Birdie's Return To Life

Sorry, this caught my eye:
"I read somewhere early on that freezing seeds would make them last forever. So I did that and that has worked. "
I had no idea forever has already come and gone!

Yes, cynics are everywhere. Seems that this argument will just not die though. It also seems that seeds companies want you to think that seeds cannot be saved, (lets call it) virtually forever, in a freezer. So you buy more seeds from them. I have a pack of F13 beans that I got in a trade recently. DJ Short (you may have heard of him?) says on the package that his seeds can be frozen, but only once. I do not know why the 'only once'. But that is what he says. So there is some headway out there in the commercial Cannabis seed business that says that Cannabis seeds can be frozen.

The meaning of my statement above for all you skeptics out there is that studies in Japan have shown that frozen Cannabis seeds will likely last virtually forever if frozen around 0 deg. F. Humidity is less of a factor the lower the temperature, which is why I keep them that cold. Also most US freezers are set to 0 deg. F. I have grown many of my strains after being frozen for over 40 years now. And they have been thawed and re-frozen many times when I have moved up and down the west coast, moving them from freezer to freezer. As a result I have the original 1970s strains that I have posted here on 402mag. Believe it or not. I get up to 100% germination rates. Believe it or not. Several growers around the world are growing my frozen bean strains. Believe it or not. Cannabis seeds commonly tolerate freezing in the wild, and in multiple cycles as well. As in ditch weed in Nebraska, where it has been growing wild since WWII. It gets c-c-c-c-cold in Nebraska this time of year, no? Or in Kazakhstan where it has been growing wild for thousands of years. Or in Siberia, where Ruderalis is native and thrives. Funny how those Cannabis seeds naturally freeze in the fall and winter in multiple freeze-thaw cycles, and then they sprout in the spring. You would think they actually evolved to do just that! Cannabis also survived the last ice ages. Maybe not FOREVER, but what, it been 2.6 million years now in the latest ice age cycle? Close enough to forever in my book.

Its a paradigm that Cannabis seeds cannot be frozen. I read it in Ed's books and in magazines. Sad, but the science does not support the paradigm, and neither does my experience or my Cannabis seed collection. The science is referenced in the book published in 1977 called Marijuana Potency. Have a look. An example of my frozen seeds turning into plants is here, in this photo. This is a SW Mexican landrace grown from bag weed seeds that I got in 1976, froze in 1977 and grown in 2016. They were frozen for nearly 40 years and grown in 2016. It must be a miracle!

not...

1724353
 
Great info Big Sur! No offense intended at all in my original post, just that it struck me as a funny turn of phrase.

Amazing that you have gotten 40 year old seeds to sprout. I wonder if the new genetics would have same consistency since they seem to be less stable generally. I'm not sure as much care is being taken now before seeds get sold. Now it's a commercial business rather than a labor of love.
 
Great info Big Sur! No offense intended at all in my original post, just that it struck me as a funny turn of phrase.

Amazing that you have gotten 40 year old seeds to sprout. I wonder if the new genetics would have same consistency since they seem to be less stable generally. I'm not sure as much care is being taken now before seeds get sold. Now it's a commercial business rather than a labor of love.

Its not amazing. Its just the way it works and the way the plants evolved to survive the cold. BTW: David Watson, CEO of HortaPharm (AkA: Sam Skunkman) told me on another forum that he has over a ton of Cannabis seeds from around the world. Likely he has the largest Cannabis seed collection of anyone out there. He also says that he keeps his seeds in the deep freeze. So that should tell you something about freezing Cannabis seeds.

Hybrid genetics seemingly has little impact on freezing seeds. Cannabis seeds are tough. Hybrid seeds tned to be larger, if anything. They also have hard resins when the hash oil dries on them. For that reason I let them dry a few months at 40-50% hunidity at 50 deg. F. before freezing. I also scratch the seeds with sand paper after thawing and before germinating them to allow water to get into the old seeds. Some do not do that they they complain that the seeds I give them never germinate. Then they scratch the seed surface and whallah! They sprout. You can even chip Cannabis seed hulls or even open them and they will sprout as well.
 
Seeds in the right condition can last indefinitely.

They sprouted a 32,000 year old seed that was found in the Siberian permafrost.
 
seriously...check my link. They freeze seeds to recover from global extinction. I have to assume they didnt spend a billion dollars on something that wouldnt work.....I know I know...but these are scientists..not politicians
 
T
Yes, cynics are everywhere. Seems that this argument will just not die though. It also seems that seeds companies want you to think that seeds cannot be saved, (lets call it) virtually forever, in a freezer. So you buy more seeds from them. I have a pack of F13 beans that I got in a trade recently. DJ Short (you may have heard of him?) says on the package that his seeds can be frozen, but only once. I do not know why the 'only once'. But that is what he says. So there is some headway out there in the commercial Cannabis seed business that says that Cannabis seeds can be frozen.

The meaning of my statement above for all you skeptics out there is that studies in Japan have shown that frozen Cannabis seeds will likely last virtually forever if frozen around 0 deg. F. Humidity is less of a factor the lower the temperature, which is why I keep them that cold. Also most US freezers are set to 0 deg. F. I have grown many of my strains after being frozen for over 40 years now. And they have been thawed and re-frozen many times when I have moved up and down the west coast, moving them from freezer to freezer. As a result I have the original 1970s strains that I have posted here on 402mag. Believe it or not. I get up to 100% germination rates. Believe it or not. Several growers around the world are growing my frozen bean strains. Believe it or not. Cannabis seeds commonly tolerate freezing in the wild, and in multiple cycles as well. As in ditch weed in Nebraska, where it has been growing wild since WWII. It gets c-c-c-c-cold in Nebraska this time of year, no? Or in Kazakhstan where it has been growing wild for thousands of years. Or in Siberia, where Ruderalis is native and thrives. Funny how those Cannabis seeds naturally freeze in the fall and winter in multiple freeze-thaw cycles, and then they sprout in the spring. You would think they actually evolved to do just that! Cannabis also survived the last ice ages. Maybe not FOREVER, but what, it been 2.6 million years now in the latest ice age cycle? Close enough to forever in my book.

Its a paradigm that Cannabis seeds cannot be frozen. I read it in Ed's books and in magazines. Sad, but the science does not support the paradigm, and neither does my experience or my Cannabis seed collection. The science is referenced in the book published in 1977 called Marijuana Potency. Have a look. An example of my frozen seeds turning into plants is here, in this photo. This is a SW Mexican landrace grown from bag weed seeds that I got in 1976, froze in 1977 and grown in 2016. They were frozen for nearly 40 years and grown in 2016. It must be a miracle!

not...

Mex 2016 grow.JPG
Hi
There were no insults ment for the whole research, just the word forever.
Call me cynic, I probably am. When it comes to the frase "last forever".
I am thankful you wrote your posts here and I will read and remember all of it.
Sorry if it was offending , that was not the intent :hug:
 
When you are single on Valentines? Saved some money this year for some bullshit holiday. How is new life coming along off the grid living?
We are happily smiling :)
Big sur is a preservationist. And its a beautiful thing. Rest of the world is hard and always hard to get by on just a smile.
I live to make people smile :)
 
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