100's of old seeds, circa...This is your fathers marijuana!

Hey everyone,

I found an old cookie tin with hundreds of old seeds, neither of my parents know where they came from, but they are certainly way before my time.

My guess would be that they are from the 70's-90's. I know thats a huge gap but i would lean towards older. Their was a plastic sandwich bag with a smaller amount of seeds inside, not too sure when those came on the scene but some investigatory work may be in order, it was the open kind with no ziplock.

I'm trying to germ a bunch with paper towel method, I will keep trying until i get them to pop.

I found them in my basement, dry and fairly cool, so that may be good.

Do you guys think I should leave them down their or put them in a fridge?

Thanks

If they've been down there for a decade or longer I do not see what putting in a fridge at this point would preserve. If you have the area for it I would sow them all outside, see what grows, even if you get a great male for breeding you might bring back some forgotten strain from eons ago.

Haha yep, that's what I was hoping for!

About the fridge, i know it can't hurt to leave them down there, but will it hurt to put them in the fridge? I actually already did it and just took them out because i'm thinking it may be a shock, and better to just leave them.

I would suggest soaking them in water for 18 hrs,as they need to reach 80% moisture,before they sprout,and they are going to be fairly dried out after all that time,saying that,thseeds the purps (which I am smoking at the mo) was from a 22 year old seed,and that is some lovely sour grape skunkiness.
Still don't go over 18 hrs,I normally soak them from mid night until 6 pm the next day,then put them in a damp paper towel,then I put them in a zip lock bag,blow a bunch of co2 in there from my breath seal it up and leave it for 2 days,by then I have roots with fresh seeds,yours may take upto 2 weeks though.
I also just use a shot glass 2/3rds of the way full,dont need more water than that for even 10-20+ seeds, hope that helps

Def a method I will be trying next, I guess i could go and take them off the paper towels and soak them.

I'm gonna go do that, thanks,

In.The.Basement said:

Hey everyone,

I found an old cookie tin with hundreds of old seeds, neither of my parents know where they came from,

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LOL. . .Sure they "don't". . .wink wink. . . They probably only had sex that one time you were conceived, too.

My guess would be that they are from the 70's-90's. I know thats a huge gap but i would lean towards older. Their was a plastic sandwich bag with a smaller amount of seeds inside, not too sure when those came on the scene but some investigatory work may be in order, it was the open kind with no ziplock.

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, the original branded Ziploc bags came out in 1968.

Open plastic sandwich bags date back to the late 1950s and are still manufactured today, meaning that just knowing you've got one doesn't help you date this stash at all.

If you can figure out the year(s) of manufacture of that cookie tin, then you'd at least know the seeds couldn't have been put in there BEFORE that! Its also probably a reasonable guess that the seed collection "started" roughly the time the tin was in production. Try that angle.

Year they were put in there does potentially makes a difference, needless to say. 40 year old seeds are a lot less likely to be viable than 20 year old.

In terms of strain, stuff pre mid-1980s is likely to be all outdoor landrace sativa, mostly from Mexico, but possibly from Columbia, Jamaica, Hawaii, or Asia. You can't really identify the origin just by looking at the seeds, but you might inspect them carefully to see if there is more than one obvious type of seed there. "Golden age" of imported seedy herb was probably the late 1970s/early 80s, for whatever that's worth.

If you had some good older pure Jamaican or Columbian seeds in there, those could be interesting.

Most of the seeds probably won't be viable, though I really wouldn't be surprised if a few of them did actually germinate. I've seen 10 year old seeds pop just fine.

Assuming they did, many of these older foreign landrace strains won't do well at all outdoors in the USA, because in most of the country winter frost will come and kill them before they ripen. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere with no winter frost, you might do OK here. Growing these indoors is also tricky because they tend to stretch, go hermie, and take a long time to finish flowering; in some cases as long as 4+ months.

Post mid 1980s, and its probable that your seed collection is all Mexican commercial.

I'm trying to germ a bunch with paper towel method, I will keep trying until i get them to pop. I found them in my basement, dry and fairly cool, so that may be good.

Click to expand...

Its as good a method as any. Again, I think after 20+ years your germination rate is likely to be pretty low, but you may get lucky.
You never know until you try, and bluntly the seeds aren't getting any "younger". If you don't try, who ever will?

