To successfully grow cannabis, you need to get many things right. You need to balance many items in your equation to get a good yield. The lighting has to be perfect to give your plant the required energy. You also need to designate a particular space to nurture your crop – whether indoor or outdoor. Adequate water supply, in addition to macro and micronutrients, is also vital. The soil must also be conducive to furnish your marijuana plant with the right nutrient.
Even if you get many things right and choose the wrong seed, it will frustrate your effort. Many people, however, do overlook the importance of quality seed when planting a cannabis seed. You need to access the quality of your seed. It will go a long way to prevent you from wasting your time nurturing a weak seed.
We have proven tips that can help you filter out the bad seeds. You can determine the quality of a marijuana seed with two primary techniques:
- Feel and appearance
- Performing tests
Considering the Feel and Appearance
Here are some ways to recognize a quality marijuana seed through appearance:
Feel and Appearance
You can know a reliable marijuana seed by considering the appearance and how it feels.
By appearance, we mean the color of the seed. Marijuana seeds with shades of grey and black are good. This is one of the most apparent signs of good and mature marijuana seed. Seeds with these qualities are genetically superior and healthy. Look for tiger-stripes aesthetic as well. This is a clear sign of an excellent seed.
Feel the seed with your hands and rub it with your thumb and index finger, with mild pressure. A quality seed will neither break nor bend even with gentle pressure.
A weak seed, on the other hand, will break even with mild pressure. As a result, squeezing is an easy way to determine the quality of the marijuana seed.
Make sure to buy from Chicago marijuana and other reputable stores. It reduces the probability of having bad seeds.
Marijuana seeds with white and green color are young and not mature. There is a high probability that these seeds will not germinate.
Consider the Weight of the Seeds
You can also explore the quality of the seed by considering the weight. High-quality seeds are dense, compared to the weak ones. As seeds advance in age, it will lose its nutrients and moisture, reducing its weight.
Checking the weight can prevent you from buying old seeds that will give you a tough time cultivating them.
Seed Size and Dimension
The genetic structure of the seed makes it differ in measurement. Compared to most types of marijuana strain, the Indica strain is broad. To accurately use the size and dimension to determine a quality seed, make sure to get two or three seeds of the same species. This allows you to have a reasonable comparison.
Seeds from a high-quality strain will have a bigger size. There is a high possibility of getting a healthy and robust marijuana plant as it comes with better nutrients and resources.
Performing Tests
You can also perform the following tests to ascertain the quality of your marijuana seed.
Perform the Floating Test
Put some clean water in a glass jar with some marijuana seeds in it.
Seeds that float will most likely be of low-quality. As a result, avoid cultivating such seeds. A high-quality seed will sink in water because such seed will be dense.
Be sure, however, that you give yourself time before concluding. Some seeds might not sink immediately; hence wait for at most two hours before concluding. The absorption rate of high-quality seed is low; therefore, it might take time to descend.
Wax Coating Method
This is a simple test to determine the consistency of the seed. You can use any source of light like a lamp or lantern and position it above the seed. You will get a glossy, creamy, and transparent reflection with high-quality seeds.
A low-quality seed, on the other, will not give a healthy look. Instead, you will get a bland output.
Other factors to Consider
Storage Conditions
We know this might be tricky, as you might not get enough information on how the seeds were stored. However, if possible, only buy marijuana seeds stored in a cool and dry condition. This is due to the tendency of the seed to get mold, fungi, or other infections. This negatively affects the quality.
In the same way, seeds stored in bags is not a good idea. Be sure to get your seed from reputable stores that you can trust. You will get a high-quality seed that will produce healthy marijuana plants.
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Age at the time of Harvesting
You can only get quality seeds from a mature marijuana plant. Seeds collected untimely will be weak as the plant will not transfer adequate strength, nutrients, and energy into the seed. Planting such seeds is a waste of time.
Check the color of the seed. If it is white and green, it is not a good seed. A mature marijuana seed will probably be dark and grey.
Cost of the Seeds
On a final note, consider the price of the seed. We saved this for the last as it should not influence your buying decision. It can, however, give some pointers on the quality of the seed you want to buy.
Good quality seeds are not cheap. Yet, there are low-quality seeds on the market at alarming prices. Thus, you should know other factors to consider in a high-quality marijuana seed.
Think twice before buying cheap seeds. Even if it germinates, the output might be unsatisfactory. Considering the time, effort, and money you invested in cultivating them, this can be quite disappointing. Provided a high-priced seed satisfies other qualities described above, it is an option worth considering.
Conclusion
Growing marijuana could be quite tricky. You have to get everything right from the seed’s quality to other factors like light, manure, soil type, and many more. With the techniques discussed here, you can get yourself excellent seeds to give you healthy and robust cannabis plants.