Since it’s still my first grow I am trying to get all the mistakes in at once. A friend has offered me what he calls “healthy clones” and I am considering taking a couple in.
Beyond quarantine (two weeks enough?) are there best practices, sprays, lighting, soil checks and amendments, etc. for treating incoming plants so they don’t spread sickness and ruin?
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My quarantine protocol starts with cuttings. If the clones have roots, I cut the roots and toss the media. I scope the cuttings well with a 60x scope.
Next I will dip the cuttings in some sort of IPM, neem, spinosad, or potassium soap. Then I put the cuts into rooters of choice. I have a separate tent that I keep in a bathroom in another area of the home.
I quarantine for 30 days. I continue weekly IPM sprays for the entire time. After 30 days, I should have roots and a decent sized clone. A final scoping before moving out of quarantine gives piece of mind.
I always visit the quarantine last and change clothes and shower after.
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Can I create this with Spinosad powder and Doc Bronners spearmint?
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Doc Bronners should work fine.
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VERY GOOD protocol!
I have not gone that far…do not cut roots, nor remove the media…but that is a good idea.
Reduce the cuts down to the smallest you can…makes it easier to “treat”. You may “dunk” the lil ones completely in Spinosad or Neem… Use your fingers to actually rub the underside’s of all the leaf’s, disturbing the eggs.
You will need magnification to see the bugs or eggs with, 60 power like R says is a good power for that.
Most bugs have a 3 -4 day “cycle” so like R say’s, keep doing it repeatedly.
You can also, after dunking them, place under a water faucet and actually hand “wash” them. The blasting water and finger agitation will remove eggs.
I just went through all this…BUT…stopped my treatments too soon, and brought mites into my flower room. I should have gone a full 30 like ReikoX says…
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Great practices…
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Thank you for posting this. I have some cutting coming soon (I hope, been burned before), and I just got over some major issues this past summer. Certainly don’t want a repeat of that.
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Nothing is worse than to get a clone from a good friend, and later find out it has mites… I sterilize the sucka’s before even bringing em into the house… This thread has some great tips! 
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If they are in small enough containers you can easily invert them and swirl/shake them in the soap/neem/whatever bath ( you can submerge the roots too and ‘shake’ out the excess water from the medium) every 5 days for a month. And do your prophylactic IPM even if Jesus himself gives you the clones.
The best prevention of infection is to grow from seed.
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Ive heard of people dunking the entire clone in ice cold water with dawn detergent…Mites dont like cold water at all, and they die instantly. The mites die… not the plants. lol
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