Quarantine is isolating new plant material from the rest of a grow until it has been inspected, observed and, where needed, treated or tested. Most serious cannabis pests and pathogens, including broad mites, hemp russet mites, root aphids, powdery mildew and HLVd, arrive on clones rather than through the air.
In practice
A workable quarantine is a separate tent or room with its own tools, visited last in the day or after a clothing change. New cuts stay there for long enough to see a full pest generation hatch and develop, commonly two to four weeksbeing reviewed. During that time growers inspect tips under a 40x or stronger scope, check roots, hang sticky traps and send leaf or root samples for HLVd testing before cuts go near mothers. Some apply a preventive dip or release beneficials during quarantine; check what is registered for cannabis locally. Anything that fails is destroyed, not "treated and moved in".
Don't confuse with
- Sanitation: cleaning rooms and tools; quarantine controls what comes in.
- Tissue culture: a lab method to clean infected stock; quarantine only catches problems.
Polyphagotarsonemus latus, a microscopic tarsonemid mite whose toxic feeding twists, glazes and stunts new growth; often mistaken for calcium deficiency or heat stress.Aculops cannabicola, a microscopic eriophyid mite specific to cannabis that causes upward leaf curl, bronzing and dull, greasy-looking trichomes.Aphids that colonise roots and the crown below the medium surface, on cannabis chiefly the rice root aphid (Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale), causing slow, unexplained decline.A fungal disease, on cannabis caused mainly by Golovinomyces ambrosiae, that grows as white powdery patches on leaves and buds and thrives in moderate humidity.HLVd, a small infectious RNA that spreads through sap and tools, causing stunting, brittle stems, small loose buds and reduced resin in cannabis; called dudding.A coloured card coated in non-drying glue that catches flying insects, used mainly to monitor pest trends: yellow for gnats, whiteflies and aphids, blue for thrips.Using living natural enemies, such as predators, parasitoids, nematodes and microbes, to suppress pests and diseases instead of, or before, chemical sprays.Tissue culture is growing small pieces of a plant on sterile nutrient gel in a sealed vessel, used to multiply, clean up and store cannabis genotypes.Cleaning and disinfecting rooms, tools, containers, irrigation and people's clothing so that pests and pathogens are not carried from plant to plant or crop to crop.Systematic, regular inspection of plants, traps and roots to detect pests and disease early, identify them correctly and record numbers for decisions.
