Growing your weed plants is exciting. Like making your own pizza, baking your own cake! There’s that feeling of awe that eventually turns to impatience and then satisfaction when you’re finally able to taste your buds.
But before you start growing weed, you must first learn how to identify weed seeds, how to tell good from bad seeds. Remember, one of the best ways to guarantee healthy, potent weed plants is to use good quality, healthy cannabis seeds.
Weed seeds appearance
Cannabis seeds have distinct shapes, sizes, colors, and germination periods. Take note of the following when buying cannabis seeds from a seed bank.
Seeds color
Weed seeds have different colors with mature seeds having dark colors and immature ones having lighter colors. Mature seeds are dark brown, blue, blue-green, and black while immature seeds are green, light green, yellow and white. Buy only mature seeds as it won’t take long to sprout these seeds.
Seeds shape
The shape of cannabis seeds is slightly oval and may look like tiny tomato seeds. The shape may vary depending on the strain but most are simply tiny oblong seeds.
Seeds size
The size of cannabis seeds varies depending on the strain but most are very small, as small as tomato seeds with 2 – 5 mm length and 2-3 mm thickness.
Seeds outer surface
The outer surface of mature cannabis seeds is very hard and mostly, you can’t open it up by pressing on the seeds with your index finger and thumb. The thick outer layer protects the insides of the seeds from moisture, pests, and sunlight.
Also, the surface should be smooth, some have a slight sheen. There should be no pits, openings, cracks, or dents on the surface of the seeds.
Seeds hardness
The seeds’ outer layer should be hard and intact. You may see seeds with the seed covering slightly opened and some parts of the roots are showing. This is common in germinating seeds.
Seeds weight
The weight of cannabis seeds is measured using water. Fill a glass with water and put the cannabis seeds in. Leave the glass for a few hours and come back to check. Cannabis seeds that have remained on top are empty seeds which means these don’t contain viable insides. These seeds will never sprout. Seeds that stay at the bottom of the glass have heavy viable insides and these should be kept and used.
Seeds surface patterns
You may find cannabis seeds with unique patterns on their surfaces. Patterns like dots, zebra stripes, and other intricate markings are common in mature seeds. Mature seeds will sprout after just a few days so it’s best to use these seeds as soon as possible. Take note that well-preserved seeds can be used for up to ten years but the seeds’ potency may slightly diminish.
Seeds gender
Some people say that it’s possible to tell the gender of cannabis seeds by just looking at the seeds. The truth is, it’s impossible to do this as cannabis seeds look the same whether they have different genders, strains, or ages. You won’t be able to tell which is which unless the grower tells you or unless you grow these seeds.
Seeds germination rates
The germination rate is how fast or how slow the seeds open up or sprout. This is different from one strain to another and you can never tell if a seed will sprout faster or not. It all depends on the strain. Some seeds can germinate in just 4 to 5 days while some take their time and sprout after 7 to 9 days.
When buying cannabis seeds from cannabis seed banks, it is common to stumble upon the company’s germination rates. Most sites boast high germination rates saying that their products have up to 85% germination. This means that 85% of their products will sprout during the expected time. Around 15% more or less, will sprout later or may not sprout at all. 85% germination rates are great but higher rates are amazing.
What do cannabis seeds look like when you buy them?
When you buy cannabis seeds, these are mostly encased inside a special packaging. Most cannabis seed banks with their brand of seeds have their specialized packaging as well. These packages are tamper-proof, moisture-proof, and light-proof.
You will also find a lot of useful information on the packaging. In most legit cannabis seed banks, the name of the grower is on the packaging. You will also find the name of the strain, the date when the seeds were harvested, and other growing information. You will tell if the seeds are Indica, Sativa, or hybrid types and the strain’s genetics.
Understanding the information you’ll find on the labels will help you start growing these seeds. You can also get information about how to tend to your plants, what to expect, and many more.
In a bag of cannabis seeds, a bag with 10 seeds, for instance, is possible to get 50% males and 50% females. As we said, it is impossible to tell if you have male seeds or female seeds, you just have to set your expectations that you can get these results in a bag of seeds.
Where to buy the best cannabis seeds?
Your goal is to get the best quality cannabis seeds to grow healthy, highly potent weed. To make sure that you will get the best plants, you must rely only on trustworthy cannabis seed banks.
As much as possible, buy cannabis seeds personally so you can check for the quality of your seeds. But if there are no cannabis seed banks near you, you may buy cannabis seeds online instead provided you purchase only from good legit seed banks.
Now you have an idea of what cannabis seeds look like, you are now ready to identify good quality, healthy cannabis seeds from poor quality seeds. And whether you’re a recreational cannabis user or a medicinal marijuana user, grow only the best seeds to cultivate healthy plants.