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   The fungus that causes the plant disease black root rot has spread to   
   cannabis plants beyond hemp, warns new research that identified the   
   pathogen in a licensed commercial cultivation facility in British   
   Columbia, Canada.   
      
   Black root rot can be fatal to cannabis plants, said Chris Dumigan, a   
   Ph.D. candidate in biology at the University of British Columbia   
   Okanagan who specializes in cannabis and is lead author of the new   
   research in the academic journal Plant Disease.   
      
   “It’s growing on and inside your root tissue and then it’s causing the   
   roots to die, and the plant will eventually die as a consequence of   
   that,” Dumigan told MJBizDaily.   
      
   The affected marijuana facility in Cranbrook, B.C., “had to throw out a   
   whole bunch of equipment, they had to get rid of a bunch of plants,   
   because they had a fungus that was growing and taking hold of their   
   facility,” he added.   
      
   “And if you can’t control that, you’ll face total crop destruction.”   
      
   Black root rot was previously documented in a hemp greenhouse in   
   Kentucky in late 2019, according to a 2022 paper in the same journal.   
      
   The research marks the first report of “black root rot in high   
   THC-containing cannabis,” the new paper notes.   
      
   Confirmation of black root rot in marijuana comes as the industry   
   focuses on plant pathogens in light of the spreading impact of hop   
   latent viroid.   
      
   However, David Kessler, chief science officer with Billerica,   
   Massachusetts-based marijuana cultivation technology Agrify Corp., said   
   he doesn’t expect black root rot will pose the same economic threat to   
   the cannabis industry as does hop latent viroid.   
      
   “That said, those cultivators that are affected by this most certainly   
   are going to feel that economic damage, but having it be pervasive   
   through the industry is less likely,” said Kessler, who was not involved   
   in the research.   
      
   ‘More widespread than people think’   
      
   Commercial marijuana businesses should be aware that black root rot   
   exists and poses “a threat to their bottom line,” cannabis researcher   
   Dumigan said.   
      
   The B.C. outbreak occurred at a cultivation facility that uses   
   aeroponics, a method that leaves plant roots exposed and feeds them with   
   a mist of water and nutrients.   
      
   The grower contacted Dumigan after sending diseased plants for pathogen   
   testing and receiving negative results.   
      
   “To me, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, because that facility is quite   
   clean,” he said.   
      
   “It’s not an oversight on their part, they were more or less a victim of   
   a lack of research in the area,” Dumigan continued.   
      
   “This thing is more widespread than people think.”   
      
   In Australia, the destructive effect of black root rot on cotton crops   
   has led to it being declared a pandemic, according to the paper.   
      
   Cannabis hasn’t been subjected to “the same research as other crops of   
   similar market value,” Dumigan said.   
      
   “So something like this can fly under the radar and still be discovered   
   as a new pathogen in this crop in 2022, which I think is very   
   interesting – but also points to a lack of knowledge about cannabis,   
   cannabis cultivation and cannabis pathology.”   
      
   Considering that black root rot has also been documented in   
   greenhouse-grown hemp on the opposite side of North America, Dumigan   
   said he would be “highly surprised” if the disease was new to marijuana.   
      
   Infections might have been misclassified as another kind of root rot, he   
   said.   
      
   Aeroponic question unanswered   
      
   It’s not surprising that black root rot would affect cannabis, said   
   Kessler, Agrify’s chief science officer.   
      
   “It thrives in cool and wet conditions,” he explained.   
      
   In particular, Kessler suspects black root rot might be more likely in   
   an aeroponic environment such as the B.C. facility where it was   
   detected, as opposed to cannabis grown in a medium.   
      
   Aeroponic growing is not the typical method of commercial cannabis   
   production.   
      
   It involves “a very humid, air-rich environment, and that is a really   
   great place to grow fungus,” Kessler said.   
      
   Without the buffer of a growing medium, he added, cannabis can be   
   subject to “much more rapid temperature swings.”   
      
      
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