Oldest seed you've germinated?

[Laventille]

I put some faith and a few $$ into some 10yr old Magus Warlock (Sandalwood Line) from the bay a few months ago... and have one strong female to show from the four seeds planted so far.

Obviously sb and Magus would not give any germ rate info, other than drawing attention to the seeds age.

 

[Red Fang]

Really? They actually sell seeds that old and they admit it? Well I hope you did not spend too much! How many total germinated out of those 4 seeds? I guess considering everything, 1 strong female isn't doing too bad. Good luck!

 

[Researcher]

I'm currently growing old bag seeds from sometime in the eighties. I've always been a seed saver. If it's in my bag and looks good I put it in another ziplock or film container and store it away with all the old paraphernalia. I also have some seeds from the 70's in an airtight porcelain container I haven't tried to germ yet.

Out of 25 seeds, 12 started in jiffy pots the other 13 started in paper towels or just floating in water. 9 of the jiffy pots sprouted. Six of them went into 3 inch netpots in a 10 gal rubber maid in the flowering room of the cab.

Vegged for a month and they are currently at 44 days 12/12. Two plants were overgrown by the other 4 and didn't make it. Here is a bud on one of the 4 that are left. All 4 of these plants were female.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=13193&pictureid=264544

All but 2 of the water soaked and paper towel soaked seeds didn't germinate. So the 11 that were left went into 20 oz beer cups filled with miracle grow potting soil. They have since been repotted with Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil. They were put into the veg portion of the cabinet under 266 watts of CFL's.

Four of these were male and were destroyed. The seven that were left were vegged for 38 days and have now been under 12/12 for 36 days.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=13194&pictureid=264559

One of the plants started flowering with white pistils. About 2 weeks into flower it started putting red up the center of the white pistils on the top bud. The red color is now the only color the pistils are on this plant. Anyone know what plant was being grown and sold back in the 80's with red hairs?

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=13194&pictureid=264558

I wonder how the red one will smoke compared to the others?

 

[Mr.Bill]

I don't believe a lot of the peeps on here. If you understand how a seed works then it doesn't make sense that a seed will germ that is over 5 years old. First off a seed from any plant is never without activity. It has an endosperm which is the food for the seed. Unless put into a stasis state it will eventually consume the endosperm waiting for its chance to germinate and then die. So if someone says that they had a bunch of seeds 30 years old kept at room temp and not in an airtight container and they germed, Im gonna call BS. Unless university was complete bullshit and everything they taught me about seeds was wrong, I can't see a marijuana seed lasting longer than say a coconut that has a huge endosperm.

Since there are really only two people who's spoken up about ancient seeds and the only one who said 30 years, I suppose this is directed at me. Let me just start out by saying, they "were" in a sealed container, in a temp controlled storage unit for almost five years, before that I cannot vouch for how they were tended to. You can call bullshit on me if you wish, but I've been on this site for years now and ask anyone who knows me, not much for bullshitting, so like I said, you can call bullshit if you want, I don't really much care, I had em, I popped em, some sprouted, I grew some out and if you don't believe that, that's your problem not mine. And for the record just because you obtained knowledge from a University doesn't make the information gospel.

 

[StreamMagic]

My buddy has grown a plant that sprouted from a 25 year old seed! It was an electric buzz, Very intense almost to the point were its was not fun anymore just by smoking a regular joint.Pinners were a must for best effect.

 

[Researcher]

What are Pinners?

 

[StreamMagic]

Small joints. like 3/16 of an inch.

 

[Red Fang]

well I have yet to check my seeds, I have them in a ziploc bag, the seeds transplanted into those little cups you get from Ny-Quil. I had to put seran wrap on the end and tape it shut since the bag was an old slightly used one. I cannot check it easily so I haven't checked yet. Water condensation on the bag makes it impossible to see much. I will check in a day or two. From what I can tell, it looks like a few broke the surface of the soil but have yet to unfurl their leaves. Wish me luck!

 

[Joeski]

ive had stuff over 8 years old thats successfully germed with great results.. good storage is key

 

[Red Fang]

well I don't know whether germination is just the seed "cracking" and something coming out, or if they have to unfurl their leaves. Like I said, I had 8 of 10 for sure, and the other 2 looked like they were cracking as well. Either they needed some hormone or I buried them too deep. But I put them in soil and none ever came up. Well one or 2 partially did but then they were taken out by some white hairy fuzz (mold?) growing on them. I have some seeds the same age and some maybe a little younger, but most are from 2004 or 2005, and I will not make that mistake again!

 

[Ghostwolf]

I Just recently germ-ed some seeds 5 to 10 old, I had no problems, but I did have a lot of duds. They were seeds I've had hanging around in a jar for years. I was really surprised to see any had sprouted and grew I figured that they were to old but was going to try anyway. And they were good smoke to. All's well that end's well.

