COCO COIR (TMV Tobacco mosaic virus ) positive

[Topshelf]

Hi all,
Im a medical grower in Alberta Canada which who grows for terminally ill patients.
The setup is a closed setup with a very clean and high tech setup.
My grow methods are SCRog and LST in coca with drain to waste under LED’s. Total environmental control and fuzzy logic with remote monitoring and co2 enrichment.

Some are sceptical of the Virus (TMV, Tobacco mosaic virus).
My current grow is prized of Blue dream and great white shark.
Pictures below are of blue dream, host plant of TMV.
The lighting isn’t the best but I took the best photos as I could. I sent samples of the host plant into a local lab for test for TMV. The current lab is used for testing cannabis exclusively for diseases and moulds etc before product goes out to clients. The test results came back positive for TMV.

The local hydro store has a area full of regular house type plants and they do have a few plants infected with what seems to be TMV.
I purchased equipment from them and disinfected with bleach and peroxide before installing the equipment. The setup is very clean in respects to bugs dirt dust etc.

As cleans as we were not clean enough, at this point we are treating the entire room as infected with TMV and not taking any chances. We are even going to extents of replacing anything in question as TMV is a very stable virus and hard to get rid of.

[D.A.A.S.69]

What a terrible shame, i sure hope y'all can figure something out.
I live in the Deep South. And luckily we have been able to avoid TMV. So for over the years.
But I wish you the best !!

[Topshelf]

Thanks D.A.A.S.
TMV might of got this harvest but we will prevail for next run.
This post is to show TMV is very real in cannabis and not a ghost topic. Eliminate all other factors but never exclude TMV.
cheers

[D.A.A.S.69]

Your welcome, and I'm sure you will get that TMV, under control. I have heard it was hard to get rid of.
I've only been on here 3-4 years, and I can only recall 2-3 more cases of TMV, being reported, and I don't think they sent theirs to labs for verification either. Like you did.
But I know it's for real .and thank you for your information.
Is it possible to take a picture of it in natural light, that would really help alot. If you cant, that's fine too.
Good Luck with your future grows.

[PuravidaC]

Like DAAS asks, can you post photos in natural light? How are you planning to clean environment? My last three grows have had what I suspect is TMV. I do not have access to testing but from process of elimination, TMV is high on my suspect list. I wiped everything down in my grow space with bleach solution before last grow but issue happened again.

[Topshelf]

Hi Puravida,
well I know as soon as you touch something with TMV on it everything you touch afterwards will carry the virus.
If it’s on your hands from handling an infected plant then afterward touch a countertop, the virus can stay dormant on that surface for up to 2 years. That’s if you don’t clean the surface in regular use.

Well we plan on replacing all irrigation, reservoirs, hoses/tubes.
Any watering jugs containers are cheap enough to replace so we will do that too.
The room itself is getting a new or fresh coat of paint, the paint will have an antibacterial addititive added like we do for all rooms.
thats including are concrete floor in the room.
lighting, ac unit, heater, dehumidifier/humidifier, co2 burner, monitors and controllers etc. They will be scrubbed religiously clean then scrubbed again later if in doubt.
All 4 or 6 inch vents will be replaced as there cheap and to hard to clean.
All the nute containers will be scrubbed also, all the small stuff like scissors, etc.
pots and coco will be brought to the dump, If you put it in your yard there may be a high chance of contamination again. So bring anything you replace to the dump or landfill.
bleach can work but by my understanding peroxide works just as well.
Now when we think everything is clean and ready for new seedlings we are going to have hand sanitizer at the door and latex gloves.
might even consider just grow room clothing, lab coat or jumper suit.
If starting from seed like we do I’m soaking them in a diluted mix of R.O water and peroxide for a few minutes before we soak them for sprout. Seeds can carry TMV on their shell.
Its a hug pain but it can be done and not looking forward to it.

The pictures below are the best I can do,
The one leaf looks like it has a boron deficiency amongst other deficiencies but it’s all caused by TMV. The virus seems to attack only curtain parts of the plant and leaves. The growth of the hosted plant is stunted by half compared to the other plants.

[Topshelf]

The photos are of high quality,
click on them and you have a good macro zoom.
you can see the mosaic up close etc..
You can also notice the leathery thick texture.
The curl of half a leaf to one side.
The heavy thick leaves have a shiny look in between the leaf vanes.
The plant has a lot of healthy growth too and TMV might not kill her but she looks stressed out.