Original source seeds from the 70's: Yes I have some

Hey gang ,Just a quick question. Can seeds live in a vacuum ? I can my stash in vacuum packed jars and got to thinking "wow am I killing these seeds?" Do they need air? I opened the ones that i was worried about loosing. Any thoughts? Red
 
Stoned Redneck said:
Hey gang ,Just a quick question. Can seeds live in a vacuum ? I can my stash in vacuum packed jars and got to thinking "wow am I killing these seeds?" Do they need air? I opened the ones that i was worried about loosing. Any thoughts? Red
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I saw a documentary from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (If ya'll don't know about this, it's definitely worth a google search) and they pack the seeds in plastic bags or plastic jars and put them in their massive freezer, so I guess plain jars/boxes/bags is the way to go;)
 
I read several of the posts in this thread but not all of them so if this was addressed then excuse me. I too had a big ceramic jar with thousands of seeds that I had collected from the mid 1980's through the mid 1990's. This jar was totally dark and sealed pretty good. A few years ago I tried to germinate some of them and had no luck. Tried again a few months later, nothing. Then again and again, each time using more seeds to try and get something to germinate. Nothing. Then one day I threw caution to the wind and tossed the whole of the remaining lot into some very fertile soil and kept it watered for about 10 days. Not a single one of them germinated so I figured these seeds at least had long since lost their viability. I would question whether seeds this old would still be viable. I tweaked around with genetics now and then so I'd be interested to know if there's a chance for anything to come out of this collection of very old seeds.
 
OlderStoner said:
I read several of the posts in this thread but not all of them so if this was addressed then excuse me. I too had a big ceramic jar with thousands of seeds that I had collected from the mid 1980's through the mid 1990's. This jar was totally dark and sealed pretty good. A few years ago I tried to germinate some of them and had no luck. Tried again a few months later, nothing. Then again and again, each time using more seeds to try and get something to germinate. Nothing. Then one day I threw caution to the wind and tossed the whole of the remaining lot into some very fertile soil and kept it watered for about 10 days. Not a single one of them germinated so I figured these seeds at least had long since lost their viability. I would question whether seeds this old would still be viable. I tweaked around with genetics now and then so I'd be interested to know if there's a chance for anything to come out of this collection of very old seeds.
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32,000-Year-Old Plant Brought Back to Life?Oldest Yet :)
 
The main problem that I have found with germinating old seeds is that the seed coat gets really hard over time. This is a good thing to help keep them viable and the infections out, but it also keeps the water out and so they will not germinate. I have given out seeds over the years to various people and some have complained that they do not germinate... at first. Then I tell them to nick or file down the seed coats, and whallah! They get better results. MJ is not the only plant that you have to do this with, many types of seeds have to be nicked to germinate. I use a magnifying visor and I use a small rounded file and file down the seed coast in one 'slice' just until I get to the base of the seed coat. You can also squeeze them gently to crack the seed coat halves just enough to allow water to penetrate the seeds, or lever the seed coat open just a smidge with a very sharp knife. You can also decrease the surface tension of water by adding a little soap (use soap, not detergent) to the water that you moisten the paper towel or soil with so the water becomes 'wetter' and penetrates the seed coat. I have also found that the seed coats often times do not pop open all the way and fall off as the seeds become older, so I use tweezers to lever the seed coats open when they germinate. Sometimes they break or get cut and die as you mention. It takes a steady hand and some patience, and lots of magnification for overcoming presbyopia.
 
Also I have had problems with dampening off (fungal rot) when germinating indica seeds originally from Asia lately. I do not know why, but the landrace sativa seeds that I have do not have this problem, but the heirloom indicas do. Likely genetic resistance and the types of local fungus. Anyway, as a result I have changed my germinating methods. I boil water and let it cool and I use that to soak paper towels with to germinate my seeds in. I have used the paper towel seed germinating method for many planting cycles to good effect. Fold a paper towel in 4, place it on a place, add enough water to soak the towel but not let water pool, and add the nicked or filed pot seeds between the paper towel layers. Boiling the water reduces the chance of early infection when germinating seeds. I also sterilize my 4 inch pots and seedling soil before planting the germinated seeds to lessen the likelihood of dampening off. I use a 50/50 mix of steam sterilized peat moss and boiled water sterilized play sand for starting germinated seeds and cuttings. 50/50 peat/sand is the UC Davis preferred soil medium for cuttings, and I find that it works great for seeds as well. For cuttings I use Rootone, mainly for the fungicide than for the rooting hormones. Then once the plants are 8 inches tall or I see the roots at the bottom of the pots, I transplant them into a soil mix that I make from 1/2 screened property soil (which is silty loam), 1/2 composted fir needles, with a scoop of perlite, and a scoop of wood ashes. I use native soil and compost as it has lots of fungus spores which grow and become a symbiotic pairing with the pot plant roots. I typically plant my pot in 10 gallon tubs, and they are usually more than big enough to support a fully grown 8 foot sativa plant, while being small enough to be able to haul them around with a hand truck. I also feed the soil fungus a little granulated sugar and feed the plants 20-20-20, both dissolved in water when feeding. Pot plants like a lot of fertilizer and the fungus seem to like the sugar. I do not need to inoculate the soil with fungus spores, as PNW soil is riddled with them. I have 20 types of mushrooms fruiting on my property now that the rains have returned for the year here.
 