 

[Weird Jimmy]

I kept two bag seeds for about 4 years in the same bag that the pot came in, and both germinated well.

 

[Ghostwolf]

I've got a 10 year old seed growing now that's bushy as hell and in flowering.

 

[SOTF420]

Most cannabis seeds that came from a healthy parent plant to begin with (very important) can easily germinate 10 years later at quite high rates of survival if stored in a cold, dark, & dry place. Stories of people growing seeds that are over 15 - 20 years old are pretty common and cannabis seeds do stay viable for a long time in cool temps since they are basically in limbo until they receive moisture & warmth. All biological processes come to a screaching halt when you get down close to near freezing temps. The fridge kept right above freezing temps is ideal for storage. Outright freezing will kill some of your seeds unfortunately but also preserve most for much longer periods of time if you do not plan to grow them for many many years. Once they thaw out though if they are re-frozen you will lose many more viable beans from the freeze shock because they have some moisture in them which basically creates hard frozen water crystals inside the embryo that does tissue/cell damage on some of them on a microscopic level. If you do plan to freeze your seeds they need to be very dry with very low % moisture levels to prevent this damage from freezing.

I keep mine at 35F in fridge and use multiple layers of freezer bags around smaller ones to keep out any moisture. Do not rely on just one layer of anything when storing seeds. Triple it up or put the baggie in an airtight jar! Also Q-tip ends mixed in with the seeds at a rate of like 2 or 3 per 50 beans per baggie with their bleached/treated 100% cotton seem to preserve the seeds quite well and absorb any excess moisture just like in a pill bottle except the Q-tip is more tightly wound than cotton and denser so I think it's better at wicking away any moisture.

After 8 years in a fridge my beans will germinate no problem at anywhere from 75% to 100% depending on how I do it to test them. The best way is in wet warm clean white paper towels after a good 12 hour soak in clean warm ro water. Always let your seeds warm up for a day or two before attempting to germinate them as they have basically been in hibernation and need to come out of it with warmer temperatures. Ideally you want to germinate seeds at around 75-80F or so, although cooler or warmer temps surely work okay too if you do not have total control over that it just make take longer with cooler temps, sometimes over a week+.

When you do goto germinate them rinse them well under tap water first as it is chlorinated and will clean them off somewhat, and then soak them in distilled/ro water with a teaspoon full of hydrogen peroxide in it to ward off any bad stuff that may be dormant on old seeds. Mold & fungal spores are everywhere and on everything, even more so if you have a growroom in your house. You will getter whiter stronger tap roots this way too and not those yellowish or off-color ones by using the hydrogen peroxide.

For extra hard to germinate seeds try one drop of superthrive in the soak water and scuff the seed surfaces first with a fine grit sandpaper, right along the lip and point of the seed is a good place to focus on when scuffing because this is where the tap root needs to emerge from once moisture penetrates & activates the biological growth processes of the embryo dormant inside the hard shell. Sometimes the weaker older sprouts literally just cannot penetrate the shell to reach the medium without a little scuffing action because they have used up most of their available food-source energy that was stored in the embryo over the years of storage. It surely is not a bad thing to help them out because once they do reach the soil they can grow into the same strong potent plants they would have had the seeds only been a year old. Old seeds grow just as good of plants as newer ones! Sometimes though a seed will sprout and just not seem to do much after & this is to be expected from some after several years of storage. The fastest growing & most viable ones that lasted the longest over the years are probably the best plants to grow out or breed with anyways because they have the most vigor, etc.

So make & save those precious seeds, & store them well! You can grow for many years to come and always have a back-up plan. It also makes sense to store some seeds safely off-site in case you were to ever lose yours for whatever reason. I do hope this helps someone out there in Cannabis land!


....like Gypsy says, "It can all start with a seed!"

 

[sackoweed]

2 yrs ago i grew two seeds out of about 12-15 and got a male and female grew em both out great puffage as i remembered it.. we call it coffee melt. the seeds were from 1983... I also grew a skunk from 86 to finish.. that same year.. so i can add about 25 more to the 12-15 just fresher.. I kept my seeds in a tupperware lock and seal before that a small bean dip can i still have the bean dip can it has mostly bag seed from 80's thru 90's.. peace n pufs..

sackO

 

[Ghostwolf]

Thanks SOTF420 for posting that info of yours. it was very detailed. And good to know. I heard tell that a 2000 year old palm tree seed found in a buried clay pot in Israel was successfully germinated.

 

[SOTF420]

Very welcome bro, I read that also & that is an amazing story man. Nature is great.