After you’ve received your shipment of graded clones and/or teens from FRB Genetics, there are a few protocols recommended for successful acclimation into your grow. FRB Genetics suggests carefully inspecting the plants, quarantining for a few days, and carefully adjusting the light cycles to properly establish your plants and prepare for a great harvest.
Adjusting to Light Cycles
Clones are hardened off under a 18/6 hour light cycle in full greenhouse sunlight for 2 weeks prior to delivery.
Acclimating from greenhouse to indoor:
To continue vegging, FRB Genetics recommends growing under a 16 to 18 hour photoperiod. To trigger flower production, adjust light cycle to 12 hours daylength.
Acclimating from greenhouse to outdoor:
Clones are grown under 18 hours of daylight. FRB Genetics recommends transplanting at 15 hours or longer daylength to prevent photoperiod shock. Recommended outdoor veg time is 8 weeks and the minimum veg time is 6 weeks.
Receiving the Plants
Plant within 2-4 days:
Plants arrive ready for transplanting but should be planted no longer than 2-4 days of being received. If the clones and teens are not planted on the day they are received, they must be watered daily, in some cases twice a day. Water the trays with a water-breaker or shower-head type of nozzle. Water till run off is achieved through the bottom of the tray.
Remove the plastic wrap:
Clones and teens should be unloaded from the truck as soon as possible and inspected for damage. If there is plastic wrap around the racks, remove it once you unload the racks from the truck. Inspect for temperature damage.
Inspect the plants:
Cannabis plants are resilient and can withstand a broad range of temperatures. The temperature would have to be extremely hot or cold to cause any damage. Temperature damage occurs if the plants are frozen, or if they are left in a non-airconditioned vehicle parked on a hot day where temperatures can soar over 120 degrees. It will be immediately obvious if there is damage from freezing or excess heat, and you will want to address it with the driver, note it on the paperwork, and contact FRB Genetics immediately.
Check for loose or missing plugs:
Any loose plugs or liners that may have bounced out in shipping should be placed back into their trays right away. Since all plants are graded by the greenhouse staff before shipping, it is very important to report any damaged, missing, or miscounted plants to FRB Genetics immediately. If a clone or teen bounces out of the tray, it should be fine if it’s placed back into the tray as soon as possible. If the trays are missing plugs, and are not completely full, contact your distributor immediately, and report it to the driver so they can account for the issue.
Removing clones from the trays:
To remove the plug from the tray, grasp the base of the stem near the top of the plug and pull up and out of the tray. If the plug is sticking, push from the bottom of the tray to remove.
Quarantining
At FRB Genetics, we scout for pests and test for disease on a regular basis, with scheduled testing throughout the greenhouses and visually clean plants upon shipping. Immediately upon receiving your clones and teens, we suggest carefully inspecting the plants for any issues that may have come up during transport. As an extra precaution, FRB Genetics recommends quarantining viroid free plants in a separate room, tent or greenhouse.
Recommended Quarantine Period:
7 days
Diseases and Pests:
- Treat with root protectant at planting and biologicals as needed.
- Obtain disease diagnosis from plant pathology lab before treatment of any disease.
- Scout often and treat early; know what you are treating.
- Establish appropriate beneficial insects early in the crop cycle to reduce the presence of pest issues.
- Establish beneficial insects after spray applications, not before.
- Rotate biocontrol products to prevent pests from developing a resistance to the product.
Preventing the Spread of Hop Latent Viroid
Hop Latent Viroid is primarily transmitted mechanically and is reliant on a host vehicle to transfer from plant to plant. Vectors for the disease are usually facilitated by people, but plants can become infected when exposed to certain environmental conditions, potentially including insects such as aphids or thrips, although documentation of this is sparse in the cannabis research space.
To reduce HpLVd spread and contamination, FRB Genetics recommends:
- Minimizing the number of people who touch the plants.
- Maintaining specific sanitation protocols for tools, including:
- Not sharing tools between plants, greenhouses, or even sub-locations within a greenhouse, without proper sanitation
- Outlining strict protocols for cleaning tools, handling plants, cutting clones, and even the transfer of plants between greenhouse locations
- Training staff and enforcing protocols
- Creating a separate mother stock area that is isolated and limits exposure to human and plant contact
- Testing rigorously and regularly for HpLVd
- Isolating suspect plants
- Quarantining and testing plants brought in from other greenhouses to ensure they’re clear of HpLVd before introducing them into your production population
- Flushing mother stock plants regularly with confirmed negative plants
FRB Genetics advice does not constitute any warranty for a specific outcome and is general horticulture advice. FRB Genetics waives any guarantee or warranty of performance stemming from this advice.
