Root aphids are actually fairly easy to overcome if you’re vigilant. My sop is to take cuts of the affected plants in root riot cubes, then toss all plants and soil in the the room. Deeply clean everything. All substrate you bring in should either be new or sterilized for 30m at 15psi. In a different life I was big into mushroom cultivation so I happen to have two large pressure cookers which work well for that. If you do not have such things just toss the soil and get fresh stuff.
Can’t help with hlvd. That’s… That’s waaaay nastier than root aphids. I get the aphids every few years on my peppers (outdoors). They’re not the worst
The lateral branching looks a little suspect, but if it is infected those lateral branches will break with the slightest pressure. Thats my experience.
I got it from a vendor in the states, ended up tossing out all my moms, soil,pots cleaned everything and now test everything i bring in through tumi genomics.
You can test through tumi even if you are in Europe, they do international, just have to get the kit and send back the samples.
home test better than nothing I agree; but best way is to replicate the RNA for a 100% yes or no final answer;
And that’s in a laboratory with proper required equipment.
Just my imo however
Edit^ sorry! I see it IS a lab setting; very wise ~
“Reading” too quickly >.<
I’m trying to test the branches - are they supposed to snap like chalk at any point you bend them, even if young and pliable? Or just where they meet the main stem?
Another question I have is - if a plant is infected, am I 100% gonna see obviously degraded terpene expression, i.e. am I gonna surely know by the end product?
Nobody can tell you from pictures. You either run them and see what happens, test them before you run them, or toss them now. It’s ridiculous to try and diagnose HLVD from pictures.
Test its strength midway up the branch for “toothpick” brittleness; typically on a lower branch. I found that once in flower mode the virus shoot’s up the plant into the rest of the structures; causing wonky stretch and very poor node filling. You can still see it through but will lose 1/2 - 1/3 of its weight and potency roughly. I’m sure different outputs from strain to strain but the lemon cherry did not handle it well.
Again I’m just going off my experience and expected outputs from what I experienced. Cheers all ~
May look good and healthy in other places; and will spread in flowering. Test roots top and bottom samples, they will have the ” hplv load “ of most places if it is infected. PCR is best method for detection. @Dirtroadfarmer
I was holding a cut of PBB that was acting just as weird if not weirder than the O.P.'s pics. Mine looked viney, had lazy U-shaped lateral branches, and all over the plant had 3-, 4-, 5- and 7-fingered leaves. We tested the leaf, I beleiev stem and also root material thru Farmer Freeman & it came back clean, but I still ditched my cut. Over time, it just seemed to get lazier and weaker in structure & I kinda attributed it to “genetic drift” but could never say for sure
no hottie is worth AIDS, right? 
so true!!