For those of you producing seeds, here is how I harvest and store my seeds.
First I usually wait till the mother plant is beginning to actually die of old age before harvesting her seeds.
Seeds can be harvested earlier, but you will need to pick off a few individual seeds, and make sure you have enough that are mature enough to harvest.
There is nothing worst then harvesting a plant, then realizing it’s seeds are actually immature!
A mature cannabis seed is of course dark (some can show tiger stripping), plump, solid (will not crush when squeezed.) Be aware some seeds (generally Sativa) will be smaller, and some (generally Indica) can be much bigger.
I usually dry the seed laden buds out till they are crunchy dry, then grind them up with may hands till it is reduced to clean seeds, and all the vegetative matter.
I have built a machine like one on YouTube for that purpose, although you can do it by hand as well. There is also some screens of various sizes you can find on Amazon that could be helpful. I am actually waiting to get mine right now. One problem I have run into is separating the smaller immature seeds from the mature ones.
Once you have cleaned your seeds, and all you have left is fat dark mature seeds (I plan to only sell fully mature seeds onsite) you will want to make sure you ‘cure’ them. And, curing them means mostly making sure they are completely dry. I have made the mistake of closing up seeds in an air tight container to soon…which generated a mold, and effectively killed all the seeds.
Once your seeds have cured for several days, and are dry, you can put them in an airtight container (you can add some rice, or one of those small silica gel desiccant packs. Be aware heat, oxygen, light, and moisture are all enemies to long term cannabis seed storage.
I store mine in glass jars with lids on tightly in a box in my basement where it says cool.
They can also be stored either frozen, or in a refrigerator. If you go this route curing and protecting the seed from air, light, and moisture becomes even more important.
Great article Jerry. I’ll be thanking you again I guess closest to the number generated. I’ll be putting in an order this weekend. W
Sounds good, remind me in a note with your order.
Great information Jerry! Textbook procedure and applies to any seed someone is trying to save, at least from my experience and reading information such as youve described! Thank you
YW Fox, thanks for reading, I have all your seeds on the end of my counter, and I think about spring every time I look at them! LOL
Hi Jerry the Blue Haze are drying out right now. I have set aside about 10 seeds check germination. I will test them in a about a week. I let the plants grow till they were at the end of their life cycle. The seeds should be very well developed. I’m expecting 100% germination. The seeds are very dark and were starting to fall from the plants. They still smell great, very Blueberry.
That is awesome Joe, and exactly the way I do it. Go ahead and see if they germinate well, then get back to me, in an email would be better then here.