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Seeds In Transit (Winter)

Honkytonk

Honkytonk

Member
Seeds transported by air mail, ship, post truck or train are subject to freezing temperatures.
Seeds freeze and thaw several times until they reach their destination.

To see what impact this has on the viability of seeds I have taken 3 lots of 50 seeds of the same strain and from the same harvest.

The 1st 50 seeds come right out of the fridge where they've been stored at 5°C/41°F since December 2007.

The 2nd 50 seeds will be frozen once at -10°C/14°F for 24h then thawed at room temperature and after that germinated.

The 3rd 50 seeds will be frozen and thawed 3 times and then germinated.

Lot 1 is germinating now.
Lots 2 and 3 are in the freezer now.
Updates follow.

UPDATE:
The numbers are in:

Batch 1 - no freeze-thaw cycle - 38/50 = 76%
Batch 2 - 1 freeze-thaw cycle - 36/50 = 72%
Batch 3 - 3 freeze-thaw cycles - 37/50 = 74%

Results of Batch 1 & 2 are pretty much what I expected of 2.5 years old seeds.
Batch 3, shows no impact of freeze-thaw cycles at all, not what I expected.

This gives a hint that properly cured and stored seeds will not suffer significant loss of viability due to a limited number of freeze-thaw cycles during transit.

So, what about transit in summer? Gonna figure out a test scenario without the need to use an oven. Maybe a heat lamp... To be continued... here.
 
Last edited:
Mountain_Monkey

Mountain_Monkey

Member
Was pondering the same thing the other day. Airmail must hit low temps that would kill a human over the 10,000kms it takes for my beans to arrive. Not willing to risk any of my current beans for an experiment though so thanks dude, your doing a service (to me at least?)
 
Honkytonk

Honkytonk

Member
Mountain_Monkey said:
Was pondering the same thing the other day. Airmail must hit low temps that would kill a human over the 10,000kms it takes for my beans to arrive. Not willing to risk any of my current beans for an experiment though so thanks dude, your doing a service (to me at least?)
Click to expand...

Regarding temps in planes I found this online:
THE AIR CARGO ENVIRONMENT HAZARDS
Temperature: Aircraft cargo compartment temperatures normally range between 30°F and 70°F (-1°C and 21°C). However, cargo aboard an aircraft parked in freezing or very hot weather will be subjected to unusual cold or heat conditions.
Click to expand...
 
habeeb

habeeb

follow your heart
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I use to wonder about this stuff, but why make the head spin? as long as you have seeds pop the face will still be smiling
 
H

headband 707

Plant whisperer
Veteran
The cargo is subjected to compression and it might play a part here to who knows but very interesting none the less peace out Headband707
 
B

biteme

Member
another important quality to consider is the actual age of the seed. imo, older gear may have more probs than newly released and if asked i always recommend contacting the breeder if possible but at least being alert for the release date of a particular strain. peace-biteme
 
Honkytonk

Honkytonk

Member
Yes, I guess mechanical forces are frozen seeds worst enemies. I should try that sometime.
Although, proper packaging should be able to minimize the risk of seeds getting shattered.
 
H

headband 707

Plant whisperer
Veteran
Wondering

Wondering

Honkytonk said:
Yes, I guess mechanical forces are frozen seeds worst enemies. I should try that sometime.
Although, proper packaging should be able to minimize the risk of seeds getting shattered.
Click to expand...

Is this to find out about the seeds turning male or female? Or just how cold or hot it might get? peace out Headband707:thank you:
 
Freedom Fighter

Freedom Fighter

Member
very good idea!

and your method is good as well.

however... this doesn't prove anything Except for the one strain you grew.

all the different genetic lines play a HUGE roll in how your seeds will handle different temps/climate changes.

wild ruderalis sometimes wont germinate after it's gone through 3 winters and springs
while at the same time, some sativa seeds wont survive a single freeze of 31 degrees....

with the huge variety we now have in cannabis (with all these hybrid/polyhybrid and hybrid IBL etc etc) plants, there is no telling how one strain's seeds will differ from them next in these conditions.
 
Honkytonk

Honkytonk

Member
headband 707 said:
Is this to find out about the seeds turning male or female? Or just how cold or hot it might get? peace out Headband707:thank you:
Click to expand...

