The same five questions expose a weak source whether it is across town or across the country. None of them are about distance.
This question comes first because a wrong answer ends the conversation. Hop latent viroid spreads through cuttings, shows few symptoms, and quietly halves potency and yield; industry surveys keep finding it in a large share of commercial grows. A source that tests mother stock on a schedule, and can say what test and how often, is credible. A source that has not heard of it is a hazard, whatever else it does well.
Good sources name the cross and its origin; great ones admit when a pedigree is undisclosed instead of inventing one. Be more suspicious of a source with a romantic story for every cut than one with a few honest blanks; genetics with paperwork are rarer than genetics with marketing.
A cutting rooted to order arrives at its vigorous best; one that sat rooted in a tray for weeks arrives root-bound and stalled. Rooted to order means a short wait, up to two weeks at the nursery this site lists, and the wait is the quality control. Instant availability of live cuttings is a red flag dressed as convenience.
A live-arrival or plant-health policy in writing tells you the source expects to stand behind its stock; a verbal assurance tells you nothing. And on every question in this list, the test is documentation: a source that shows you answers is doing business, one that describes them is doing sales. The catalog on the clones near me homepage lists only stock from a nursery that passes all five, which is the entire admission standard.
Written by Mike Hawley for the Clones Near Me reference desk.