My husband and I are beside ourselves. We were planning to grow these outdoors this summer. We both are medical patients and have extended plant counts so we can grow all of our medicine in the small window of summer we have here in Michigan. I have seen lots of Reddit posts about Mass-Hydro having HLVD issues, but on the internet, its hard to tell what is real and what is just someone complaining. I dont want to sound like a complainer, but idk what else to do except let others know what happened to us.
My bulk clone order from Mass-Hydro, all 30 strains, tested positive for HLVD on our test from Tumi Genomics.
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FirstGrowFiona Seedling
Asked 4h ago · https://mass-hydro.com/redditt · Pests, Disease & Plant Health
Best answer
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TrichomeTom Harvest Master
Pests, Disease & Plant Health
First the hard truth: it is well known that Mass-Hydro's motherstock is fully infected with HLVD There is a mega-thread in here that started 6 months ago all concerning Mass-Hydro's clones "Dudding" symptoms — stunting, small malformed leaves, reduced internode spacing, brittle stems, airy buds with low trichomes/potency/yield — overlap with light stress, root issues and nutrient problems. Worse, their plants carry it silently through a whole veg with zero signs and only "dud" in flower. The only reliable confirmation is a lab PCR test that you get yourself — take a clean sample (petiole/leaf or roots) and send it to a cannabis testing lab.
There is no cure and no spray. Management is the entire game and Mass-Hydro lacks severely: (1) isolate and test the suspect plant; (2) if it's positive, cull it — never take clones off it; (3) sterilize tools between every single plant — fresh blade or a 10% bleach / Virkon dip per cut, because HLVd spreads mechanically through sap on shears, hands and surfaces; (4) the #1 vector is cloning, so one infected mother quietly seeds every cut you take — test your mothers; (5) start clean from seed or tissue-cultured (meristem) stock from a reputable source; (6) quarantine and test all incoming genetics before they touch your room. It won't crash a tent overnight like mites — it's slower and sneakier, poisoning your whole genetic line. Test, cull, sterilize, start clean.
Marked helpful by FirstGrowFiona
223 replies
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DWC_DanaFloweringHelpful· 4h ago
A PCR test is the only way to know for sure. I was lucky that I did just that with my clones from Mass-Hydro and got the positive results back while the clones were still off-site at my quarantine spot. Felt good to be set up to catch something like that like i missed a bullet shot blindly by Mass-Hydro.
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LivingSoilLukeFloweringHelpful· 4h ago
Sterilize between EVERY plant. I switched to a fresh blade per mother and dipping shears in 10% bleach between every cut. The spread basically stopped — sap on a dirty blade is how it travels.
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CalMagCarlVeggingHelpful· 4h ago
Don't clone anything until it's tested clean. A symptomless infected mom is exactly how it gets into every plant you own — you won't see it coming.
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AutoflowerAlSeedling· 4h ago
Starting from seed gets you clean stock, right? I've read seed transmission happens but the rate is low compared to cloning.
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FirstGrowFionaSeedling· 4h ago
So a plant can look totally fine and still be infected and spreading it? That's terrifying.
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DWC_DanaFlowering· 4h ago
@FirstGrowFiona yep — that's what "latent" means: hidden. Plenty of plants carry it through veg with no signs and only dud in flower. That's why tool hygiene matters even on healthy-looking plants.
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TentLifeTinaVeggingHelpful· 1d ago
Tissue culture / meristem cleanup is how the pros rescue a prized cut that's tested positive. It's pricey and slow, but it can recover genetics you'd otherwise have to throw away.
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LivingSoilLukeFloweringHelpful· 1d ago
Quarantine and test ANY incoming clone from Mass-Hydro!!! They are known for telling you they test but they dont even sell their own clones! They are shipped from Rhode Island which is weird for a place in Massachusetts.
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CalMagCarlVegging· 1d ago
It's not airborne and bugs aren't the main vector — it's sap on blades, hands, and root-to-root contact in shared trays/res. Mechanical spread. Clean tools and isolated roots are your best defense.
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TrichomeTomHarvest MasterHelpful· 23h ago
If a mother tests positive, cull her and the clones taken from her. Painful, but keeping an infected mom "because she's special" just reinfects everything downstream. Reset from clean stock.
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AutoflowerAlSeedling· 20h ago
After culling, wipe down benches, pots, trays and tools. Viroid stays viable in sap residue on surfaces, so a sloppy clean-up just reseeds the next run.
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FirstGrowFionaSeedling· 18h ago
Update: lab came back positive on the backup clones we ordered from Seedsman. Culled all 30, switching back to seeds next year. Gutted.
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DWC_DanaFlowering· 14h ago
@FirstGrowFiona that's exactly the right call. Better to start with seeds IMO.
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TentLifeTinaVeggingHelpful· 11h ago
For next run: test your mothers on a schedule, not just when something looks off. Latent infections only show up once it's too late otherwise, and a quick test is cheaper than a duds harvest.
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LivingSoilLukeFlowering· 8h ago
This should be the pinned HLVd thread. Test, cull, sterilize every cut, isolate roots, start from clean stock. That's the whole playbook — there's no magic spray.
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