Improve your yield by identifying infected plants
A single infected clone can spread pathogens through an entire grow. Don’t rely on visual inspections
Screen mother plants before taking any cuttings to reduce the likelihood that the dozens of clones derived from that mother contain pathogens.
Periodic screenings of grow rooms or mother plants for pathogens can help identify infected plants before they spread.
Hop latent viroid (HLVd) is a single-stranded, circular infectious RNA that completely depends on the metabolism of the host plant. As the name suggests, HLVd was first identified in the hop plant, but it can also infect cannabis, which is a relative of hops. In fact, some experts claim the effects of the disease are even more serious in cannabis, causing stunted plants with small, loose buds that have fewer trichomes. Once infected, plants can only be saved via a lengthy tissue culture process that will produce a new viroid-free plant
Lettuce chlorosis virus (LCV) is a linear, single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus and a member of the Crinivirus family. Cannabis and hemp plants that are infected early will suffer stunted growth, but may not show visual signs until a few weeks into flowering. Those visual signs of LCV infection include yellow, rolling, brittle leaves. While the infection does not kill cannabis and hemp plants, it significantly affects yield and potency. The plant will produce smaller flowers with fewer trichomes, cannabinoids, and terpenes.
Powdery Mildew is arguable the most destructive Cannabis pest. It is an obligate biotroph that can vascularize into the plant tissue and remain invisible to a grower. It tends to emerge and sporulate 2 weeks
into flowering thus destroying very mature crop with severe economic consequences. It is believed to travel in clones and its is not known if it
travels in seeds. Other stressful events like cloning can trigger Powdery
Mildew spore formation.
Botrytis cinerea is a systemic mold infection in Cannabis. This mold is often called “Bud Rot” or “grey mold”. It can remain cryptic or dormant for long periods of time before it sporulates. The infection starts within the bud, making it difficult to detect in the early stages of infection. Peer-reviewed papers have also demonstrated that Botrytis is a systemic infection that can be passed to future generations via seeds.
The microscopic Hemp Russet mite infects cannabis and can result in significant crop loss and chronic infestations. Russet mites are 200um x 45um and are thus invisible to the eye until late infection when their numbers begin to discolor the plant.
Russet mites are resistant to most pest treatments and thus care must be taken to screen incoming material to a grow. Visual detection of mature mites is possible with 14X objective loupe but eggs and nymphs likely escape convenient optical detection. They are believed to be hosts for other plant viruses.
Fusarium is a soil-dwelling fungus that causes yellowing and wilting of cannabis leaves and stems. The fungus can sit dormant in soil for years before becoming active and infecting a viable host plant. There is no effective treatment against fusarium. Cannabis plants that are infected are a lost cause, as well as any seeds they produce.
When it comes to cannabis genetics and microbial detection, Medicinal Genomics is in a class of its own. Medicinal Genomics was born from Courtagen Life Sciences, a CLIA certified genetics testing laboratory that specialized in identifying rare pediatric neurological conditions. Chief Science Officer, Kevin McKernan, worked on the Human Genome Project and was the first scientist to sequence the Cannabis genome. He and the Medicinal Genomics team of DNA experts developed a full suite of cannabis microbial detection tests that have been fully validated on the cannabis plant in an ISOcertified laboratory.
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