# Hygiene Protocol > Part of: [Crop Protection & Hygiene](/crop-protection.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) A hygiene protocol governs the routes no equipment covers: people, tools, footwear and plant material. It reduces inoculum rather than eliminating it, because no chemical fully sterilises a growing system, and it depends on cleaning happening before any disinfectant is applied at all. ## Facts | Property | Value | |---|---| | Dominant transmission route for tobacco brown rugose fruit virus | Mechanical route | | Required order of operations | Clean, then disinfect steps | | Measured Fusarium survival after chemical treatment | 0.3–43.8 % | | Prohibited combination | Chlorine with acid rule | | What the protocol achieves | Inoculum reduction outcome | Crop protection & hygiene # Hygiene protocol. The route into a greenhouse is almost never the one that gets engineered against. ## The route in is rarely the one that gets engineered against Growers invest heavily in treating water and excluding insects, and then a virus arrives on a pair of hands. For tobacco brown rugose fruit virus the research is explicit that water is unlikely to be the most efficient transmission route and that mechanical spread — hands, tools, clothing, crop work — dominates. A hygiene protocol is the control for the routes that no equipment covers, which is why it returns more per euro than almost anything else in the crop-protection budget. Two rules govern it and both are routinely broken. Cleaning and disinfecting are different operations: every practical disinfectant is an oxidant, and organic residue consumes it before it reaches the pathogen, so a surface that has not been cleaned first is effectively untreated. And contact time is longer than most people assume and non-linear — past the point where the oxidant is spent, leaving it on achieves nothing. Dutch guidance is blunt that skipping the cleaning step makes the effect negligible. The uncomfortable finding is that no chemical fully sterilises a growing system. In measured trials on infected roots, survival of Fusarium after treatment ranged from a fraction of a percent for formaldehyde to over forty percent for one widely used product, and none of the agents tested achieved complete disinfection. Nematodes recovered after treatments that were assumed to have killed them. The practical conclusion is that hygiene reduces inoculum rather than eliminating it, and a protocol written on the assumption of elimination will disappoint. So the protocol is procedural before it is chemical: a defined route for visitors, dedicated clothing and footwear, tool discipline, a real crop-changeover sequence, and one safety rule that is not negotiable — chlorine and acid must never be combined, because the reaction produces chlorine gas and destroys the silicone membranes in pressure-compensating drippers. DutchGreenhouses® designs the facility layout, the service building and the irrigation system so those procedures are physically possible to follow. Get in touch to discuss hygiene for your facility. From the knowledge base ## Reads you might find interesting ### Grow Like a Pro: Starting Smart, Growing Strong How Grow Like a Pro combines smart farming, CEA technology and local partnerships for eco-friendly, profitable, pesticide-free greenhouse pr Read article ### The Case for a College Greenhouse Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing studen Read article ### The Case for a High School Greenhouse Why every high school greenhouse matters: how it makes STEM tangible, builds responsibility and teamwork, and helps students discover their Read article ### Greenhouses in Education: The Case for Schools Greenhouses in education reconnect students to reality — the full case for why every school, high school, college and trade program should h Read article ### The Origins of Greenhouse Horticulture: My Backyard A tour through greenhouse horticulture history: from 19th-century Westland fruit walls to the “City of Glass” and today’s international high Read article ### DutchGreenhouses Rebranded: A New Corporate Identity Announcing our new corporate identity — a visual style reflecting our dedication to advanced, high-quality greenhouse projects and The Futur Read article ## FAQ **Why does hygiene matter more than water treatment for viruses?** Because the water route is not the main one. For tobacco brown rugose fruit virus the research states plainly that water is unlikely to be the most efficient transmission route and that mechanical spread on hands, tools and clothing dominates. Treating water while people move freely addresses the smaller problem. **Is cleaning the same as disinfecting?** No, and treating them as one is the most common failure. Every practical disinfectant is an oxidant, and it reacts with organic residue before it reaches the pathogen. A surface that has not been cleaned first is effectively untreated, however much product is applied to it. **Can a growing system be fully disinfected?** Not by chemistry alone. In measured trials on infected roots, Fusarium survival after treatment ranged from a fraction of a percent to over forty percent depending on the agent, and none achieved complete disinfection. Nematodes recovered after treatments assumed to have killed them. **Which chemicals must never be combined?** Chlorine and acid. The reaction produces chlorine gas, and it also swells and damages the silicone membranes inside pressure-compensating drippers. Rinse thoroughly with clean water between a chlorine treatment and an acid one rather than shortening the sequence. ## Related [Crop Protection & Hygiene](/crop-protection.md) · [Integrated Pest Management](/crop-protection/integrated-pest-management.md) · [Post-Treatment](/irrigation/post-treatment.md) · [Service Building](/greenhouse-construction/service-building.md) · [Irrigation](/irrigation.md) · [Crop Cycle](/glossary/crop-cycle.md) · [Drip Irrigation](/glossary/drip-irrigation.md) · [Interplanting](/glossary/interplanting.md)