With some newly-tilled soil and a handful of seeds, you may be ecstatic to know that you are finally going to start cultivating your own cannabis seeds. After figuring out how to actually plant and nurture them, you couldn’t wait to try them out for the first time! But wait, have you even checked to see if the cannabis seeds are healthy enough for planting? Yeah, I thought so.
Before rushing into the whole cultivation process of weed, one of the very first things that you will have to do is determine the quality and health of your seeds! Are they soft or firm to touch? Do they display a darker or lighter shade of color? Where did you get your cannabis seeds from? All of these and more are telltale signs of fresh, healthy seeds for you to use! Don’t worry, it’s pretty ebay to tell if your cannabis seeds are safe for cultivation or not!
Why Should I Check My Cannabis Seeds’ Quality?
It isn’t exactly rocket science to understand that healthy marijuana plants and buds come from healthy cannabis seeds. While there is still a chance for these seeds to actually sprout and develop, they will be nowhere near as potent and fresh as the ones that you get from top-shelf cannabis seeds. In worst case scenarios, these unhealthy seeds may not even sprout during germination in the first place!
Can You Distinguish Male and Female Cannabis Seeds?
If you are using regular marijuana seeds, then you might be wondering whether or not you can differentiate the males from the females this early in the growing process! It would be a lot more convenient to just simply discard any male weed seeds before they start sprouting out of their shells!
Unfortunately, there really is no earlier stage in the cannabis plant’s life cycle to distinguish males from females rather than the pre-flower stage. You are just going to have to take the leap and see whether your plants turn out male or female by waiting until they produce pre-flowers!
How to Judge Your Cannabis Seeds’ Quality:
Now for the main bit: how can you tell if your cannabis seeds are healthy or not? Are they fresh? Will they break free from their shells during germination? The great thing about this is that you can practically judge the health and freshness of your weed seeds simply based on their appearance and textures. Here are the main qualities of healthy cannabis seeds:
SIZE DOESN’T MATTER:
Cannabis seeds are generally organic and pure, which means that they can come in different shapes and sizes due to being original and free from human/commercial interference. Just like how the cannabis plant’s structure can vary based on the genotype and phenotype, the seeds themselves can all look different!
As such, the sizes of your cannabis seeds should not be taken into consideration when judging the quality of your weed seeds. Some may come in small, grain sizes while others will be much more hefty and chunky.
COLOR OF THE CANNABIS SEEDS:
Dark and brown cannabis seeds are usually the first thing that you will notice with healthy seeds. Just by looking at them, you can pretty much differentiate the darker colored ones from the light-shaded ones. Oftentimes, even a tan, soil-like color means that your seeds are mature enough to be cultivated! Young and immature seeds tend to show hues of light green and white pigments. This indicates that they still haven’t reached the full maturity for planting.
PATTERNS: TIGER STRIPES AND DARK SPOTS
This one will be a little less obvious but if you look close enough, you might notice that the cannabis seeds display streaks of tiger stripes or dark spots all around the shell! This is a good indication of fresh seeds compared to ones that look blank and free from any distinct markings on them.
Also, make sure that you do not mistake any holes and cracks for markings! These will obviously indicate damaged seeds that will have much harder times to grow.
FIRM AND STURDY OUTER SHELL
Like any other organism out there, non-fresh and dried up cannabis seeds are no good for cultivation. Even the flimsy looking ones may indicate that the seeds have reached their expiration and are no longer viable for planting. On the other hand, seeds that are too young may not have sturdy shells. Applying even the smallest amount of pressure on them may lead to them breaking apart!
As such, look for cannabis seeds that have a tough outer exterior. These should be able to withstand a slight amount of pressure when they are pressed in between your fingers. The hard outer shell acts as a protective layer that can hold in all the important qualities and genetics inside the seeds. This shell should also feel/look quite waxy and shiny.
The Floating Test: Simple Yet Effective!
Aside from judging the appearance of your cannabis seeds, one fool-proof way of determining its quality is by the floating test. It is a simple and effective way of testing your seeds and discarding any ones that do not pass!
The concept of this test is really simple: healthy seeds sink whereas unhealthy seeds float! And since they will be moist enough due to being submerged, you can instantly start germinating the seeds after you do this!
Simply take a cup of water and pour all your marijuana seeds into it. The small openings in the seeds might take a while to absorb the water so you should wait for 1 to 2 hours before checking for any seeds that are left floating! Any seeds that haven’t sunk to the bottom after a period of time can easily be scraped up and discarded.