Keeping seeds for some months or years

[Mars Vltor]

Hello!
Im interesting to know how do you do guys to keep your seeds fresh. Im going to try keep em in a refrigerator at constant 5ºc out of ilumination and with silice. Any better option?

 

[iron]

if you want to store for years, store them in a freezer. But make sure you have pulled the water out of the seed by using a dessicant such as silica gel. You don't want to freeze wet seeds. Refrigerator is fine for a few months.

 

[L33t]

If you store them in the freezer then make sure they are in a place where they are not being moved around as frozen tissue can be easily damaged/broken even by tiny movement/force applied.

 

[elmo]

keep mine in the fridge germed some recently from 1 yr in fridge all germed great

 

[shantibaba]

Hi All

I prefer to keep seed in the fridge at between 3-5C, if you keep them in that situation you will be able to keep them for some years...

If you freeze seed you will not be able to refreeze it so be prepared to use it after this one time storage method. Breaking larger batches up into smaller ones is a good option for this method also.

Heat and direct sunlight are just two methods that reduce the germination levels by basically cooking the embryo inside the seed capsule. You can tell nothing from the seed as it looks fine but inside has been killed. Irradiation is just one way the food industry treat things to preserve them longer...it is for me a very bad option but it does give shelf life a little longer. The agricultural industry has used it in Holland to erradicate exporting bugs and eggs via flower/plant export...in a limited way. If this irradiation occurs to seed it is killed, again without visible signs. The use of Kirilian photography is something we at MNS have dabbled with a little.It seems to be one of the safest ways to tell if the embryo inside the seed case is alive or dead. So maybe in the future we will impliment this to scan the seeds for viability.Till then you will need to use the fridge or freezer....all the best Sb

 

[Alaska]

Hey shanti, hey all.

Thanks for the lowdown, I will look into those Kirilian photos. I always thought it was just someone dabbling in photoshop, but now I see there is a use for it as well

A

 

[Mr green]

i keep mine in the bottom of the freezer. thanks shanti good tip in the future ill put them in smaller packets makes perfect sense. iv got a batch of f2 seeds in the fridge that have been in the egg storage part for years and years lol ill see if they are any good they must be over 5 years old my m8 gave me them. i think they are legends ultimate indica x some other male he did not notice until the cloud of shit burst and pollinated the whole crop. free seeds for nut

 

["#"]

hello peep's,

I got a couple of packs of silca which i will put in with my beens, and then vaccume seal and return them to the fridge.



.......#.......

 

[noshow]

storage time

Greetings all,

I kept my seed for 6 yrs or so. In an envelope sealed inside tinfoil. All left in breeder packs. Maybe 3times in the six years opening them to look. Otherwise I had an excellent germ rate at that time 90%. This was done with multiple breeders. I must say this Shanti's Med Man, and another Breeder's were 100.

 

[timetunnel]

I`ve kept em in the frig for over 7 years i perfer to use vacumed sealed bags no air low temps, my best friend has some seeds going back to 1976 and each year he grows some of em, some of the finest smoke, taste and high wise.

 

[captain.koons]

Hi All

I prefer to keep seed in the fridge at between 3-5C, if you keep them in that situation you will be able to keep them for some years...

If you freeze seed you will not be able to refreeze it so be prepared to use it after this one time storage method. Breaking larger batches up into smaller ones is a good option for this method also.

Heat and direct sunlight are just two methods that reduce the germination levels by basically cooking the embryo inside the seed capsule. You can tell nothing from the seed as it looks fine but inside has been killed. Irradiation is just one way the food industry treat things to preserve them longer...it is for me a very bad option but it does give shelf life a little longer. The agricultural industry has used it in Holland to erradicate exporting bugs and eggs via flower/plant export...in a limited way. If this irradiation occurs to seed it is killed, again without visible signs. The use of Kirilian photography is something we at MNS have dabbled with a little.It seems to be one of the safest ways to tell if the embryo inside the seed case is alive or dead. So maybe in the future we will impliment this to scan the seeds for viability.Till then you will need to use the fridge or freezer....all the best Sb

do you also keep very low humidity in your fridge? In the marijuana horticulture indoor/outdoor grow bible by jorge cervantes he shows some breeders fridge where he keeps 5% RH which is super super dry. IMO my nostrils feel dry at ~50% RH.

