeds Are Living
Lots of people forget this, but it’s true: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they grow, however, they are in a state of rest, similar to some animals when they sleep. And like all life forms, seeds can die. When preserving your seeds, you’ll want to offer them the ideal conditions to guarantee 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
Optimally, you want to store your seeds in cool, dark, and dry place. When possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve specifically designed our packaging to protect our seeds until you’re ready to plant them.
If your seeds get exposed to light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will cause them to deplete their nutrients before they ever see soil, meaning they won’t have the nutrition they need to grow. Excessive humidity, on the flip side, can encourage fungi to develop on your seeds.
Impact of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds
Humidity is certainly one of the greatest threats to your seeds. Here is how various levels of humidity (% relative humidity) impact your cannabis seeds:
| Ranges of Relative Humidity | Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds |
|---|---|
| 80 – 100% | Seeds begin growing. |
| 40 – 60% | Seeds boost respiration and preservation fungi become major problem. |
| 20 – 30% | Short-term storage. |
| 18 – 20% | Intermediate storage. |
| 12 – 14% | Prolonged storage. |
| 8 – 9% | Reduced longevity than seeds stored at somewhat higher humidity. |
Need advice on handling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide provides key tips for maintaining healthy growing environments.
Storage Methods to Store Your Cannabis Seeds
For temporary storage, a dark cupboard or drawer with consistent temperatures is generally fine. Try to keep your seeds out of areas of your house that are prone to the natural temperature changes of your area environment.
If, for example, you are in a region with very warm daytime temperatures and cool nights, try to protect your seeds from these changes and don’t place them outside in sheds or garage.
For long-term storage, it’s recommended to keep your seeds with a desiccant, such as silica gel, https://nativesusa.com/) in an airtight container inside the icebox. Remember that accessing the door of your refrigerator can actually cause some pretty dramatic temperature shifts. If you own have another 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 original packaging. If you do open packs of seeds and have remaining seeds, transfer the extra seeds directly into sealed container.
Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can eliminate all the air from them to make nearly vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once packaged, put your bag inside dark plastic bag or dark container to shield your seeds from your icebox light.
Moisture-free fridges are the ideal to store seeds. The problem is when there is dampness in the fridge, since humidity is the most dangerous enemy for seeds (more harmful than temperature, light, oxygen…). For this reason, it is better 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 colder the temperature, the less quickly they decline. However, it’s typically not necessary to freeze your seeds. Follow 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 Plant and Which to Store
When you’re ready to sprout your seeds, inspect them and germinate any seeds with issues to the outer shell first. The exterior of your seeds is designed 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 pride ourselves 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 packaging. If you see any damage to your RQS seeds, get in touch with our help team immediately.
Tips for Germinating Older Cannabis Seeds
We’ve all discovered stray seed somewhere at the bottom of an old drawer or cupboard. Here are several tips on how to sprout weed seeds:
Soaking with enriched carbonated water
Before sprouting your old seeds, try immersing them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, boosters, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For best results, use room temperature water and soak your seeds for half a day in dark place.
Scar your seeds
Aged seeds often have an extra tough outer shell. Carefully scratching this shell with fine sandpaper can help water and warmth penetrate your seed at the time of germination. Try gently scarring your old cannabis seeds just before immersing to help them grow.
Eliminate the seed’s ridge
The ridge is the somewhat elevated side of your seed. Like other parts of the shell, this ridge can become extremely tough over time. Taking off it gently with a sharp Stanley blade can help your seed grow.
Score open your seed
In a last attempt to sprout your seeds, creating small cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no guaranteed fix, and you’ll need to be careful to avoid damaging the inside of your seed. If you harm the embryo, the seed will never sprout.
Remember, some old seeds just won’t germinate no matter how hard you try. When possible, avoid getting more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any problems at the time of germination.
