Hop Growing

[Jonez]

I have been doing a bit of reading and found out that hop plants can be male or female. Female flowers (cones) are what is used for brewing and male plants are only used to pollinate and create new species. But how does this work? does the female flower give seeds after pollination? if so, we could then say there are several methods to propagate this plant. So far I have read: by rhizomes, by cuttings and now by seed?

Edit: also found this interesting article
http://www.realbeer.co.nz/blog/2008/01/tea...ts-without.html

 

[Jonez]

Apparently the answer to the above is obvious, but I can see some complexity to it.

If it is true that there are female and male hop plants, as I read on the brewchoice website, that means if we but only one rhizome, we take the risk the plant will be male, in which case it would be useless. One example of this is the pawpaw (I think) where female and male flowers are in different plant/trees.

In other families, (e.g. pumpkin) both male and female flowers are in the same plant and pollination can be almost guaranteed.

Now, I suppose if what brewchoice says is true, it makes sense to divide the rhizomes as soon as possible (or buy more that one) to have better chances of having a female plant.

About crossing two different species, I was interested in knowing if anybody that grows more than one specie has had this by accident ( provided you propagate by seed)

 

[~MikE]

ok, a rhizome from a female plant will only produce female plants. you don't want to trade in seeds as they could be male plants, and going through the sexual reproduction will probably yield a different end product.

 

[altone]

Apparently the answer to the above is obvious, but I can see some complexity to it.

If it is true that there are female and male hop plants, as I read on the brewchoice website, that means if we but only one rhizome, we take the risk the plant will be male, in which case it would be useless. One example of this is the pawpaw (I think) where female and male flowers are in different plant/trees.

..

Yes male and female plants although usually only the females are grown.

All rhizomes split from a female plant will produce female plants.
(ok, I know - but close enough to 100% not to worry about under normal conditions)

Only female rhizomes are usually put up for sale. so 100% likelihood of 1 rhizome producing cones.

Propogation from seed would be hit and miss gender wise, that's why it's not usually used - having said that,
you can buy hop seeds in certain regions.

A male plant is not needed for hop cone production.

 

[Jonez]

ok, a rhizome from a female plant will only produce female plants. you don't want to trade in seeds as they could be male plants, and going through the sexual reproduction will probably yield a different end product.

Yes male and female plants although usually only the females are grown...
All rhizomes split from a female plant will produce female plants...
Only female rhizomes are usually put up for sale. ..
Propogation from seed would be hit and miss gender wise, that's why it's not usually used ...
...A male plant is not needed for hop cone production.

That cleared all my doubts.
Thanks

 

[Bizier]

Remember that seeds also will be entirely new varieties, each and every one, no matter how similar to their parent. This could, and probably would be negative traits as far as brewing goes, but it could also be amazing.

This year I am trying my hand at cross pollinating to make new varieties.

I think that everyone should have a crack at breeding if they are half interested.

 

[peter.brandon]

Hi,

Can anyone shed some light on what may be going wrong with my hops.

I have them planted in large pots with a good potting mixture mixed with moderate amount of cow manure. They sit around my pool against a brick walland are growing up to lattice on the top of the wall. I water them every second day or even daily when its hot. I sprayed them last week with a liquid soap mixture (5ml in 500ml).

The issue is my hop leaves are being attached big eaten holes in them. I couldnt see any bugs but i spayed with the soap mixture anyway.

The leave edges are browning and the plants are looking sick.

My question is:

Is the heat from the wall too muck for the hops (they get all day sun) or is it more likely that they are under attack from aphids etc.

Cheers
Plyers

 

[apd]

Plyers,

If you can't see the bugs during daylight hours, try looking around dusk or at night. The little buggers might come out then.

Aphids are usually pretty obvious because there will be heaps of them. The usually hang around the tips of new shoots.

I have spoken to someone who said his Hallertau didn't like too much heat. What variety do you have? Maybe try moving somewhere with shade in the afternoon.

Andrew

 

[peter.brandon]

Plyers,

If you can't see the bugs during daylight hours, try looking around dusk or at night. The little buggers might come out then.

Aphids are usually pretty obvious because there will be heaps of them. The usually hang around the tips of new shoots.

I have spoken to someone who said his Hallertau didn't like too much heat. What variety do you have? Maybe try moving somewhere with shade in the afternoon.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew

I have cascade, Chinook & Hersbrucker

Cheers,
Plyers

 

[Darkman]

Plyer, I think the problem is the wall is soaking up the heat from the sun then slowly cooking your plant. I had mine growing up against a tin shed which caused the leaves to burn on a hot day. Hallertau is also one of the few varieties that grows better in a position were it only receives morning sunlight.

 

[peter.brandon]

Plyer, I think the problem is the wall is soaking up the heat from the sun then slowly cooking your plant. I had mine growing up against a tin shed which caused the leaves to burn on a hot day. Hallertau is also one of the few varieties that grows better in a position were it only receives morning sunlight.

Thanks Darkman

 

[Jonez]

Plyer, I think the problem is the wall is soaking up the heat from the sun then slowly cooking your plant. I had mine growing up against a tin shed which caused the leaves to burn on a hot day. Hallertau is also one of the few varieties that grows better in a position were it only receives morning sunlight.

