What Is HPLVD And How Can Your Cannabis Crop Be Protected?

We have all grown rather accustomed to talking about viruses, symptoms, and the most recent infection hotspots during the previous 1.5 years. While they grow area or outdoor cannabis plot served as a sort of refuge from the Covid craziness, the rising presence of a cannabis plant viroid known as HpLVd poses a threat of bringing all that virus chatter inside the grow room. Therefore, should cannabis growers be concerned about HpLVd and HPLVD Testing? The question of how to prevent HpLVd infection in their cannabis plants in the grow room is also one that growers are questioning.

What is the Hop Latent Viroid, or HpLVd?

Hop Latent Viroid (more popularly known as HpLVd or HLV for short) is frequently described as a cannabis virus, although its precise definition is a "viroid" because it is a pathogenic RNA that is particular to plants. Hop plants, which belong to the same family as cannabis plants, are where they got their start, as the name suggests. This virus was initially detected by researchers in 1987, and in the years that have passed, it has come to be known as a problem in commercial hop yards that process hops for the brewing industry all over the world.

Nobody knows when the virus first infected cannabis plants, although it is thought to have started doing so in the middle of the 2010s (around 2014). It was first discovered in a commercial cannabis farm in California in 2019 and has since been found in an increasing number of commercial cannabis crops across the USA.

What Affects Cannabis Plants When HpLVd Occurs?

Due to the HpLVd viroid, cannabis growers now have a new word in their lexicon: "Dudding" (which has since given rise to the term "Dudding sickness"). The fact that the HpLVd symptoms in cannabis plants are similar to symptoms associated with other problems—i.e., there is no obvious sign of infection—may be the reason it went unnoticed for so long. However, the following are typical signs of the recently recognized cannabis Dudding disease:

• slowing of plant growth

• lower trichome and resin concentrations

• fewer buds

• Deformities in leaves

The fact that this virus is latent in nature (meaning it can exist in the plant for a long time before manifesting itself) and that even infected plants can be asymptomatic, which makes identification more challenging, is another issue for cannabis growers.

How Do the HPLVd Infect Plants?

Scientists are currently studying HPLVD Testing in an effort to understand how it attacks weed plants. Lack of proper grow facility sanitation and the disease's propagation via cannabis clone plants have been identified as two major causes of accelerating infection rates within crops.

According to a study, cutting equipment (such as pruning tools) that has not been properly sanitized is the most likely cause of contamination in commercial grow rooms. It has been determined that the viroid is most likely disseminated by touch with an infected plant. The use of clones from sick mother plants that have been transported into the grow facility appears to be the other primary source of infection.

Commercial producers have been the ones most severely impacted by the spread of HPLVD Testing It has been stated that the absence of protections and laws governing cleanliness and inspection/quarantine in commercial cannabis growing operations in the early stages of cannabis legalization was one of the reasons the disease gained such a major foothold on the West Coast of the USA.

How Do I Keep HPLVd Out of My Growing Space?

Although large-scale cannabis production facilities are still strongly linked to HpLVd, concerned home producers can take a few easy steps to reduce the risk of infection. The fundamental recommendations for reducing the risk of bringing pests and diseases associated with cannabis into the grow room are essentially the same. First and foremost, make every effort to maintain the area tidy. Although most producers prefer to clean with alcohol, a 10% bleach solution has been shown to be the most efficient sterilizing in terms of preventing dudding disease (ie 1 part bleach to 10 parts water). Before going on to another plant, be sure that all scissors or blades have been fully sanitized to reduce the possibility of cross-contamination.

Although HPLVD Testing has been discovered, infected cuttings pose the most risk. Growing from seeds offers several layers of protection against the viroid, especially when they come from a reputable seed company like Verne Bioanalytics, which maintains high standards of hygiene throughout the breeding process. The impact of HPLVD Testing on cannabis crops around the world is still not fully understood, and producers will be hoping that it doesn't become a problem like Dutch Elm disease. Even though the end of the cannabis plant is still some time off, there is one new illness to keep an eye on nonetheless.