Getting Old Seeds to Pop?!?

[John Ditchweed]

I know this happens to all of us far to often but over the years i have traded/bought many seeds just to put them in my collection and never have time for them. What tricks or chemicals can you use to help make old beans pop. I'm talking 5+ years old cause i'm getting 2-4 out of 10 right now with some older stuff I finally have time and space for. Sucks because alot of money seesm to have been wasted not to mention the lose of good genetics

 

[420Gator]

I dont have a lot of experience with seeds but from what Ive read scuffing them and heating them seem to work well

 

[Chobble]

The oldest seeds I have popped where about 30-35 years old. Received from a Seedbank in Europe that collects Botanical varietys (Landraces) of many different species of plants.

The particular seeds where Panamanian landraces very strong sativa that was a real beauty. Point being these seeds where collected in the late 70's early 80's. They where ancient, but properly stored mind you.

Scuffing - Believe it or not, if the seed is on its last leg it may just need a little help cracking it's shell take a piece of high grit sand paper and scuff the seed before starting to germinate those bad boys.

Hormones - There are hormones, a lot of them you have to have licenses to buy, I'd advise doing research as I cant recall the type I have used...

Chobble

 

[tattoojim]

after 24 hour soak in a paper towl.. if they dont crack..i will hold the seed in between my finger and thumb, run my thumb nail down the seam that cracks until it starts to crack open..making sure not to squeeze the seed to hard..
this works well with seeds that dont want to open up, but be care full ;)

 

[tattoojim]

start at the base of the seed and move towards the tip...you can watch the shell open up :D

 

[tattoojim]

^^^^^ no homo lol :p

 

[John Ditchweed]

I do lightly buff my seeds and soak them overnight to soften shell but doesn't seem to improve my ratio of seeds sprouting any. What kinda of hormones? I use super thrive or roots simulator as an additive already. I have some seeds I made from 12 years ago a friend kept all this time and I wanted to see if I could find a gem in them. I used the woodhorse trainwreck male x my Tx shoreline mom. Problem is I have tried to sprout about 20 seeds and nothing. I only have 10 left??:(

 

[sun]

Get one of those wooden match boxes that slide out like a droor.Loop a strip of sand paper inside out , and place inside the match box with the seed inside.Close the box .Shake gentily.


This will scuff them nicely.

 

[tattoojim]

I do lightly buff my seeds and soak them overnight to soften shell but doesn't seem to improve my ratio of seeds sprouting any. What kinda of hormones? I use super thrive or roots simulator as an additive already. I have some seeds I made from 12 years ago a friend kept all this time and I wanted to see if I could find a gem in them. I used the woodhorse trainwreck male x my Tx shoreline mom. Problem is I have tried to sprout about 20 seeds and nothing. I only have 10 left??:(

there is no need for hormones and stuff like that when popping seeds...try that way i said on one seed..top side of flouros make a good heat mat...trash seed just got made into a

 

[tattoojim]

I do lightly buff my seeds and soak them overnight to soften shell but doesn't seem to improve my ratio of seeds sprouting any. What kinda of hormones? I use super thrive or roots simulator as an additive already. I have some seeds I made from 12 years ago a friend kept all this time and I wanted to see if I could find a gem in them. I used the woodhorse trainwreck male x my Tx shoreline mom. Problem is I have tried to sprout about 20 seeds and nothing. I only have 10 left??:(

i have a shoreline cross im growing , thats made by a farmer here at the farm...just got into them ...i have 3 males and a female rite now...got the rest of the pack to go thru :D

 

[John Ditchweed]

What shoreline cross you running? I have karma's point blank going now. the shoreline he used is the same cut I used to make my beans. I also have my boy manics shoreline x heri to run. its funny you say the top side of the floro's thats where I have my seed dome now a but I also have hydrofarm heat mat plugged in to the lights under them. Ill try to break one open the way you said

 

[tattoojim]

What shoreline cross you running? I have karma's point blank going now. the shoreline he used is the same cut I used to make my beans. I also have my boy manics shoreline x heri to run. its funny you say the top side of the floro's thats where I have my seed dome now a but I also have hydrofarm heat mat plugged in to the lights under them. Ill try to break one open the way you said

its manics cross :D

 

[Chobble]

there is no need for hormones and stuff like that when popping seeds...try that way i said on one seed..top side of flouros make a good heat mat...trash seed just got made into a View attachment 264370View attachment 264375

I've only used hormones in the most extreme of situations, so you are right.

One situation was when we had about 20 First generation Ruderalis from Siberia (Yes hand picked by a avid seed collector). It displayed a type of seed coat dormancy that we couldn't counter and eventually got one of the twenty to germ with hormones... (I think they want to get frozen in permafrost...)

Otherwise seeds should generally germinate.

Chobble

 

[John Ditchweed]

Ok I popped one the way you said and dropped it in some damp rockwool... lol it was kinda stressful. I feel like my fat fingers squeezed it to much lol. I guess we will see

 

[Meowzor]

From my experience , i recently had 50+ seeds i was trying to germinate that were 2-4 years old, i put them in a glass of distilled water till they all sunk and then kinda waited till their little pee pee's poked out. and put them in cubes. Tho they all died but one that grew half an inch and died. and they all kinda got moldy. i just thought they were taking forever to grow. mind you i might have been doing something wrong. I was sterile as i could be. But now i got BIG BABIES from other newer ones.
As to your question, i thought the method i used of putting them into a glass of distilled water till they sunk. if they do not sink then they are dead. if they sink then u at least can visually see them pop open.. the paper towel method imo do not favor so much as the roots might grow big without u knowing and then u might damage it when u go to transplant crucial roots. lol idk,,, its all an opinion from me. Just have fun and patience

 

[Afghangrower619]

Not to low ball anybodys knowlege but all examples here are completely useless. Do thus step by step and i promise no matter how old the seed is it will grow. always keep your seeds refrigerated!!! Seeds naturally go through a cold period during winter after the plant has died and left its impregnated calyxes full of seeds in the cold dirt(i remind you im talking about natural growing cannabis without human interaction) basically this natural process needs to be recreated to ensure germanation and further growth. next step get some nutrifield coco and ammend it with P, K and a little cal-mag and pop the seed about a quarter inch down and constantly mist the top layer of coco. thats the way i do it and my beans pop up in less than 4 days every time. If your lazy and just want to germinate then refrigerate fir at least a week and paper towel it. ive flowered beans that i got from my from my friends mom and she said they were from her sacs in the early 90s (she hasint smoked since 98) so i know they were old and these beans all turned out FIRE buds, some of the most authentic kush, thai and possibly columbian gold i hace ever seen.

 

[John Ditchweed]

^^^^^ good reply I haven't been keeping my beans in the fridge for the last year or so.... to be honest I dunno why I stopped keeping them in the fridge.

 

[Afghangrower619]

Yea keeping beans chilled will keep them ripe for years!! Thats hoq seed banks store all those land race seeds for years on end lol

 

[Chobble]

Yea keeping beans chilled will keep them ripe for years!! Thats hoq seed banks store all those land race seeds for years on end lol

Actually, They use special refrigerators that keep the humidity below 10% much unlike your refrigerators. So keeping them chilled may not be the best idea unless you keep it air tight.

Chobble

 

[redman420]

My best way to start any seed ( old or new) is to just put them directly into the soil , put them under a mh lamp and three days later there poppin up. I just did this method last week with some 3 yr old billy goat seeds( chocolate thai x bubba) and all 4 popped