How do *you* store your seeds?

Original Cinderella 99bx, vintage 1999, frozen and germinated in 2015. This lot still has a 95-98% germ rate.

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Cool beans. Good germ rate for Cindy from 15 year old seeds.

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They can be frozen, you just have to germinate them as soon as you take them out of the freezer. U don’t want to take them out and wait a week to use them, or thaw them and re-freeze them again. I prefer to store them in a sealed container, in a dark, cool, dry place.

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^^^ Well, believe what you want. I have thawed and re-frozen my seeds many times. Unintentionally when I moved up and down the west coast. In my experience they do not need any special handling. Many of my seeds have been frozen on and off for over 40 years now. One batch was thawed and shipped overseas last year, left for months in a cool dry place, and then germinated and now they are growing just fine. I got pictures the other day of some of my Mexican sativa landrace girls and boys blooming half way around the world. I bought those seeds in bag weed way back in 1977.

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I don´t doubt you, and over anything i want to believe, since my collection is about to get bigger and bigger, i need to know that they will sprout even after a long time in storage. Nice pointers @BigSur!

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I have never froze seeds because I have not ever needed to. However what comes to mind are the landrace indicas that grow in areas where it gets below freezing.

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Well, I just tell it like I have seen it. I have had many debates on several MJ forums about freezing seeds. As in many do not believe it can be done. Cannabis seeds are pretty bullet proof. They evolved in the stepps of Asia, where freezing in winter is still common, so they have adapted to the cold. Cannabis also survived and evolved through the last ice ages, so the seeds can and do tolerate freezing and thawing in the wild, and in many cycles as mine have done. Most freezers here in the states are set to 0F. by the way. I have kept mine in frost-free and in deep freezers. They are in a deep freezer now, set to 0F (-18C). I add rice to my little seed storage bags to keep them dry. Once the resin has dried on these seeds I think they are pretty impermeable to rot here though, in a rather dry US western climate. I let then dry out for a few months before freezing them if they are fresh. In a humid climate that may be different or you may have to handle them differently. Here we are typically between 15-30% humidity unless it is raining, and inside my house the humidity averages 50% year round. 50% humidity is supposed to be ideal for curing weed.

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I am just gonna put them in airtight bags with rice and off to the freezer, but not all of them, there are some i’m leaving outside… Thanks @BigSur!

Just remember to label your seeds. I had a problem labeling two different sets of Morelos seeds as #3 in my inventory. As it turns out they are growing similar but with some differences, enough to be unique landraces. One guy is crossing the two of them now, and both as IBL, actually. Sort of like I did this year with my Blue Hemp and RSC Lebanese. Though I would not consider the BH or RCS Lebbies as being unique Landraces. They grow virtually identical with 2 phenos; one is more of a sativa and one more of an indica. The weed is very similar with both phenos, though online descriptions are all over the map with some favoring the sativa pheno, and others the indica pheno. Go figure. I would love to have these all genome tested, but it is too expensive.

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i had seeds stored outside in my garage (sensi black domina + the freebies) for 7 years and they went through temperature extremes +40 to -40 and none of them germinated after, 30+ seeds

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exposure to moisture is what kills the seeds, not being frozen IMO. I’ve read that freezing is best for very long-term storage where the seeds are not taken in & out of the cooler often. Leave those in the refrigerator instead.

I’ve stored them in the fridge in a glass jar with silicon dessicant to lower the humidity. So far getting near 100% germination after 15 years.

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Heat will also do them in, especially if it is humid. You want to keep them cold and dry. According to the book, Marijuana Potency, the colder the temps, the less influence is moisture and humidity on seed decline. It also states that above 50F that Cannabis seeds will show a marked decline in germination rates, even in sealed jars, and decline markedly in about 2 years and likely be sterile in 4 years. Here in the wild west, dry is not as big an issue. In the US South, or even the Midwest and Northeast in summer where it is extremely humid, that is likely a bigger issue.

I put about one rice grain in per MJ seed. 1:1 is pretty easy, but you can err either way. You do not need to drown the seeds in rice. You can also use the little silica gel desiccant bags with them. They come in things like vitamin pill bottles and the like to keep them dry. I use bulk converted white rice.

yes or the silica cat litter will work good too i think, i save all those silica packs now for reuse :smiley:

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Continuing discussion from Huge cache of seeds left behind, what to do?

These seeds should be 1) packed and frozen for long term storage and 2) stored in a seed bank someplace safe. But then the question is by whom and where. There are so many…

I agree… it’s cold in Upstate New York now… I have them in a spare room that’s about 50 degrees Fahrenheit all the time… While cataloging them I didn’t want to take them in and out of the refrigerator because of temperature fluctuations. I hesitate to put them in the freezer because of that as well. What is your opinion?

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I was reading from this site that someone had stored his seeds without Refrigeration in a fishing bait box… And they popped

I agree that they should be kept cool at all times

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I keep mine in small glass jars, in the shade, at room temp.

Some believe in refrigeration.

I don’t expect to get more than 3-5 years shelf life out of them. But I wouldn’t be shocked if they last longer.

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I agree with freezing if long-term storage… 10 years plus… Otherwise Refrigeration is probably prudent… But I agree… They are seeds and if kept at cool temperature… Most will pop :slight_smile:

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