by Nebula Haze
“I’m a cannabis grower on a budget. Is there a way to get free weed seeds? ~Pot Grower 420”
This is a common question we get at GrowWeedEasy.com, and for good reason. Buying good marijuana seeds is expensive!
Cannabis seeds are so small, so precious, yet so expensive…
However, there are some tips and tricks to get free seeds, as well as almost-free seeds. Let us know if you have any free/cheap seed tips you don’t see on this page. If we work together, we can build an awesome resource and maybe even hopefully a network of trusted seed breeders and growers, to connect breeders and growers directly.
But for now, here are ways to save money when buying seeds.
Actual Free Cannabis Seed Sources
Ok, the truth is, it’s difficult to get truly free seeds, but it can be done with a little effort and luck.
1.) Friends who grow great weed (Best Way to Get Free Seeds, But Rare)
The best way to get free cannabis seeds is from a friend or acquaintance who’s a proven cannabis growers. But let’s be honest, not everyone has access to a friend who grows weed. And even if you do, maybe they don’t seem like the best cannabis grower, or their homegrown weed isn’t like the kind of weed you want to grow. In my experience, it’s best to only take seeds from growers if you know they actually produce great weed.
2.) Bagseed (Most Common Method)
Bagseed is a name for seeds you find in your weed (from the phrase “a bag” of weed, though not all weed comes in bags anymore). Bagseed comes with its own challenges. But if you read that article and feel prepared, bagseed can be a great choice. Soooo many growers started their grow journey with bagseed.
3.) Make seeds at home
Of course, you need plants in the first place so this won’t help a new grower. But if you’ve already got good genetics, you can cross a male and female plant to make seeds for the need generation. You can also make feminized seeds at home. However, making seeds is an involved process that causes seedy buds. Most growers want feminized seeds (all plants make buds) and for buds to be seedless. That’s how you grow the most weed at home. But the effort in making seeds is why many home growers just buy seeds. Plus you get more variety since you can try new strains ever grow!
Growing male and female plants together cause seeds to grow in your buds.
4.) Small Breeders & Social Media (Risky, Takes Effort)
There are many up-and-coming breeders just getting started. Or growers looking to get feedback on their seed crosses. Sometimes these types of breeders will offer free or extremely cheap seeds as a way to get their genetics out there. If there’s a breeder and you see other growers posting pictures of their genetics, it can’t hurt to reach out and seed if they are willing to help or sponsor you. Here are some tips to help get free seeds.
Tips for free weed seeds off social media & small breeders
- Scope them out first – Don’t go in blind. There’s a saying that is SO true in the cannabis growing world. “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” If you have even an inkling of doubt about a possible seed source, at least sleep on it, and do a little more investigation (as explained in the next bullet points).
- Verify they’re not a dummy account – Unfortunately, a ton of scammers make fake accounts pretending to be real companies. For example, many people have stolen Instagram posts from my GrowWeedEasy.com account, and pretended to be us. It’s really frustrating. But you can see our Instagram account is @growweedeasy while their accounts are things like @growweedeasy1-2 or something. So when they send messages, it initially looks like it’s us talking to you. We always get those closed immediately, but they pop up like bugs. Don’t rely on just what someone says on their profile. Even if they have lots and lots of followers, they could still be fake/paid for. Use common sense. Look to make sure they’re getting real engagement from real people. In fact, just always go to the official website or official social media pages if someone messages you out of nowhere. Actually, speaking of that….
- Not a good sign if they message you – I’m sure there are exceptions, but if someone messages you out of nowhere, and asks to sell or send you free seeds, be very cautious. Unsolicited direct messages is an extremely unlikely way for a real breeder or seed company to contact you. In fact, would you even want to buy seeds from a breeder that spams people they don’t know?
