Our Commitment to Clean, Verified Plants

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First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has shared feedback about Sun Clone, especially regarding testing and plant health. Your voices have been heard, and we take your concerns seriously. While we’ve always upheld high standards for our nursery practices, we acknowledge that we’ve fallen short in a critical area: providing consistent, transparent testing to support our products.

We apologize for the lack of transparency through this process, and to anyone who’s grow has been impacted by the threat of hop latent viroid. We offer our customers not just an apology, but a solution.

We understand that the absence of reliable test results has caused frustration and doubt. We share that frustration. In recent weeks, we’ve conducted several rounds of viroid testing on a subset of our strains, taking four samples per cultivar. In every case where a positive appeared, the same plant also had three negative results. These inconsistencies have lowered our confidence in their accuracy and have left us without clear answers.

We have yet to receive consistently positive test results for any of our cultivars. While the occasional positive result suggests the viroid may be present to some degree in our population, the true extent is unclear. By no means is this meant to excuse the outcome of these decisions, but to help explain why these decisions were made.

Instead of publishing results we can’t stand behind, we are confident in a new different path that offers accurate and representative testing across all strains.

On a large-scale nursery like ours, testing every single plant for trace amounts of viroid is nearly impossible. Instead of thinking big, we’re going microscopic. We’re investing in a full-scale in-house tissue culture lab. This is a long-term solution that allows us to generate clean, viroid-free mother plants with confidence and control.

The Plan
We’ll extract at least 4 samples of meristematic cells (the plant’s “stem cells”) for each strain from our existing stock. This region, the youngest and most active tissue, is the least likely to carry viroid. These cultures will grow in sterile conditions for about six weeks.

Once rooted, each culture will be split into two. One half will undergo qPCR testing for HLVd by a third party accredited lab, while the other half continues to grow. Since each half is identical, the test results will directly reflect the health of the culture that remains. We will continue this process until every strain in our nursery has passed at least 2–3 rounds of clean testing.

Tissue culture and third party testing will become a permanent part of our process moving forward. All future mother plants will originate from tissue culture, and viroid testing will be routine and publicly shared. While we do not believe every strain in our nursery is infected, we are treating every cultivar with the same care, caution, and remediation moving forward.

The Projected Timeline
July 28: Tissue culture lab fully operational
August 4-18: Samples taken from all current genetics
October 13-17: Cultures ready for testing
November 3-7: First set of test results confirmed
November 13-17: First set of results published
March 23-27, 2026: Full transition to TC mothers for all strains complete

Every 6 weeks, new tests will be conducted on future cultures. Results will be published within 10 days of being confirmed. Our online offerings will reflect these guaranteed negative results once the first set of results is published.

Alongside our tissue culture program, we are integrating a new, viroid-free population of ~50 strains into our nursery. These will undergo initial testing this week, followed by a second round in six weeks. Once fully cleared, these will be made available to our customers.

Our commitment is to transparency, accountability, and trustworthy, scientifically backed results. We know the importance of trusting the health of your clones. That trust must be earned, and we’re working hard to make that happen.

We welcome all questions, concerns, and feedback. Please feel free to leave a comment or email us directly at info@sun-clone.com. If you’ve been affected by HLVd, please contact us so we can understand your unique situation and promptly ship you replacement plants as a short‑term remedy.

This work lays the foundation for a cleaner and more reliable future for cannabis cultivation, and we’re excited to share every step of that journey with you. We’ll continue to keep you updated regularly.

Thank you for sticking with us.

– The Sun Clone Team

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If you get 1 positive result out of 4 tests of the same plant, you can be certain it is in fact infected.

If there is potentially a false positive, that will be noted in the results you receive and the lab will contact you to resubmit another sample.

If you got negative results as well as positive, that does not question the reliability or certainty of your positive infected results.

This is the entire reason for running multiple tests and including samples taken from different parts of the plant (or from different parts of the root zone if it’s like a tumi test that only tests root tissue). The point is to ensure you catch it with your screening process, because the viral load varies in different parts of the plant tissue and depending on age and stress level of the specimen.

It simply illustrates the fact that multiple tests and repeated rounds of testing over time are necessary to properly screen your plants.

When I have gotten results back from tumi, there is always contact information for a consultant who will help to explain the meaning of your test results. Check in with your lab and ask for clarification if you need help interpreting the results.

Tumi genomics has very good written materials about proper testing and remediation methodology. Any of the testing companies should offer consultations to help you with an effective strategy for remediation.

Aside from continued testing, I would strongly recommend you consult about your remediation plans with experts from testing companies and established tissue culture labs.

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Would it get me in trouble if I said who ever typed that for you should run for office?
Zeph the word play gave me headaches too but at least they responded and will be trying harder and I think I knew what it took…tolde’em we’d just givem more money, gladly, for lineage and testing.
They can hold n ship 20 million clones, they can easily eat their competition with 75-100 each since they include free shipping.
It’s the know how and effort (resources, training, etc) that’s difficult some things money can’t buy.
Good luck yall.

