True Living Organics - The Ultimate Guide to Growing All-Natural Marijuana Indoors (2012)

Organically Grown Seeds and Seed Storage
In some of the older cannabis books from the ’70s or ’80s, such as Marijuana Chemistry by Michael
Starks, you will note how they say that “wild” cannabis seeds tend to stay viable much longer than
domestic varieties, and the reasons for this are a mystery. Actually, in my experience it is much
simpler than that: it is the use, or non-use, of synthetic delivered nutrients that makes a huge difference
in how long the seeds will stay viable for, even in perfect storage conditions. Synthetically bred
seeds will last about 2 years on average just lying around before experiencing a huge drop in
viability/germination rates. Organically bred seeds will stay 100% viable for at least 5 years on
average under the same environmental conditions.
To correctly store seeds, all you need to do is put them into an airtight container with no light
leaking into it, and then store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Seeds stored in this manner will stay
good for at least 10 years before any loss of viability, and in the freezer I would say the period is
more like 20 years. These time frames are based on organically bred cannabis seeds. It comes down
really to heat and moisture. Both of these will be detrimental to seed storage. If storing seeds in the
freezer, take extra care to package the seeds so they cannot move around. If they collide with each
other or the container too hard when frozen, fractures can occur that will kill the seed. Basically, the
viability period of seeds is determined by how long and how often they are exposed to temperatures
above 55°F. or so. I have bulk storage cannabis seeds that I like to freeze, but if I have seeds that I
plan to germinate in the next 5 years or so I like to keep them in the refrigerator. You can freely switch
between freezing and refrigerating as well.
Pollen Collection and Storage
There is so much potential in this set of seeds!