Germinate em. Put em in a moist paper towel, and put them somewhere dark, keep checking and if they start to sprout, you know they're good.
the only seeds that will germinate are the more round, black (or brown) seeds. Anything light colored usually won't germ and i'd doubt if they plant would be very healthy.
A good way to determine if a seed will likely germinate is put them in room temp water overnight and if they sink there is a very good chance they will germinate. seed color indicates seed maturity, the medium brown to dark brown are the mature ones. Also, if a seed is stripped or marbled I'll select them over plain brown seeds. Black seeds are usually dead and white to cream to immature.
Squeeze them......... If they crack apart in your fingers, chuck em' out..... If not and they stay solid - they should be good.... They ones that will crack apart will tend to be lighter in colour cream or white... and seem dry. They good ones will be dark, brown almost black sometime with spots.....
I don't believe spotting/striping tells anything about the seed, strain, potency, or anything else. You want firm seeds that are brown or grey in color that may or may not have spots or stripes. Green and white seeds are immature/dead. As for the float/sink thing, I have not found that to be reliable -- recently I soaked seeds and none sank but then paper-toweled them and they sprouted within 24 hours. Putting them in a glass of water to start will help moisture penetrate the outer shell and start the germing process, and that can make the seed sink (but not necessarily) because it is taking on all that water, but it's never proven to be a reliable indicator to me. Only way to know for sure is to germ them.
tell me toasty did you ever have one that sank not germinate? I personally haven't myself. And your right, they can germinate if they don't sink, just not as reliably, just like green/white seeds that you pointed out are immature seeds like I think has been stated repeatedly in this post, however, they can also germinate. I just like my chance with the method I use. Just like if I'm going to buy seeds I want femminied seeds, I like to remove as much doubt as possible before I spend money on trying to grow them. As for the stripes I just like them.
I will admit, the stripes are prettier! And probably true, if it dies sink it most likely will germinate. I'm just not a fan of tossing a floater -- if you really want to know just paper-towel it and you'll have the straight answer in a couple of days.
Dark brown is good though so I would be careful about what you automatically throw out. Just start out growing like at least 10 to 20 seeds. I just picked 10 healthy looking seeds that I just eye balled and 4 of them had sprouted this afternoon so I am starting my first grow as of today!
I find that sinkers are invariably viable and germinate well. Floaters may or may not germ, so I bung all the floaters together in one big pot, and prick out those that do come up.
i usually get my seeds out of a bag of mids... well that sprout a piece of shit plant? or does it matter howyou grow it?
HIGH All, pale or white...the ones easy to squish usually are no good....take a look here in this Thread at the pic. I think you'll find it interesting. I Also just put the ones that don't germ into a soilless mix and if they come up...good..if not oh well.
I have had every seed i've ever tried to germ sink. And ive had probably 10-15 seeds that did not germ.
I don't agree when people say pale seeds aren't any good. I bought some white widow and grapefruit seeds from the Doc. The white widow seeds were big and dark. The grapefruit seeds were small and pale. I was mad because I heard the pale seeds weren't any good. Well I germed 2 white widows and two grapefruits, and the grapefruit seeds sprouted before the 'mature' looking white widow seeds. So going by looks isn't a good method of testing whether seeds are viable or not.
what are you growing in? that looks like mud from the back yard! you need something much better than that. the roots will get no air. the color of seeds don't matter. those stripes you see on seeds, well that comes off. it's just a skin.