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And you’re still selling clones to people ?

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Once you violate trust, you must work 100 times harder to win it back. Good luck in your endeavors

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Huge huge second on Zephyr’s recommendation to use Tumi.

I recently bought a couple clones, will see how they do when we test them.

While it would be far better to not have gotten in this situation to begin with, to me at least, Sun Clone is dealing with this in a manner I can respect. Far too many companies will use corpo-gibberish bullshit on its customers with spin spin spin and at some point maybe even blaming the customers. Nah, this was a classy response, and a reasonable path forward for them.

FWIW, my understanding about why meristem works so well is because the circulatory system is not yet connected to the very newest cells at the tip. Also that it is an extremely effective method, but it also takes about a year before you have a plant big enough to take cuts from

Will definitely be watching!

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This is a good recovery plan.
‘Hat tip’ for coming up with it and executing.

What could be very interesting to Overgrow might be posting updates (& photos?) at the milestones demonstrating the protocols.
I know I’d be fascinated as I have only read about that process.

Cheers
G

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I have watched @Sun-Clone since they came here as a sponsor, i was one of the first people to ask about hlv testing, which they just ignored, eventually when a few others asked they skirted around the question and eventually I believe said in future they would tell us the strategy on testing and show some results.

Now full disclosure, i am a sponsor and vend clones in canada, not in the usa, so i have no reasons to hate or wish ill on sun clones.
But i do feel i have a good perspective on this situation being as im a clone vendor and i had hlv 2 or 3 years ago.

From what i have personally seen from sun clones is a complete joke.
People constantly asked about testing, only for the question to be skirted around countless times by both the original sun clones and this new representative. After a few people would ask finally you would get this nonsense of too many cuts to test and at some point we would get results from them testing.

Eventually the original sun clones representative left, im assuming after some failed hlv tests and them not wanting to share results and still give out dirty clones…you know morals and ethics and all that. But thats just my theory.

So now the new representative comes in with the same nonsense of too many cuts to test. so eventually he says they do small batches of tests, but mysteriously wont post any results. There is only one reason not to post your hlv results and thats because they are positive.

The lack of ethics and morals from these guys is appalling!!
Now i say this from personal experience of getting hlv. It is so fucking horrible, 30% of your plants turn to pretty much hay instead of frosty chronic, and it infects everything it come near, ruining your whole garden, years of work down the drain.
These jack asses got positive tests and just kept selling the clones to people, ruining countless gardens :man_facepalming:. Thats not the correct way to do business.
The only reason we have this guy writing this post that sounds eerily like a politician is because multiple people were coming out to complain about getting dirty cuts from them.

Do you really believe if no one complained they would have said anything?

And now he is offering more infected cuts to replace the infected cuts he already gave you🤦‍♂️

I got hlv, go to my original post in sponsor section if you want to see how someone with ethics and morals deals with getting this god awful viroid.
Coles notes, tell them as soon as you get positive results, email/get ahold of anyone you gave infected cuts to to tell them. Trash whole garden and clean with bleach solution. Then and only then can you bring in new gentics and start a new. Testing throught tumi or another actual trust worthy accredited company. And only after NEGATIVE results can you start to offer your customers replacement cuts for the infected ones you gave them.

How anyone could even contemplate getting clones from these clowns is beyond me at this point.
This guy admits to getting positive results and just ignoring them to keep ruining people’s gardens with dirty clones.
Im speechless as to all the positive comments.

Anyways i just had to pipe up call out this bullshit for what it is.
I hope i can save some people some serious headache from taking in cuts from these guys.

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This right here. As a grower I doubt I’ll ever buy anything from sun clone. Its just too much of a crap shoot.

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Our responses were never meant to skirt around the questions regarding testing. When we conducted tests, they didn’t provide us with a conclusion we could be confident in. Rather than publish results, running the risk of them being incorrect, we decided to focus our energy on a more permanent solution with the tissue culture lab.

The recent dialogue surrounding Sun Clone may have influenced how vocal we are being about these changes, but in no way has it influenced the decision to move in this new direction. Careful planning has been ongoing for quite some time, which wouldn’t have been productive to share publicly. With construction on the lab starting, we felt it was an, unfortunately, coincidentally appropriate time to bring the public into the loop.

Nothing in my comments, nor any of my posts, have been fueled by wanting to obfuscate or deflect. I’m sorry if it appears that is the case.

Moving forward, as the original post suggests, we will be significantly changing our process. All we can ask for is for patience.

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You mean you got positive tests that you didn’t like, so you decided not to show them?
How is a positive test not conclusive?
Its named hop latent becuase it is dormant in part of the plant while positive in others. Your trying to say no one at sun clones knew this?

So instead of posting the positive results that would have gave people fair warning to not get them, you decided to with hold that info because you didn’t believe a positive test was actually positive?

So i guess none of your plants dudded in flower?
Didn’t get any lateral branching that snap super easy, all sure signs you have hop latent.
Or the witches broom, overlapping leaves?

No one at sun clones noticed any of this stuff?
I find that very hard to believe.

