01What HLVd is

Hop latent viroid is not a virus. It is a viroid: a tiny circle of RNA, 256 bases long, with no protein coat. Infected plants often look healthy, but over time it can stunt growth, weaken vigor and leave smaller, less potent flowers. It spreads through cuttings taken from an infected plant and on tools that touch one, and no spray or chemical cures an infected plant.

02How we keep it out

Tissue culture

Our mother plants start from the plant's growing tip, cultured in our sterile culture room. Tissue culture lets us rebuild clean stock and keep it in sterile conditions, away from the plants in the nursery.

Clean tools and surfaces

Tools and work surfaces are cleaned with fresh bleach solution, which inactivates the viroid where alcohol alone does not.

03Routine testing

We routinely send plant material for HLVd testing by RT-qPCR. Each plant is sampled with its own sterile, single-use tools and fresh gloves, so nothing carries from one plant to the next. Clones are tested from three weeks old, from root, stem and leaf, and a clone counts as positive if any one of them is.

04Research

We take part in HLVd research at the analytical laboratory, contributing plant material from our mother stock to the development of molecular testing for cannabis root, stem and leaf tissue.