actually bandit does bring up a point about cloning. In the cloning test over a couple decades I generated a 100th generation clone from a clone they were all good. I really wonder IF they would lose vigor, but the thing I’ve noticed is grape vines can be cloned over hundreds of years span and still be ok. Oh and they are doing that kind of thing with strawberries. Just make sure all clones are clean 
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In my opinion, genetic drift is really just old, sick plants. If you keep your mums happy and healthy, the clone will be identical to it. If your mom is sick, has a virus, etc, the clone will also be sick.
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I got rid of mites using a similar technique. I chopped all my moms down to one tiny branch with a leaf and ran them under the shower every day for about 2 weeks. Much easier to keep them clean when they’re small!
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My “Protocol 0” is a 30 day quarantine. The quarantine area is 16"x16" tent that is setup in my bathroom.
- Assume the cutting is contaminated.
- Maintain a weekly IPM schedule including inspection with a microscope.
- Never take in media, recut clones if already rooted.
- Always interact with the quarantine tent last.
- No shoes, hats, or glasses when working with the quarantine tent.
- Always shower and change clothes immediately after working with the quarantine tent.
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@ReikoX ooof! yah you are describing the lengths I had to go to, in order to study the protocol. Bringing in infectious disease then playing with it, to see how it dies, is always risky. 
DANGER! I put up bio-hazard signs and containment protocols. Then you are like that guy on the bone collector, someone’s knocking at the door to disrupt your experiment. Ooooooooo, now that gets me steamed. Call me names, kick over my buckets…but hell…never disrupt my experiments!!!
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I made some photos to go with this write up that shows the entire process. You can do it with plants with roots as well. Bigger plants… they are hard to fit in a sink 
You might be able to pull it off, but no guarantees. I’ll also explain how to construct a basic clean room. I made my own, but also got tips from Clair Cameron Patterson’s initial attempts to keep lead contamination out of his lab. If you want to watch the cosmos episode it’s pretty sweet.
Step one: get contaminated plant/cutting, with or without roots.
Step two: Strip the plant/clone down so there are no leaves. I also wash off the medium if it has some, but you can cut the clone right out of the medium if you really want. Roots optional.
Step three: submerge in water for 30min. Them bugs aren’t exactly…aquatic?
Step four: rinse off your clone/plant. I use a vegetable sprayer and rough handling
I used the sink tap in the photo.
Now you just complete the cloning process. The plants themselves can take…lots of rough handling. As long as the stem isn’t destroyed and a meristem exists, the plant will live. The meristem is the tiny growth shoot sort of right on the side of a plant growth node. Yo, someone needs to upgrade the dictionary here to include technical terms.
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now, here’s the thing about the clean room. It doesn’t have to be super special high tech. It’s a system that anyone can enjoy! Exhausts and intakes have to be screened to keep out bugs! Tape the windows closed! Make an envelope in the growing area out of a membrane like polymer sheets taped together so there are no seams. You know how someone tapes vapor barrier and staples it to the walls etc. Just do that. OK! So the final tip once you have everything half-ass sealed up - remember we’re not grinding up pathogenic human remains - just keeping out bugs, now make 2 doors on your room. Put one door inside the other like you are making an air lock. One door seals against space, the other seals against the inside - if I need to be more specific about that just ask! The final phase is the human being. So you can be a vector, not just a plant you bring in. Bugs can’t open doors…as far as I can tell. Step inside the first door, so now there is a closed door separating you from the grow. Vacuum or brush yourself off. My friend, who is doing it indoors is obsessive about taking a shower and changing his clothes before going in - can’t blame a man for being paranoid!
If you need any more details about this process - just ask me. LOL
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crap I forgot the most important part! Print a large biohazard sign and put “PLANT BIOHAZARD” on the door to remind everyone not to go in and not to bring infected material in.
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I got some out of focus images of what happens to the aphids when they are sprayed with BTK. Also I have an image of a hoverfly larvae looking for a snack. The larvae are unharmed by the BTK - you can see them living and eating, even while the aphids are dying.
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You can see, those aphids don’t look so good. If you touch them, they fall off the leaf because they are dried out carcasses.
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forgot to mention, these images are from a pepper plant in the mega greenhouse. I built a hydro system out there the size of a soccer pitch.
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Spinosad worked for me
I had thrips and spider mites
2 applications of spinosad and poof there are no more bugs.
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meh, yah but protocol 0 means you don’t buy anything. I am using the BTK for it’s non-toxicity to beneficial insects. lol not in my grow. In my grow I will spray absolutely nothing on my plants except water. But water has no residue so I don’t really count it as “something”.
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I just love hoverflies and remember the day I discovered that something that looks so gross was eating all the aphids from the leaves of my carrots. The adult females go sniffing around your garden looking for the most aphids and that’s where they lay their eggs. Such amazing creatures 
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I was looking for a way to get rid of thrips on my blooming plants, but this peaks my interest… Have any pictures of your mega greenhouse? Would love to see it.
hell, yah! Got some ripe tomatoes and peppers going on there.
hah hah you can tell it’s something I’d do, all the plants are suspended from the roof by twine in that large drip system. Organic culture in the rubbermaids using alfalfa meal, blood meal, bone meal, earwig shit. All the good stuff.
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I suggest bare ass naked get your partner involved and have have fun in the flower tent! Lol 
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Looks good man! Wish I had the space for such a garden.
So you rigged up a drip system? It’s not the ropes you see right? Don’t see no water tank or something hooked up.
Would take a lot of time to hand water all of that…
it’s definitely a series of hoses connected into a large loop with spaghetti lines and various emitters. That stuff is back behind the rows of rubbermaids so it’s harder to trip over. Then it’s just connected to a garden hose with a pressure reducer. The more exotic systems drain water from a creek behind the house using siphon effect. That waters the potatoes and blueberries etc. That’s licensed irrigation, Canada style!
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heh heh I unleashed the “you can’t prove that you killed the mites” logic right out of the philosophy of science. It’s an important part of ensuing the mites don’t re-emerge and destroy your crop in bloom. Lots of people spray poison X, or gas Y then think because they can’t see the mites, the mites are all dead. I’ve seen it all before… you have to see an entire crop go from clones to harvest with no mites before you can declare them dead. Thus the reason you should strip the plant down and make sure it’s clean. It’s easy to scan an entire plant 5 cm tall that is just a stick - then you are sure they are dead. Otherwise…good luck. I make no promise that anything you use can actually wipe them out. Been fooled too many times just because it worked for me, doesn’t mean it worked for other buddy. In fact, eventually the advice to poison them would always fail.
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