Time Capsuling An Ounce

[Ravenplume]

Seeing as how I am on the brink of my first truly successful grow I had the notion that it would be fun to preserve an ounce of her bud for a special occasion; effectively stowing it away safe for the far future. In this case, the event would be 20-JAN-2068, which will be my 100th birthday. Yes, I am shooting for not only triple digits, but actually around 110, due to wanting to be one of the few who will be able to say they experienced both the Bicentennial and the Tricentennial of the U.S. and have a couple more years after for bragging rights.

So with that in mind, will vacuum sealing an ounce with something like an old Seal a Meal, and then perhaps freezing it, preserve the bud so it can be enjoyed as if new half a century into the future? If that isn't the right technique, is there some other way to accomplish this fairly simply?

And if this does turn out to be possible, then I am giving an open invitation to any of you guys who are still around then, and in the area, to join us in celebrating what would be the 50th anniversary of my first grow. (I'm just silly that way is all).

 

[Ravenplume]

And if this is the wrong forum for this Q, feel free to move it to FAQs. Guessing this is a question that has not come up here yet?

 

[improvise]

LOl.definitely a first Welcome from the UK. A picture of said stash would be good for starters. regards

 

[Jackalope]

You still may be moved to another area but I will answer here LOL. There is a curing section here somewhere.

THC degrades over time. There are ways to slow that process but not for that long. Some strains store better then others. I hear Blueberry is one of the best for long storage. 100 years is a long time.

I wanted to do something simular on a much smaller scale. I wanted to keep a strain libray. Keeping a 1/2 oz of everything I grew. After a year most were okay but nothing like they were. To give your buds the most respect enjoy them while they are fresh.

One thought. Hash might store better as there is less surface area exposed.

 

[Ravenplume]

Actually, it would only be for 50 years, not 100.

I guess this will require more looking into to know for certain. My big reason for wanting to do this is to preserve for that far future special occasion, the final ounce of my first truly successful grow; and was hoping half a century would not be too long for it to degrade if properly stored.

Like I said, will need to research deeper into this. At least I have plenty of time before Feyleaf is ready to harvest to determine once and for all if an ounce can be preserved that long.

 

[Jackalope]

Like I mentioned hash may store better. Water Hash is pretty simple to make and if formed into balls it could last a long time. You won't have the buds to look at but the buzz should still be there. That is the best way I can think of to preserve the THC

 

[Ravenplume]

I'll keep the hash idea in mind; and will likely do that at the very least. However, I still can not let go of the idea of being able to enjoy some 2018 vintage bud in 2068; so if harvested bud won't last 50 years vacuum sealed and frozen; perhaps there is another way to get close to the same result...

Before we had transplanted her outside, we took some cuttings...

They seem to at least be hanging in there for now; and will get better pots once we see some growth indicating their root systems are established.

So then, could a plant kept indoors and never subjected to a 12/12 cycle theoretically be kept vegetative indefinitely? If I hold back one of these, and just tend to it like another house plant like a fern or spider, could it conceivably last at least enough years to where it could then be allowed to flower and bud at some point much closer to 2068?

At least then it would still be a 2018 vintage plant like its mother; and still effectively be only one generation off from her as well, so not too different than the original.

Has anyone here ever allowed a plant to just live a happy indoor life year after year as a house plant? What is the longest anyone has let one veg? If this works, I will call this project a "Living Time Capsule".

 

[Mars Hydro]

Wish I could go and join your anniversary. That is truely something needs to be celebrated!

 

[Ravenplume]

It is still a long time away. No telling what the next half a century will bring.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Well you can't keep a plant alive in a vegetative state forever, eventually something called "genetic drift" sets in. Think of it basically as old age. The way plants grow, they copy their cells at the very tips of their branches, and every cell has every bit of DNA needed to make another plant entirely. Problem is that over time, the copying breaks down, so incomplete or scrambled copies are made, leading to different mutations and ailments.

Generally speaking the way that growers keep a specific cut alive over many decades is to take clones off of the plant once it gets too large and start a fresh new plant. The problem is that even doing that, eventually things like mutations will set in, and you have to cross out a plant. How long? I heard a doctor at a cannabis seminar ( I wasn't there in person ) say he had been keeping a cut going for 15 years, but he didn't specify whether he had to cross it out yet.

