Methods To Correctly Store Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds, with their tough outer shell, look pretty hardy. And while nature has certainly designed them to withstand a wide variety of conditions, cannabis seeds aren’t immune. Rapid changes in temperature and elevated humidity, for example, can quickly ruin a batch of seeds. Luckily, caring for your seeds is easy. Keep reading to learn how.

Your Seeds Are Living

Most people forget this, but it’s worth remembering: your cannabis seeds are active organisms. Before they grow, 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 provide them the optimal conditions to guarantee they remain viable until you’re ready to sprout and plant them.

Perfect Conditions for Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis seeds have four key enemies:

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

Preferably, you want to keep your seeds in cold, dark, and arid place. Whenever possible, keep your seeds in their factory packaging. At Royal Queen Seeds, we’ve carefully 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 trigger them to use up their nutrient stores before they ever see soil, meaning they won’t have the food they need to germinate. Elevated humidity, on the contrary, 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 varying levels of humidity (% relative humidity) influence your cannabis seeds:

Seeking advice on controlling humidity for your plants? The Grow Guide provides key tips for keeping healthy growing environments.

How and Where to Store Your Cannabis Seeds

For short-term storage, dark cupboard or drawer with stable temperatures is usually fine. Try to keep your seeds out of areas of your house that are susceptible to the typical temperature changes of your local environment.

If, for example, you are in a location with very hot daytime temperatures and cool nights, try to shield your seeds from these changes and don’t store them outside in a shed or garage.

For prolonged storage, it’s ideal to keep your seeds with desiccants, such as silica gel, in a sealed container inside the fridge. Remember that using the door of your refrigerator can actually cause some pretty significant temperature shifts. If you own have another fridge that gets accessed less often than the one in your kitchen, choose that one to preserve your seeds.

Again, if possible, nativesusa.com) keep your seeds in their original packaging. If you do break a pack of seeds and have remaining seeds, transfer the extra seeds directly into sealed container.

Ziplock bags, for example, are great because you can remove all the air from them to make practically vacuum-sealed container for your seeds. Once sealed, put your bag inside a dark plastic bag or opaque 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 dangerous than temperature, light, oxygen…). For this reason, it is better to store the seeds in No Frost fridges.

Can You Preserve Seeds in the Freezer?

Yes, cannabis seeds can be stored in the freezer. The more extreme the temperature, the more gradually they decline. However, it’s generally not necessary to freeze your seeds. Follow the conditions we detailed above, and you should be able to maintain your seeds for up to 5 years and still get high germination rate.

Determining Which Seeds to Plant and Which to Store

When you’re ready to grow your seeds, check them and germinate any seeds with damage to the outer shell first. The shell of your seeds is designed to protect the volatile genetics inside. Seeds with cracks in the outer shell are much more vulnerable and won’t be stored.

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

Tips for Germinating Aged Cannabis Seeds

We’ve all located stray seed somewhere at the depths of old drawer or cupboard. Here are some tips on how to germinate weed seeds:

Pre-treatment with enhanced carbonated water

Before germinating your old seeds, try soaking them in carbonated water fortified with fulvic acid, germination booster, hydrogen peroxide, or gibberellic acid. For top results, use ambient water and soak your seeds for twelve hours in dim place.

Scratch your seeds

Aged seeds often have very tough outer shell. Carefully scratching this shell with some 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 germinate.

Take off your seed’s ridge

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

Slice open your seed

In a last attempt to sprout your seeds, creating a small cut in the seed’s shell may help. However, this is no miracle cure, and you’ll need to be cautious 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 much you try. If possible, avoid buying more seeds than you will plant so as to avoid having any problems at the time of germination.