- Thread starter
- #101
Some more observations on freezing Cannabis seeds and viability:
Casting about on the internet it seems that someone at some point wrote an essay on why freezing Cannabis seeds is a bad idea. That essay has been picked up and repeated ad nauseam. The claim is that ice forms and wreaks seeds, or freezing weakens the seeds. However, that flies in the face of simple observations of Cannabis growing wild around the globe. It also has been debunked by the likes of myself and others who have frozen seeds and planted them over many years with great success. The paradigm seems to persist though, regardless of these results and simple observations (as seen above in this thread).
Looking at 3 different examples around the world of 3 different 'species' of Cannabis; indica, ruderalis, and sativa, there are many places were these three species are not only exposed variably and cyclically to sub freezing temperatures year in and year out, but the Cannabis in these areas have become invasive or native, and thrive and grow as weeds, despite freezing temperatures that would certainly cause all the wild Cannabis seeds to be frozen and thawed (multiple times) before they sprout.
The first location is in northern Tajikistan, where a strain of Cannabis indica grows wild in the Sughd Province. That area gets sub freezing temperatures from November through March, and average lows there Dec. through Feb. are 25 degrees F. and extreme lows there in January are as low as -10 degrees F. So the seeds of all the weeds Cannabis there are frozen and thawed in cycles, and they sprout in spring and grow.
The next location is Irkutsk, Russia, which is in Siberia where Cannabis ruderalis grows wild and is indigenous. Irkutsk has an average low temp. in winter of -15 degrees F., and an average high temp in winter of 8 F. So the wild Cannabis seeds there freeze and thaw, and in the late spring, they sprout and thrive.
And the final location is here in our own backyard in Nebraska, where Cannabis sativa has escaped cultivation (grown in the US until 1937 and again during WWII). In Nebraska, Cannabis grows wild and thrives. Nebraska average lows in Dec. through Feb. are in the teens F. Omaha is a balmy 24 F. right now and will not get above freezing this week. So the seeds round there are all being exposed to freezing temperatures all winter long. And like in the other cold winter locations, come spring they sprout and grow, year in and year out.
Amazing really, how this notion of not freezing MJ seeds came about. I do not know why, but it is a myth that needs some serious debunking.
Casting about on the internet it seems that someone at some point wrote an essay on why freezing Cannabis seeds is a bad idea. That essay has been picked up and repeated ad nauseam. The claim is that ice forms and wreaks seeds, or freezing weakens the seeds. However, that flies in the face of simple observations of Cannabis growing wild around the globe. It also has been debunked by the likes of myself and others who have frozen seeds and planted them over many years with great success. The paradigm seems to persist though, regardless of these results and simple observations (as seen above in this thread).
Looking at 3 different examples around the world of 3 different 'species' of Cannabis; indica, ruderalis, and sativa, there are many places were these three species are not only exposed variably and cyclically to sub freezing temperatures year in and year out, but the Cannabis in these areas have become invasive or native, and thrive and grow as weeds, despite freezing temperatures that would certainly cause all the wild Cannabis seeds to be frozen and thawed (multiple times) before they sprout.
The first location is in northern Tajikistan, where a strain of Cannabis indica grows wild in the Sughd Province. That area gets sub freezing temperatures from November through March, and average lows there Dec. through Feb. are 25 degrees F. and extreme lows there in January are as low as -10 degrees F. So the seeds of all the weeds Cannabis there are frozen and thawed in cycles, and they sprout in spring and grow.
The next location is Irkutsk, Russia, which is in Siberia where Cannabis ruderalis grows wild and is indigenous. Irkutsk has an average low temp. in winter of -15 degrees F., and an average high temp in winter of 8 F. So the wild Cannabis seeds there freeze and thaw, and in the late spring, they sprout and thrive.
And the final location is here in our own backyard in Nebraska, where Cannabis sativa has escaped cultivation (grown in the US until 1937 and again during WWII). In Nebraska, Cannabis grows wild and thrives. Nebraska average lows in Dec. through Feb. are in the teens F. Omaha is a balmy 24 F. right now and will not get above freezing this week. So the seeds round there are all being exposed to freezing temperatures all winter long. And like in the other cold winter locations, come spring they sprout and grow, year in and year out.
Amazing really, how this notion of not freezing MJ seeds came about. I do not know why, but it is a myth that needs some serious debunking.