Do you guys think I should leave them down their or put them in a fridge?

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I'd leave them.

After at least 20 years down there, at this point, I don't think a few extra days/weeks of refrigeration is going to change anything, and I think putting them into a fridge might dry them out, or otherwise change their water content.

I agree with most of this,one point I want to make,even if it is a landrace sativa,all you have to do is not plant it in the ground but have it in a pot,and have a tent/shed in the garden or something to give it 12/12 from the start,as most equatorial plants get 14 hrs light 10 dark n then bit by bit it switches to 10 light 14 dark eventually,this is why I pick mostly sativa strains,give them a week to root n then 12/12 them.

Jogro said:

LOL. . .Sure they "don't". . .wink wink. . . They probably only had sex that one time you were conceived, too.


Believe it or not, the original branded Ziploc bags came out in 1968.

Open plastic sandwich bags date back to the late 1950s and are still manufactured today, meaning that just knowing you've got one doesn't help you date this stash at all.

If you can figure out the year(s) of manufacture of that cookie tin, then you'd at least know the seeds couldn't have been put in there BEFORE that! Its also probably a reasonable guess that the seed collection "started" roughly the time the tin was in production. Try that angle.

Year they were put in there does potentially makes a difference, needless to say. 40 year old seeds are a lot less likely to be viable than 20 year old.

In terms of strain, stuff pre mid-1980s is likely to be all outdoor landrace sativa, mostly from Mexico, but possibly from Columbia, Jamaica, Hawaii, or Asia. You can't really identify the origin just by looking at the seeds, but you might inspect them carefully to see if there is more than one obvious type of seed there. "Golden age" of imported seedy herb was probably the late 1970s/early 80s, for whatever that's worth.

If you had some good older pure Jamaican or Columbian seeds in there, those could be interesting.

Most of the seeds probably won't be viable, though I really wouldn't be surprised if a few of them did actually germinate. I've seen 10 year old seeds pop just fine.

Assuming they did, many of these older foreign landrace strains won't do well at all outdoors in the USA, because in most of the country winter frost will come and kill them before they ripen. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere with no winter frost, you might do OK here. Growing these indoors is also tricky because they tend to stretch, go hermie, and take a long time to finish flowering; in some cases as long as 4+ months.

Post mid 1980s, and its probable that your seed collection is all Mexican commercial.


Its as good a method as any. Again, I think after 20+ years your germination rate is likely to be pretty low, but you may get lucky.
You never know until you try, and bluntly the seeds aren't getting any "younger". If you don't try, who ever will?


I'd leave them.

After at least 20 years down there, at this point, I don't think a few extra days/weeks of refrigeration is going to change anything, and I think putting them into a fridge might dry them out, or otherwise change their water content.

Click to expand...

Awesome info, thanks guys. I think I ditched the tin but that couldd have been much older than them... I'm hoping i have something cooler than more interesting than commercial brick weed. I could do a shade cloth or something, but its too much work and I don't want to do outdoor this year. But I am doing 12/12 from seed of clone, so that could be a def possibility

And I did examine them, I'd say about 80% look like "good seeds" and they all look alike. Even the ones in the seperate bag.

Where's the like button when you need it?

Nice post In.The.Basement!

Haha, thanks. I just deactivated my fb account, so I don't ever have to like anything ever again.

Keep watching, anything could happen!

keep watching for.?.... a like button?? that already came and went

nice!!! I had planted a whole buncha old bag seed labeled sticky....i musta lost those seeds 25 years ago...found em when i moved...sadly only 7 took and only one female....she is about 8 weeks old now,back to veg......... now she gonna be mother..

I have a few diff bag seeds, the lottery ticket buying side of me is hopeful the next Chem Dawg will grow out of these. I have Thai Lights x unknown and Bubbleberry x Unknown (both came from the same co op on different weeks, but I'm better the father is the same on both). The 3rd strain I purchased from a TGA event, Subs stash but he doesn't know the father (I'm guessing he sold it cause he knew it was seeded) that ones a Jack the Ripper x unknown, I got it in Sept, so I'm guessing it's from one of the new crosses which would narrow the father down some



Is this going to be your grow thread? I want to follow this!!!