"Crossing it out" just means that you would pollinate it with a healthy specimen so that you reintroduce new genetic material. The problem is that your offspring will be different than what you started with, so to do it right you have to keep a mother plant alive, and then "back cross" one of those new offspring with the mother plant enough times that you bring back the original traits of the strain you started with. In that fashion, the strains that you cross them out with are basically just stock for healthy genetics, so all you really do at that point is make sure you select a healthy stud and perhaps with similar genetics because if you make a mistake in selection, then you will have to live some of the traits introduced from the strain you cross out with. Some might argue that even with back-crossing, you can't really maintain a prefect representation of the original strain like you could with cloning.

I wonder if tissue cultures might be a viable way to do it. I think you'd end up needing to somehow freeze them even if they were. At that point I wonder if there would be any benefit to say, cryogentically freezing tissue cultures versus doing the same to an actual bud. I guess on the plus, you could theoretically grow a new plant with a cryogenically stored tissue sample. But I think I'm edging on BS there

 

[Jackalope]

Good info by Fertilizer. There are a few old mothers out there. Some still going strong with little or genetic drift. How they do it I don't know. Princess that Grimm has is one of the oldest I know of.
I think the plant has a better chance at survival then the weed.

 

[philthegeek]

If it was me i would set up a glass container like a canning jar. Seal a lid on it with two small holes and connect up a bottle of Nitrogen gas to one hole with a small tube. Run the nitrogen in at low pressure until you have displaced all the air in the jar, then seal up both holes with wax, an oldie but a goodie for that kind of thing.

What you are actually doing is getting rid of the reactive oxygen in the normal air and storing the plant material in a chemically much more inert atmosphere. Get rid of most of the oxygen and you will slow down any oxidation reactions in the plant material, as well as Nitrogen gas being pretty dry.

Its something that is used in grains storage here. Lack of oxygen means that things like canola (a an oil seed) store better, silos on farm don't explode or catch fire in the summer heat because of the low levels of O2, kills off insect pests without leaving chemical residues on grain and the oil is better quality after long storage of grain so the farmer can take bette advantage of market price movements. Important for getting better $ for "organic" grown grains market.

Oh....and consider old person / stoner memory loss issues. Make a map of where you stash it. Hey, leave the map to your oftensprung??

 

[philthegeek]

"I wonder if tissue cultures might be a viable way to do it. "

Nope. Have some experience maintaining cultures of tobacco over the last couple of decades with insertions from plasmids that you can assay for in terms of gene expression. Every few years you HAVE to grow some for seed, and then screen the resulting plants for the gene expression you want, and then keep cultures of the best of them going forward.

 

[TheFertilizer]

"I wonder if tissue cultures might be a viable way to do it. "

Nope. Have some experience maintaining cultures of tobacco over the last couple of decades with insertions from plasmids that you can assay for in terms of gene expression. Every few years you HAVE to grow some for seed, and then screen the resulting plants for the gene expression you want, and then keep cultures of the best of them going forward.

Ah see I knew it was too easy sounding.

Also that's cool about the nitrogen! I was thinking about that as well but figured it would screw up the taste, they store grain with it though? Nifty.

 

[Jackalope]

Always interesting to learn how other industries do things. A lot of stuff can be adapted in one way or another to weed. With legalization people start trying things they may not have done before. Some will work others won't. Over time we advance the new idea's in a new ways

 

[philthegeek]

"they store grain with it though? Nifty. "

Its also useful when they have a bug in the silo that is resistant to phosphine other chemicals. Bugs dont become resistant to suffocation. Nitrogen is way more expensive per ton than phophine. For big storage people, or boutique on farm storage. Group of farmers i met had all chucked in and built a trailer with a nitrogen producing kit and genset on the back that they share around the locals. Can fill a small on farm silo in a day or so. Tech is spillover from the oil and gas industry.

 

[Jackalope]

All the nitrogen I dealt with while in the oil patch and I saved none. Damn it. When I had it available I couldn't smoke pot let alone grow it or store it. Now that I can and I have a use for it. Nothing. LMAO.