How To Correctly Store Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their durable outer shell, seem pretty hardy. And while nature has definitely designed them to last through many variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren't indestructible. Rapid changes in temperature and high humidity, https://nativesusa.com/ (https://nativesusa.com/) for example, can easily ruin batches of seeds. Luckily, maintaining your seeds is simple. Keep reading to learn how.

Your Seeds Are Still Alive

Many people forget this, but it's true: your cannabis seeds are living organisms. Before they sprout, however, they are in a state of rest, much like some animals when they rest. And like all life forms, seeds can die. When keeping your seeds, you'll want to give them the ideal conditions to make sure they last until you're ready to sprout and plant them.

Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four main enemies:

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

Preferably, you want to keep 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 safeguard our seeds until you're ready to plant them.

If your seeds get exposed to light or sudden changes in temperature, these conditions will make them to use up their food reserves before they ever reach soil, meaning they won't have the nutrition they need to grow. Elevated humidity, on the flip side, can trigger fungi to form on your seeds.

Influence of Humidity on Cannabis Seeds

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

Looking for advice on managing humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide offers key tips for preserving healthy growing environments.

Where and How to Store Your Cannabis Seeds

For short-term 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 susceptible to the typical temperature changes of your area environment.

If, for example, you reside in an area with very high daytime temperatures and low nights, try to protect 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 moisture absorbers, such as silica gel, in a sealed container inside the fridge. Remember that accessing the door of your icebox can actually create some pretty significant temperature shifts. If you have have a second fridge that gets accessed less often than the one in your kitchen, use that one to keep your seeds.

Again, whenever possible, keep your seeds in their original packaging. If you do unseal a pack of seeds and have remaining seeds, transfer the additional seeds directly into sealed container.

Ziplock bags, for example, are perfect because you can eliminate 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 opaque container to guard your seeds from your refrigerator 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 (worse 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 more gradually they decline. However, it's typically not necessary to freeze your seeds. Follow the conditions we detailed above, and you should be able to maintain your seeds for up to five years and still get excellent germination rate.

Determining Which Seeds to Germinate and Which to Store

When you're ready to germinate your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with damage to the outer shell first. The shell of your seeds is built to protect the delicate genetics inside. Seeds with breaks in the outer shell are far more vulnerable and shouldn't be stored.

At Royal Queen Seeds, we excel in our work and want to make sure every grower only has the top genetics in their garden. That means we examine all of our seeds before packaging. If you find any damage to your RQS seeds, reach out with our support team immediately.

Methods for Germinating Old Cannabis Seeds

We've all discovered stray seed somewhere at the back of old drawer or cupboard. Here are a few tips on how to germinate weed seeds:

Pre-soaking with enriched carbonated water

Before germinating your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water enriched with fulvic acid, enhancers, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For optimal results, use room temperature water and soak your seeds for half a day in a dark place.

Scar your seeds

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

Take off a seed's ridge

The ridge is the somewhat elevated side of your seed. Like sections of the shell, this ridge can become very tough over time. Eliminating it gently with sharp Stanley blade can help your seed germinate.

Score open your seed

In a last attempt to sprout your seeds, creating tiny cut in the seed's shell may help. However, this is no guaranteed fix, and you'll need to be gentle to avoid harming the inside of your seed. If you damage the embryo, the seed will never germinate.

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