Zephyr’s Guide for Sharing and Receiving Clones 10/10/2022
When I take clones from outdoor plants and move them indoors, I spray them with neem oil solution the day after I cut them, wait up to 4 days if the cuttings show any kind of stress, then spray with spinosad. Then I wait another full week.
If there are no signs of mildew, mites, aphids, or any other pest or fungal problems, after 2 weeks of quarantine it is safe to bring into my indoor grow.
When I buy clones from a reliable legal supplier, they go straight into my outdoor grow because I know they have passed the full panel of state mandated testing including plant viroid testing. I don’t introduce commercial cuttings to my indoor grow, and I only buy direct from nurseries, not from dispensary retailers.
I have never brought a clone from another grow into my perpetual indoor medical grow, it would be too much of a risk.
When I receive clones from another grow, I use an old horticultural industry method for treating cuttings. This is a method that should not be over-used. It can burn plants if you are not careful, and it should only be used when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, I would recommend something less extreme.
Dunk and rinse in a solution of 1/2 hydrogen peroxide 3% solution, 1/2 water
Dunk and rinse in fresh water
repeat as needed until all foreign material is removed, and the cuttings are fully clean. use a fresh bowl of water for the final rinse.
(optional) dunk in a light tea of neem seed meal, ground kelp, and a sprinkle of vermicompost. this will act as a foliar feed, and help to establish a beneficial microbiome on the plant. you can also use lactobacillus serum dilution for this.
This has been sufficient for most cuttings I have received from other grows.
Like any pest control method, overuse may result in pests or mildew that is resistant to treatment. If cuttings arrive healthy, just quarantine and use your routine pest/fungal control regiment. Don’t escalate unless it’s necessary.
In the case of the heavily contaminated (but extremely valuable) heirloom clones that I mention in the original post, I took some additional steps and ultimately got the plants strong enough to make it to harvest and preserve the genetics.
However, I was never able to fully eradicate the mite infestation. The plants arrived in terrible condition. The only solution was to treat the mite infestation to control it, and isolate the plants from my grow. I grew them outdoors, quarantined from my other plants.
I do not recommend other growers take this risk, regardless of how important or valuable the genetics are. In the future I will not be taking any chances with obviously unhealthy clones.
When I share a clone, I do a hydrogen peroxide solution rinse, and then rinse in fresh water. And I recommend that the grower who receives the cutting quarantine it for 2 weeks, while using their usual pest control regiment.
Quarantine is always necessary, even with cuttings from a healthy grow. Plants become weakened when they experience a change in environmental conditions. A plant that was successfully fighting off a mildew infection might suddenly succumb to it, or a plant with strong pest resistance might become a prime target for spider mites.
There are a few more precautions that should be considered when sharing clones.
If your grow has any kind of pest or mildew problem, whether it’s under siege or just a problem that pops up occasionally, I do not recommend sharing cuttings. Get any lingering problems under control before you share cuts. Take caution in sharing cuttings and disclose any potential problems to the person you are giving them to.
If your plants have shown any signs of leaf variegation, dudding at new growth points, or mutant leaf formation, do not share cuttings or seeds!
You could risk spreading plant or soil-borne viroids or pathogens, and contaminate someone’s grow permanently. This is a growing problem, and something that every grower should carefully consider when sharing or accepting seeds and cuttings. These symptoms can also be indicative of the incredibly dangerous hemp russet mite, which is invisible to the naked eye.
If a plant viroid or pathogen, or russet mites are introduced, the only way to get rid of it is to shut down, remove all plant and soil material, thoroughly decontaminate all surfaces with bleach, and stop the grow for a month or two.
I have seen growers on here knowingly distribute virus infected seeds to hundreds of people. This was only disclosed in a few posts in a grow journal after the seed had been sent out, not in the seed giveaway thread.
Always read the full grow journal, take a look through their past posts, and know what kind of grower you are dealing with before accepting seeds or clones.
Original post, July 2019
