First, I want to make sure that I'm clear by stating that I'm not a DHN fan boy. Have I used their diagnostic services? Sure. Did I see there clones all over the SF Bay for years? Sure. Did they help populate hplvd? It appears that way but they were also one of the only major nurseries bere for a long time. The truth is that a lot of nurseries probably pass it around. You make it sound like "It's all DHN's fault" and that really is subjective. If we all die in a nuclear holocaust its not the fault of a single scientist. I still agree that it's ironic they are doing TC to help remediate a problem they participated in, but there are tons of us doing this work now. If it's a trust thing then just walk away from them or don't click their ads.
I also don't recall stating that hplvd was discovered by DHN. I think they published a layman's summary of findings in what they call a white paper but yes, it reads more like an ad for TC services. Before we knew what holvd was we used to call moms "dudded" or "tired" and often ditched perfectly good genetics because we thought they were not repairable.
The fact is that people that share clones can and do spread it. In fact, because of its latent tendencies, most people will spread it because a far majority of people are sloppy propagators, period. Same pair of scissors, going from mom to mom to mom, all clones in the same aerocloner, etc. Bad news.
Your suggested solution of switching genetics due to infection is pretty absurd. Win grape farmers don't ditch prized clones because it gets a virus. They excise meristems and eliminate it. Advanced botany. A mountain that has grown the same cultivars for decades should just burn it all down because someone brought a viroid in? That like saying kill Uncle Bill because he has AIDS and we can just go get a new uncle. No, treat Uncle Bill and help him thrive. Everyone loves what Uncle Bill brings to the game. You just typed about how precious your tent grow is. Everything has different value to different people. If you don't see the value of the cost that TC provides, don't pay it. If it's just that you hate DHN, then use other's services. Or better yet, throw your plants away and switch genetics.
I pointed out the large dudded field just to point out that I've seen what hplvd does at scale. Like I said, it was more than just a pinch to this farm, but it's still like watching your prized tent mom dud out. It's that same viroid and we get the same deleterious effects.
So, outside of DHN, which potentially/unknowingly spread hplvd, perhaps you could provide a list of the other nurseries known to be spreading hplvd so people can avoid them. ?
