One of the greatest determinants of a high-quality yield is a good cannabis seed. Of course, other factors like climate and care play a role, but a good quality seed is a base. As a grower, you might wonder how to distinguish between a good seed and a dud.
A few factors, like analyzing the physical appearance and conducting some DIY tests, as you’ll read below, are a great way to know the quality of your seed. Also, sourcing your seeds from a reliable seed bank is a great way to achieve your desired output quality. Let’s dig deeper.
1. Rely on a Reputable Seed Bank for Quality Seeds
A reliable seed bank keeps a good track record of the seeds ensuring they thrive in the correct environment and can easily track their sexuality. That way, it’s easier to get feminized seeds and ensure they germinate and produce quality yields. The best example of reliable seed bank is High Supplies which offers a range of quality seeds, including quality OG Kush seeds.
2. Analyze the Seed’s Physical Appearance
Color
One of the first notable physical characteristics is the color of the seed. The color dictates the maturity of the seed. For instance, a white or green seed shows an immature seed that is not likely to germinate.
Mature seeds are mostly darker, appearing in brown shades, black, or grey, with some tiger strips for some.
Shape
Another physical characteristic that can help tell the quality of your cannabis seeds is the shape of the seed. All healthy weed seeds have a teardrop shape, a round body on one side and a pointed one on the other.
Size
When it comes to size, most people assume that a healthy seed must be big. However, as you can find human siblings having different physical body sizes, so can cannabis seeds. A cannabis plant can produce seeds of various sizes, small and big, due to varying genetic content. So, in this case, you can focus on seeing if the seed passes the other factors.
A Waxy Sheen Coat
Now that you know the perfect color, size, and shape, you should know that a healthy seed has a waxy sheen coating. On the other hand, an unhealthy seed appears dull and matte, so you can easily tell from the two.
3. Determine the Age
The age of a seed affects its germination rate and the quality of plant yield in the future. Of course, the younger a seed is, the more viable and good quality it is. So, to tell the age of your seeds here’s what you can do.
Try to squeeze the seed between your thumb and index finger. If it crashes, that indicates an unhealthy and probably old seed. Old seeds are mostly dry because of the lack of moisture over time, making them fragile to crack. A young and healthy cannabis seed doesn’t break easily when squeezed and should not have cracks on the shell.
4. Define the Sex
The truth is it’s impossible to tell the sex of the seeds from their appearance. That’s because, to know if a seed is a male or female, you’d have to monitor the plant’s flowers when they begin to sex. The females turn to pistils while the males develop pollen sacks.
5. Test the Seeds for Germination
Now that you are already familiar with many qualifying factors, another one of the most important is testing for germination. There are several ways you can do this.
One of them is dropping the seeds in a glass of lukewarm water.
- Ensure the water is not too hot to avoid destroying the seed.
- Leave the experiment for at least one to two hours and then go back to check.
- Healthy seeds should sink to the bottom.
- Those at the top usually indicate unhealthy seeds that may not germinate.
- When conducting the germination tests, do it when ready to plant the seeds right after the tests to avoid them rotting from collecting moisture.
The second test is called a sandwich germination test.
- So wet the paper towel enough, then fold it on a plate to create the base of the sandwich.
- Next, place your seeds on the wet paper towel, leaving a distance between them for germination.
- If the seeds are from various strains, mark where you place them so it’s easier to identify the progress at the end.
- Wet another paper towel and cover the seeds on the top before placing another plate to complete the sandwich.
- Leave the setup for at least two days at a room temperature of at least 20 degrees for them to sprout.
- Of course, the healthy ones will sprout, and the unhealthy ones will not.
- Also, plant them within 24 hours after the test to avoid spoiling.
Testing for germination with these two methods helps to ensure that the seeds are healthy for production when transplanting, unlike guessing directly on the land. It also saves you the hustle of replacing seeds that don’t sprout, which could cause varying growth rates of the plant.
Conclusion
There you have it; essential tips to help you recognize premium cannabis seeds. So, the next time you go shopping for cannabis seeds, the process will be a bit easier. Simply follow these tips for the best seeds and, ultimately, good yields.
