Newcomers to cannabis growing rarely realize this, but the choice of seeds is one of the most important decisions they’ll have to make. Good seeds contain everything needed to create a healthy, potent cannabis plant, while the worst low-quality seeds won’t even germinate.
Thankfully, choosing healthy seeds doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Read on to find out how to get started below.
The Importance of Buying From a Reputable Source
Since the best cannabis seeds come from the healthiest parent plants, growers should buy them only from reputable online seed banks. There will be no guarantee of quality when purchasing seeds locally if there’s no dispensary or plant breeder nearby, whereas reputable online seed banks offer germination guarantees. If growers follow all the proper steps and their seeds don’t germinate, reliable suppliers are usually willing to replace them.
Seeds That Grow True
Only the seeds produced by knowledgeable and experienced plant breeders will grow true. This phrase, commonly used among horticulturalists and cannabis growers alike, refers to a seed’s ability to grow true to type with the same characteristics found in the original plant.
This trait is very important to cannabis growers since each strain has a unique profile not just when it comes to growth habits but also to the chemical composition of the buds. The only way to know that cannabis seeds will grow true is to buy them from a supplier that works with plant breeders knowledgeable in cannabis propagation.
How to Tell Quality Seeds by Sight
Anyone looking at a handful of seeds won’t be able to tell what strain they’re from, nor will they know if they will grow into female marijuana or male hemp plants. They can, however, get a general idea of whether the seeds might be viable. As a general rule, avoid seeds that are green, pale-colored, soft, or visibly damaged. None of them will grow into any kind of cannabis plant, let alone a healthy one.
Healthy seeds are always hard and dark brown. Indica seeds also come with darker stripes, while sativa seeds might feature black or tan mottling. All cannabis seeds should be roughly teardrop-shaped. However, differences in size don’t necessarily indicate differences in quality.
How to Buy the Right Kind of Seeds
Not all novice growers realize this, but there’s more to choosing seeds than just finding a reliable supplier and deciding on a strain. Growers will also have a few other important choices to make. They’ll have to choose between feminized seeds, which will be guaranteed to produce only marijuana plants, and regular seeds which have a 50/50 chance of growing into hemp plants. Anyone without experience with sexing plants should buy feminized seeds to avoid unwanted pollination
How Long to Keep Cannabis Seeds
When a cannabis plant grows in the wild, it produces seeds in the fall that fall to the earth. Those seeds get dispersed and some of them emerge from the soil in the spring to form the next year’s plants. In an ideal world, growers should try to mimic nature and choose seeds from the past growing season for sowing because these fresher specimens are less likely to encounter problems during their short storage periods and will germinate quickly.
Order Seeds Soon for Next Year
The beginning of the next growing season is approaching fast. The best time to buy seeds is in the fall, as soon as possible after plant breeders remove them and process them for sale.
The article is for information purposes only, you should check local laws regarding purchasing cannabis seeds and growing cannabis plants as the legal status varies by country.