- Verify they are real growers – Not only should they have lots of examples of themselves growing their strains, you should be able to find examples of other real growers who are using their genetics. There are lots of fake breeders who repost content, as mentioned earlier. If you see 10 different growers on your feed growing those genetics, who post regularly and have active comment sections, that greatly increases the chance you’re looking at real growers growing those specific genetics.
- They should have a social media presence – It’s risky to work with an unproven, fly-by-night company. Even starting breeders usually at least have a website and or a social media presence, so you can help see how actual growers react to them. You want to be able to interact with other growers and talk about the breeder, as opposed to it being one-way communication between just you and the seed breeder.
- It helps get free seeds if you have a proven grower social media presence – This isn’t fair, but you’re MUCH more likely to get free seeds if you’re a proven grower on a social media sites. Why? Because smaller breeders are looking for exposure. So if you’re a respected member of a grow forum or have a growing-focused social media account with a decent amount of followers, many breeders will happily send you free cannabis seeds. In hopes you represent them well and get the word out. So even though this feels really unfair, it is correlated with better genetics, to some extent. They at least think their seeds will produce good enough results that simply seeing people growing their strains acts as free advertising. Regardless of your presence, it can’t hurt to ask. Tell them you’re a devoted grower and “looking for a great breeder to sponsor me with free seeds”.
If only you could look at a seed and tell if it were going to be good!
Important: Shop for deals! (cheap is worse than free, but better than expensive!)
If you’re trying to stay within a budget, don’t necessarily just buy whatever seeds you want, whenever you want. Most seed companies offer sales and other promotions that can significantly bring down the price of seeds.
“Free” Seeds with Your Order
Most proven seed sources and seed banks will send free seeds with every order. That’s just good business practice. Seeds are living things and therefore are prey to natural variation. It’s only fair to always offer a few extra seeds in case some don’t germinate well.
But this isn’t really free because you only get them if you actually pay for an order of seeds.
Holiday Promotions (4/20, Labor Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas…)
Many seed banks offer awesome holiday promotions. April 20 is the biggest weed holiday. I’ve found that the 4/20 promotions are often the best. It’s a great idea to shop around all the seed banks on 4/20 (or pretty much the whole month of April) to see if there’s some particularly awesome sale or deal.
Another great time for seed sales is around Thanksgiving (late November). The cluster of dates around Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday have some of the best seed deals outside of April!
Lots of seed sales around the various holidays.
Promotion Pages
Many seed banks have pages with promotions. It can’t hurt to go to them directly and see what’s going on.
Examples
- NASC’s $5 seed menu – always great genetics, though extremely limited selection that changes regularly. Sometimes you also find decent deals on their promotions page.
- Seedsman deals – These sales tend to be great around the holidays, and when Seedsman is releasing new strains, but mediocre the rest of the time. Can’t hurt to take a quick peak.
- Seed Supreme deals – Hit or miss, like Seedman, as far as how much money you save (whether it’s actually a good deal). But they usually have a bigger selection of strains for their promotions.
- ILGM promotions – Typically not as much money saved, but some of their best strains regularly appear on this list.
- Check the actual website of the breeder for promotions. You can even email them and tell them you’re looking for promotions. You never know. Maybe they’ll have a sale starting tomorrow, or some special deal.
Email Newsletters from Seed Companies (Spammy, but a good way to learn about seed sales)
I hate spam email, and frankly, seed companies send WAY too much email, in my experience. Like, come on guys. That being said, if you’re willing to delete most of their emails, they do always share their best promotions.
So if you don’t want to be checking back at different companies all the time, but do want to know about deals, it can’t hurt to subscribe to their email newsletter (if they have one).
Note: For a way better email resource that actually helps you learn how to grow, check out the GrowWeedEasy.com free home grow newsletter. We send home grow tips and articles every Sunday at 4:20am, plus follow along with live grow journals, see the results of grow experiments, and more stuff we can’t say on the website.
Happy growing,
Nebula Haze
Co-Founder of GrowWeedEasy
