If you’re a novice cannabis farmer, there’s one crucial skill you must develop: the ability to know whether your cannabis seeds are good or bad. To ensure a good harvest, you want to start with seeds that aren’t damaged. You don’t need special tools to do this—ultimately, your senses are enough. Seeing, feeling, tasting, and smelling your seeds will help you determine whether or not they are fit for growing. Duds, or those with low germination rates, will remain permanently dormant.
Here are a few tests that you can run to determine the efficacy of your cannabis seeds:
Testing by Sight
A magnifying glass will make it easy for you to tell good seeds and bad seeds apart. Look for the big, fat seeds with a rounded shape. The thicker and rounder they are, the higher the chances that they will sprout.
Pay attention to their colour. Pale seeds that look dusty are likely from an old batch and will take longer to germinate. Light or white seeds are immature and unlikely to sprout. The best seeds are dark and glossy. The dark shell means the seeds came from good-quality weed. If they are suspiciously dark to the point of bordering on purplish, however, there’s a chance that they’re dyed.
Healthy cannabis seeds have light stripes or brown spots. These markings look like lightning or tiger stripes with unique colour patterns.
If you see some white powder on the bud, watch out for fungus. This indicates that the seeds were subjected to too much moisture because they were packed prematurely.
After evaluating the shape and colour, you have to look inside the seed. When you crack a seed open, check if whether it’s oily or musty—that means it’s going bad. If the colour is black, it means it will not be able to germinate. Lastly, crush the cannabis seed in your hands and smell it. If it has a salty scent, it’s not flushed. You want flushed buds because it means the roots will absorb the salt and nutrients they need to sprout.
Testing by Touch
To test for healthy cannabis seeds by touch, pick one up and squeeze it gently. If it crushes easily, it’s not an ideal seed. Take note of how it feels in your hand. You should not be able to detect cracks, holes, or crinkles.
Testing by Floating
Here’s another way to separate fresh seeds from the bad: good-quality seeds are heavy enough to sink. Try putting them in a cup of warm distilled water. Wait for two hours. Those that float are premature and will not germinate well.
Testing by Planting
If you’re still unsure of whether or not your batch of seeds will produce a good yield, try planting them and seeing if they grow. Under the ideal temperature of 75 degrees, healthy seeds should sprout within six days. You can also try the paper towel method. Put the seeds in a damp paper towel. Make sure the humidity is high and observe for two days.
Putting your batch of seeds to the test is crucial to know whether or not you’ll get a good yield.
If you are looking for rqs, cannabis or cbd seeds, get in touch with Coffee Shop Seeds to see how we can help!