Surprised but I couldn’t really find guides on this. Im planning my first open pollination later in the year and still gathering info.
A good guide might cover:
How do you know if seeds are ready?
How to dry plants that are full of seeds?
How to harvest the seeds?
How to dry the seeds? (Can seeds touch dessicant directly? How dry is dry enough/too dry? RH/temp control needed? In the fridge?)
Ok to handle seeds with bare hands?
Etc
There are guide all over the net for growing plants from seed/clone all the way through to curing in jars, but really wasn’t able to find much on this all in one place.
I have pieced some of it together by reading about some aspects here and there, but just like with the rest of growing: you can’t always mix advice from different sources.
This guide seemed OK, but uses some techniques specific to humidor drying etc:
Anybody have one or even a book you might recommend on the topic?
I have this one stored on my phone. It’s got lots of info to help you get your feet wet. I haven’t read it in a few years but from what I remember it was good
I grow the seeded plants until the seed pods are dropping beans and or busting open… usually ready to chop by the end of flowering… chop em, let em dry completely, then shuck seeds. Then dry for a week on a plate or tray. And then bang you have seeds… another further step which I do is selecting the best most viable looking ones, and a pinch test. If it crushes well then it’s a dud.
i made one of these out of cardboard and hot glue gun. Used a plate of glass from a picture on the wall. Best damn time saver i’ve ever gotten for free. Any guide should have this included in a chapter man this thing is awesome. Based on math, only things the weight of a mature tiger striped seed survive the air flow to fall in the bin. Life Saver!
(not mine pictured)
Usually ~6 weeks after pollination. Can open a bracht or two or pull a test bud off and check if the seed(s) have dark color/mottling. If you see green or pale they’re likely not ready yet.
How to dry plants that are full of seeds?
Same way you dry for bud. I usually just hang the plant whole for 2-3+ weeks at ~65-75F and <60% RH until she’s dry.
How to harvest the seeds?
Break up the Buds by (gloved)hand, on an angled surface with a lip, like a Frisbee or a tray of some kind. Or build/use a seed sorting machine. Any white or pale seeds I would check by squeezing as they usually crush easily. Viable seeds do not crush easily and are usually darker in color. Note: the mottling or “tiger stripes” are not on every seed nor even in every strain.
How to dry the seeds? (Can seeds touch dessicant directly? How dry is dry enough/too dry? RH/temp control needed? In the fridge?)
They should already be pretty dry if the Buds were. After shucking and cleaning them I usually take all the good seeds and spread them out in a container or plate. Then seal that inside a larger container with desiccant. The desiccant can touch the beans no problem but it’s easier for me to sort if they are kept separate. After a week or two I’ll put them in vials and into the seedfridge around 40F degrees.
Ok to handle seeds with bare hands?
Gloves are best but just make sure your hands are clean.
By cleaning I mean just removing the plant matter from the seeds.
You can just rub the buds between your hands or fingers and the seeds should just fall out. When you remove the seeds from whatever you’re doing that on, you’re usually still going to be taking some plant matter with them, so it requires another pass or two to get that out. I’ve seen some people use vacuums or @Mudballs posted above. The end goal is having only seeds and zero green plant matter or stems as leaving it with the seeds will mess with the RH and breed mold/fungus.
I harvest and hang them just like seedless bud. Wait a week or two until they are dry.
How do you know when they are ready? Grab a bud and grub out the seeds, if it is a fight then let them dry some more. What you are looking for is the bud disintegrates easily.
I use a shoe box lid and a plastic business card to separate out the seeds.
i’ve seen videos for this device before but i hadn’t even thought about building one of these out of cardboard. that’s a very good idea! and probably easier to piece together than a wood version.
did you stick to the same dimensions? was there anything you improved or had to adjust with your cardboard version?
yeah im running a modified version but not by much. it’s based off avg. household vacuum force so you have some finnagle room. mine drives like a dream. i process material dude, this thing works. just gotta have accurate cuts so the glass seals well enough. run the hot glue lines all down the cardboard edges for assembly but you don’t glue the glass to it…you just tape that to the box after…like i was in 6th grade art class again.
Do you just overdry the buds? When I remove the seeds from buds they are so sticky I needed alcohol for my fingers. Same when I try to break the unseeded bud up.
you dry normal then put in freezer. then break out the sift screen of your choosing. i have a 4 screen set, i’m patently happy using the single 90 screen. you bring out the frozen material, break it up, sift it, then process the material through the miracle mechanism the voodoo science priests gave us. scoop up the kief and press it in my fingers like a junky stressing for a fix…throw away the green leftovers, pack and label my seeds…go for a walk to check plants…check OG forums…smoke a bowl…what were we doing?
seeded bud is kind of a lost cause cuz of the way the plants develop flowers, or seeds…might as well turn it into hash. it’s not that awesome for flower smoke
I usually only pollinate a single branch but on about 4 cultivars. So I don’t smoke what’s left over. Just want a way to get through it faster. Took probably 2 hours to do 4 branches. Total of about 400 seeds. Thanks again for the tips.
Sticky seeds are a pain in the butt. If you only want the seeds dry them in low humidity and with a fan. My seed run I harvested well over 8,000 seeds from five females.
Here are the seeds I sent to be distributed to OG members. Over 7,500 of them in this box. I did it all by hand, I had no fancy sorting machine. I used an old A&W food tray, old credit card and by blowing all the plant material, empty and green seeds off the tray.
great looking build there @Mudballs , especially considering it’s cardboard. very clean and dare i say professional looking! i used to use cardboard for arts and crafts projects, so i know it can be uncooperative sometimes. this photo is great inspiration, showing how it’s probably not as hard as it seems to build this device. i’ll definitely keep this in mind for when i do seed runs.
I’m curious if anyone has tried sprouting one immediately after carefully removing it from the outter husk casing? Successful or must they lay out for a day?
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