Soooooo Seeds can survive without air ? Like i said I vacuumed all my jars and i don't want to loose the early girl seeds.I just thought everything needs air to survive...and never really thought about seeds. So what do the teeming millions say? I too like 10 gallon bag/tubs.I had to move one this year and it sure makes it nice. Thanks ,Red
 
BigSur

I wanna store my recent seeds from the last few years in the freezer as you suggest.

I have an old Sears Seal A Meal I can use to make any size pouch I need and store them all air tight. (not in a vacuum)

Do I need to put anything in with the seeds like rice or a piece of paper towel to absorb any moisture?

And should anything be placed in the container that holds all the seed pacs?
 
Stoned Redneck said:
Soooooo Seeds can survive without air ? Like i said I vacuumed all my jars and i don't want to loose the early girl seeds.I just thought everything needs air to survive...and never really thought about seeds. So what do the teeming millions say? I too like 10 gallon bag/tubs.I had to move one this year and it sure makes it nice. Thanks ,Red
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They should do fine in vacuum bags or jars, but according to the book, Marijuana Potency by Michael Starks and published by Berkeley Press in 1977, they will be fine in sealed jars if they are kept dry. Supposedly an experiment done by a Japanese scientist stored seeds in a sealed jar and kept dry in calcium chloride lasted for 14 years. So the rice in a jar with the MJ seeds trick should do fine. Though I am still a fan of freezing seeds.
 
Hash Hound said:
BigSur

I wanna store my recent seeds from the last few years in the freezer as you suggest.

I have an old Sears Seal A Meal I can use to make any size pouch I need and store them all air tight. (not in a vacuum)

Do I need to put anything in with the seeds like rice or a piece of paper towel to absorb any moisture?

And should anything be placed in the container that holds all the seed pacs?
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Frozen in Seal a Meal bags should work just fine. I would not worry about the moisture. According to the book I listed in the above reply, the colder they are stored, the less of an issue moisture is for storing seeds.

My seeds are stored in mini manila envelopes in plastic bags. They are all in a snap lid plastic card file case, and that is wrapped in several plastic bags. Been that way for near 40 years now. They remain highly viable. Actually, the older the seeds, the harder the seed case gets. So the older they get, the less likely they are apt to have problems with any moisture. Which can also lead to problems germinating and why you need to nick or scratch old seeds before planting them.
 
And now for the start of my landrace/heirloom catalog:

Seed pack #1
A+ 5 stars
Senso Mellow
Sinsemillia (or nearly) from Mexico (could have been NorCal local grown)
February 1978
$50/oz (see? this stuff was cheap!)
Good buzz, no paranoia, green tops with red hairs, few seeds (apx. 20/oz).
 
My landrace/heirloom MJ seed catalog (cont.):

Seed pack #2
A+ 5 stars
Senso Mellow #2
Sinsemillia (or nearly) from Mexico
March, 1977
$40/oz. (even cheaper!)
Mega knock-out weed, exotic buzz, fluffy green tops with white hairs, few seeds (apx. 10/oz).

Supplied some of these seeds to a friend in Carmel Valley who grew some killer bud with it. Was given an oz. by him in return with many thanks. Got the band Crazyhorse and the people at the Old Sashmill bar in Santa Cruz stoned out of their minds on it.
 
My landrace/heirloom MJ seed catalog (cont.):

Seed pack #3
A++ 5 stars
Groovy Gorilla Weed
From Morelos, Mexico
February, 1977
$45/oz.
Mellow sativa high, really good buzz factor, fluffy green tops, very seedy (over 200 seeds/oz).

Grew in 2007, early bloom, nice fat buds, good resin, no rot.
 
My landrace/heirloom MJ seed catalog (cont.):

Seed pack #4
A+++ 5+ stars
Super Groovy Gorilla Weed
From Morelos or Guerrero, Mexico
January, 1977
$35/oz.
Exceptional high, fluffy green with gold tops, not many seeds (apx. 50 seeds/oz).

Sent some of this stuff my my brother on Maui. He said no one there believed it was from the Mainland. No one. He gave up and told people it was from Lanai. Grew in 2006 and again in 2015, early bloom, nice long buds, good resin, minor rot.
 
Cannot say that I was planning this far ahead, but I had dreams of growing it and getting rich back then. As well as potential future highs. Speaking of those future (and now legal) highs, I just smoked a bowl of fresh-cured Morelos sativa landrace tops that I jarred up last night. Seed pack #4. The high is pretty close to Blue Dream, actually. Not much of a rush to it, more of a cerebral lift. I could sell this as a clone and as seeds, as well as bud by the gram.
 
My landrace/heirloom MJ seed catalog (cont.):

Seed pack #5
A+ 5 stars
The Zone Stone Morelos #2
From Morelos, Mexico
April, 1977
$45/oz.
Monster fluffy green tops, very seedy (apx. 200 seeds/oz).
 
My landrace/heirloom MJ seed catalog (cont.):

Seed pack #6
A+ 5 stars
Zowie Wowie
Likely from Oaxaca, Mexico
December, 1976
$40/oz.
Typical green weed from Mexico at that time. Good strong sativa high. Seedy (apx. 100 seeds/oz).
 
You know, I have to say yet again how cool it is that you have saved those seeds. Amazing to be able to recreate the bud you smoked 4 decades ago. Like everyone else, I was playing a lazy version of Johnny CannabisSeed and travelling the world tossing them out left and right. Germination rate zero I'm sure. I will be forever haunted by that one particular batch I bought one day in a village in Thailand. It was the best Thai I ever smoked and like everything else, it was full of seeds. Sigh...
 
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