It seems to me you guys felt infecting others gardens was a better option than posting your vlearly valid positive results.
Theres also the fact that someone a month or longer mentioned they got hlv from you. Why not disclose these positive tests then?
Why is it just now that you believe these tests are accurate?
Clearly many people have complained about you giving them hlv over the past year/years.
Why with those complaints and the clearly positive test results you not trash everything and stop giving out dirty clones.
Because you guys are an unethical company. You had plenty of chances to post your results but you chose not to.

And i firmly believe you would have done nothing without all these people trying to save others gardens from your dirty cuts.

Now you come on here and try to sweet talk everyone like a dirty politician. Why anyone would trust anything you say is beyond me.

You give all clone vendors a bad rap, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

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again, if you don’t know how to understand that a positive infected test result means “infected plant” please speak to your consultant at the testing company.

The test results emails from farmer freeman and tumi are always signed with contact information of a consultant who is personally handling your testing. They will be more than happy to explain this to you and clear up these misconceptions.

without proper testing, ongoing screening, and a remediation strategy that is validated by experts at the testing company you are working with,

all your strategy will do is continue to propagate infected plants in a contaminated environment.

If you and your colleagues genuinely can’t understand this, it’s time for you all to speak on the phone with the testing company. and have a long serious conversation.

If you do understand this and continue along this path, then frankly you have even more serious problems with your business than a transmissible infection.

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I wouldnt hold your breath my guy. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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If they cared they wouldn’t have sold dirty clones to begin with.

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Hey guys, I’ve been to a few websites looking for info but I didn’t see much on clean up. Can anyone point me to a guide on getting grow space clean after? Tumi says it stays on dried plant material for months. It could be in dried fan leaf crumbs in the carpet and reappear and f up the next set I’m currently germing in different room? Tiny shit in the circulation fan? I’ve got bleach. Now what?

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I am not a satisfied customer, fyi but wtf ever, I’m running very low on shits to give, keeping it moving.

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Hey man, clean your grow room with a bleach solution (20% bleach 80% water). I threw out all my pots and got new ones instead of trying to bleach them all.
I beached my room and threw out anything i thought i couldn’t do a good enough job with the bleach.

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Coming from the Prop 215 days here in California, it’s been frustrating to see HLVD explode in nurseries once the legal market started. These days, it’s hardly worth getting clones from shops or nurseries in California because the risk of bringing home HLVD is so high.

I stopped picking up untested clones from nurseries a few years ago after getting HLVD from some clones I bought. It ended up infecting my entire garden. I had to toss strains I’d kept for years and completely trash pots, soil, trays, and start over from scratch. For any new growers looking for cuts, you’re honestly better off starting from seeds and doing your own pheno hunt.

As for @Sun-Clone, I’ve been watching this whole situation unfold and it just seems like a big mess. From a business standpoint, maybe it’s time to take a break and narrow down your genetic library to something more manageable. Starting up a tissue culture lab takes a lot of time, and cleaning your entire genetic stock could take months.

I wish you the best of luck and really hope you listen to your customers and get things back on track. The last thing anyone needs is more nurseries spreading infected clones.

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Yeah I’ve got a rolling rack I veg on so I moved it to another room & bleached the hell out of it. I’ve got 22 seeds w tails in pellets. The 2 rooms I was using both have potentially infected plants, the main one with flowering plants (1/2 just flipped, 1/2 35 days in) & the second (the one w carpet) just has 1 4x4 space flipped a week ago. The carpeted room is about to be emptied, cleaned, and decommissioned. Idk if I can truly clean this room. The ones in the main room will have to be finished, can’t afford not too. Then a shut down, thorough clean, and hopefully quick restart w plants from seed. I don’t even wanna talk to y’all about this anymore, I need a therapist. Lol I’m laughing to keep from throwing shit out the window and tapping out. WORST possible timing and I’m still uncertain as to what to do to ensure I never have to deal w this again. Jeezy told me to stay down til I come up. I’m trying.

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It’s obvious to anyone that a positive test result means the plant is infected. The reason we are saying that this doesn’t give us a conclusive answer overall is because of the false negatives that we received along with the positive. Even if I have 4 negative tests on a plant, I am still wary to call that “clean” as we know the viroid can be difficult to detect. Because of this, we have recently switched to a new lab that was recommended here, and we are continuing to learn about best testing practices, sampling, and understanding viral loads.

We have maintained a healthy stock of plants and have rarely encountered significant issues with our plant quality. The first conclusive positive we received was within 30 days of today, so we are immediately working to implement our multi-faceted solution, and do more than just testing, by starting the tissue culture process now. Our plans for tissue culture have been in the works for many years, as we know it ensures our future of healthy plants, it’s not just us reacting to a couple of negative comments.

As a current status update, we have discontinued any mother plant that recently tested positive and are not in production until the next round of testing occurs.

I am glad to hear we are in agreement about what a real solution looks like, and I think you will be quite impressed to see how our strategy for keeping our plants clean and virus-free pans out in the next couple of months.

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