It's not about seeds turning into males/females. It's about seed survival of freeze-thaw cycles.

Freedom Fighter said:
however... this doesn't prove anything Except for the one strain you grew.

all the different genetic lines play a HUGE roll in how your seeds will handle different temps/climate changes.

wild ruderalis sometimes wont germinate after it's gone through 3 winters and springs
while at the same time, some sativa seeds wont survive a single freeze of 31 degrees....

with the huge variety we now have in cannabis (with all these hybrid/polyhybrid and hybrid IBL etc etc) plants, there is no telling how one strain's seeds will differ from them next in these conditions.
Click to expand...

This is interesting, esp. b/c I've read many times that one should store cannabis seeds in the freezer for long term storage and as far as I know seed banks store seeds below -18°C/0.4°F. If that kills some sativa seeds that'd be disastrous advice/practice.
I've stored many seeds of different strains in the freezer and have yet to encounter seeds that don't survive this if the seeds were dried properly before freezing.
Do you have any info you can point me to regarding that matter?
 
Freedom Fighter

Freedom Fighter

Member
i was trying to point out extremes to express the range of the conversational spectrum, if you will :tiphat: lol

but seriously...

i'm talking about pure jungle landrace beans, that haven't seen a cold climate in thousands of years, if ever..... these really may not survive the freeze/thaw.

and to be perfectly honest, i dont have a referance i can point at --- if i manage to dig something up, i will definitely post it :)

...but have you ever tried to let a plant go to seed outdoors, in a northern climate? or even just throw seeds on the ground in fall?
many (not most) strains are incapable of surviving a REAL freeze/thaw

if seeds are 100% dry and packaged in air tight containers... they will survive a freeze/thaw MUCH better than being improperly dried, or not being in air tight containers, or even just humidity in the container (freezer burn)
but thats neither here nor there...


im to stoned/tired to get extremely detailed ---- basically, i was just pointing out that every strain will have different results, and the factors mentioned above (seed storage) also are huge factors to concider
 
DocLeaf

DocLeaf

procreationist
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Neat test :yes: :canabis:

Honkytonk said:
Seeds transported by air mail, ship, post truck or train are subject to freezing temperatures.
Seeds freeze and thaw several times until they reach their destination.
Click to expand...

Temperature fluctuation above and below freezing is natural in Nature. and may occur many times prior to germination the following Spring :D

After the seed shell matures and the seed is separated from its mother plant,, the seed embryo inside continues its development in a process of 'cold stratification'... for a period of weeks / months.

Cold stratification usually aids germination in seed lots.

The date of procreation,, (when the seeds where made/harvested) also has an influence IMO. Seed produced in Autumn produce better seed lots than those artificially procreated in Spring, Summer, and Winter IME... where barometric pressure, lunar cycles and plenty other stuff comes into play.

Hope this helps
 
H

headband 707

Plant whisperer
Veteran
Freedom Fighter said:
i was trying to point out extremes to express the range of the conversational spectrum, if you will :tiphat: lol

but seriously...

i'm talking about pure jungle landrace beans, that haven't seen a cold climate in thousands of years, if ever..... these really may not survive the freeze/thaw.

and to be perfectly honest, i dont have a referance i can point at --- if i manage to dig something up, i will definitely post it :)

...but have you ever tried to let a plant go to seed outdoors, in a northern climate? or even just throw seeds on the ground in fall?
many (not most) strains are incapable of surviving a REAL freeze/thaw

if seeds are 100% dry and packaged in air tight containers... they will survive a freeze/thaw MUCH better than being improperly dried, or not being in air tight containers, or even just humidity in the container (freezer burn)
but thats neither here nor there...


im to stoned/tired to get extremely detailed ---- basically, i was just pointing out that every strain will have different results, and the factors mentioned above (seed storage) also are huge factors to concider
Click to expand...

Freedom like you say in your ogininal post it will depend on the seed. I have had seeds that have lasted through winters here in BC and I mean the WHOLE winter in a pot and break through the ground in the spring and that was a sativa as a matter of a fact that was Thai lol.. So that was a real shock to me to see her come through lol..I say it depends on the seed.. peace out Headband707
 
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