 

[dcdondro]

An easy way to store seeds is to keep them in a sealed/light proof container(such as a film canister) with some uncooked rice. The rice will soak up any moisture. It's basically a cheap alternative to silica. Then just put that in the fridge. ...no light + no moisture + cold air = a long shelf life.

 

[SativaFan]

I won't live long enuf to grow out all the seeds I have.

That said I keep them in the frig at Shanti's recommended temp. I keep in paper envelopes...and those inside Ziploc bags.

SativaFan

 

[barletta]

I have ~4k seeds (another ~1k cookin). If I lived 100 more years (and grew hard every one) I have to not make another one, and crack ~15/mo. Fer 100yrs, lol.

I store em with rice. I let em go bone dry, bag em up, then store the baggies in a coffee can w/~a cup of rice in it. I get 90% with my seeds (up to a year old), and a lil less with the breeder packs, as they may be older.

I have ~1-2k in a baggie with some rice in the freezer for ~8mo, but I haven't seen if they are still viable. LOL, I'd check em, but if they pop, I won't be able to chuck em, and I'm trying to clear a lil calendar space for some Devil...

 

[L33t]

Seed storage

hi all

here is some interesting info on seed storage from a canna page online and thought to share

original text from:
http://www.amsterdammarijuanaseedba...ijuana-seeds-info/marijuana-seed-storage.html


''The problems of maintaining seed germination increase with seed moisture content.
This can be generalized as follows:

Seed moisture above:

1. 40-60% - germination occurs
2. 18-20% - heating may occur
3. 12-14% - fungi grown on and in seed
4. 8- 9% - insects become active and reproduce

Heating is caused by the respiration of cannabis seeds, of fungi and bacteria in and on the seed, and of insect populations, which
may build up rapidly in a moist environment. High temperature and high moisture will kill cannabis seeds rapidly as will invasion of microorganisms and insects.

Seed storage life is doubled for each 5¡ C reduction in storage temperature.
Refrigeration to at least 5¡ C is desirable (this is slightly warmer than domestic fridges).
The cooler the temperature the more slowly seed vitality declines. This rule apparently continues to apply even at temperatures below freezing. At 5¡ C and below, insects become inactive."

 

[r543]

great info for seed storage

 

[oscar the rotund]

I did a ridiculous amount of research on drying seeds. I found silica has a high vapor pressure. Not that it doesn't work but it's not optimal. I found the cheapest way is to take white polished rice. Put in an open glass jar in a small toaster oven and turn the oven on low. I kept them in for 5 days. Maybe overkill but it worked. I got humidity levels in closed jars less than 5%. I also dried wheat flour the same way for storing pollen. I mixed it 50/50 with pollen. The longest I've tested pollen mixed that way and stored in a refrigerator was about 14 months. Can't speak for any longer term.

 

[scrubdog]

fridge

I have stored seeds for up to ten years in a normal fridge in pill bottles or film canisters. Sometimes I throw in a dessicant or rice but mostly I can't be bothered because each season I get them all out again anyway.

I have no idea what moisture content my fridge runs at or any other fridges I've used. Somewhere on the net there used to be charts showing percentage losses in viability when refrigerated. Basically up to five years was almost 100% viable then it started to drop off but I think some seeds have been kept 20 yrs in a fridge and some were still viable.

scrubdog

 

[medicaluser]

I keep my seeds in the fridge for over 10 years and are doing it still great.
No germanation problems.

 

[Pantagruelion]

Liquid nitrogen?

I have yet to hear any references to liquid nitrogen. In the fridge at 4degrees Celsius is where I store my seeds for immediate use. For long term storage liquid nitrogen seems like a natural choice. No electricity to go out, no refrigeration equipment to fail. Just a tank that needs topped off any time the nitrogen is displaced.

I pay a guy to collect and store bull semen in this manner. The semen is stored in labelled and sealed plastic straws. The straws are then submerged in a tank of liquid nitrogen. I'm thinking vials full of seed could be sealed in labeled tubes and stored in a similar manner. I pay $60 a year per hundred straws of semen for storage fees. I'm thinking I'll get my own tank to save a little money and have an awesome long term storage solution for my cannabis genetics as well. I'll test it out.