Hey Darkman: what about tettnanger? Mine wasn't doing well in the ground so I moved it back to the pot. I had to trim the ends of both bines in my one rhizome as they had burnt. This caused them to grow two or more shoots each coming out some of the buds.

I wonder whether this is desirable in the first year or is it better for the development of the plant to have less shoots.

As I understand the first year is when the plant needs to establish strong root systems to give you a good crop the following year. And this seems opposite to what gardeners aim when they prune their display plants to get more foliage/flowers.

 

[Darkman]

Hey Darkman: what about tettnanger? Mine wasn't doing well in the ground so I moved it back to the pot. I had to trim the ends of both bines in my one rhizome as they had burnt. This caused them to grow two or more shoots each coming out some of the buds.

I wonder whether this is desirable in the first year or is it better for the development of the plant to have less shoots.

As I understand the first year is when the plant needs to establish strong root systems to give you a good crop the following year. And this seems opposite to what gardeners aim when they prune their display plants to get more foliage/flowers.

Hey Jonez, I only really have experience with Cascade and Hallertau but the Hallertau I have been growing in a number of different locations and have found it grows best when it's sheltered from the afternoon sun. Last year all my Hallertau (the one growing near the tin shed) leaves got completely burnt during the 5 continuous 45 degree days in Melbourne last summer but my Cascade escaped with only burns on edges of the leaves and still yielded well.

I would probably limit the amount of shoots. The cascade I mentioned yielded well in it's first year on only two bines.

If your bines do start budding in there first year I'd recommend changing your fertiliser to one that encourages flowering rather then plant growth. I use Potash during the flowering cycle.

 

[Jonez]

Hey Jonez, I only really have experience with Cascade and Hallertau but the Hallertau I have been growing in a number of different locations and have found it grows best when it's sheltered from the afternoon sun. Last year all my Hallertau (the one growing near the tin shed) leaves got completely burnt during the 5 continuous 45 degree days in Melbourne last summer but my Cascade escaped with only burns on edges of the leaves and still yielded well.

I would probably limit the amount of shoots. The cascade I mentioned yielded well in it's first year on only two bines.

If your bines do start budding in there first year I'd recommend changing your fertiliser to one that encourages flowering rather then plant growth. I use Potash during the flowering cycle.

Thanks for the quick reply. I am not sure I used the correct technical jargon in my first post, so I want to clarify: There are only two shoots coming out of the rhizome. These two started to split in several ( this happened after I had to trim the burnt ends)
When I said buds, I referred to the section where the pair of leaves develops. There exactly is where I am getting a new little branch coming up. So in fact I have two shoots with a few ramifications (this is normal in passion fruits, but is it in hops?)

I wouldn't want to apply a fertiliser that encourages flowering at this stage because the plant is only a couple of months old and only about 10 -15 cm. (it got stucked for a while and now is taking off again)

The other thing is: i had planted it in the ground near my passionfruit and I had applied all purpose fertiliser there ( for needed trace elements). That may have run off to the hop with the rain.

Edit: spelling

 

[Darkman]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am not sure I used the correct technical jargon in my first post, so I want to clarify: There are only two shoots coming out of the rhizome. These two started to split in several ( this happened after I had to trim the burnt ends)
When I said buds, I referred to the section where the pair of leaves develops. There exactly is where I am getting a new little branch coming up. So in fact I have two shoots with a few ramifications (this is normal in passion fruits, but is it in hops?)

I wouldn't want to apply a fertiliser that encourages flowering at this stage because the plant is only a couple of months old and only about 10 -15 cm. (it got stucked for a while and now is taking off again)

The other thing is: i had planted it in the ground near my passionfruit and I had applied all purpose fertiliser there ( for needed trace elements). That may have run off to the hop with the rain.

Edit: spelling

Hi Jonez, The buds I'm refering to are the actually flower buds but they won't appear till around Feb. Keep in mind that the flower bud only appear on the upper parts of your bines(vines) so limit the amount of shoots on your first year plant as this while concentrate the plants energy to the selected shoots and make them grow taller thus increassing your chances of acually yielding hops in the first year.

The fertiliser your use for the passionfruit vine is fine for your hops I'd imagine. You can use Potash on the passionfruit when it is fruiting too......this will increase the yeild.

Potash=potassium You need more of this in your fertaliser when a plant is flowering or fruiting.
Nitrogen, Use a fertalise high in nitrogen during a plants growing cycle.

When you choose a fertaliser check the NPK pecentages to work out if it's more suited to plant growth or Flowering/fruiting

 

[NeilArge]

Hi Jonez, The buds I'm refering to are the actually flower buds but they won't appear till around Feb. Keep in mind that the flower bud only appear on the upper parts of your bines(vines) so limit the amount of shoots on your first year plant as this while concentrate the plants energy to the selected shoots and make them grow taller thus increassing your chances of acually yielding hops in the first year.

The fertiliser your use for the passionfruit vine is fine for your hops I'd imagine. You can use Potash on the passionfruit when it is fruiting too......this will increase the yeild.

Potash=potassium You need more of this in your fertaliser when a plant is flowering or fruiting.
Nitrogen, Use a fertalise high in nitrogen during a plants growing cycle.

When you choose a fertaliser check the NPK pecentages to work out if it's more suited to plant growth or Flowering/fruiting

Just chipping here - hope you don't mind...

My Chinook is now about 3 metres tall and appears to have little flowers on the upper half of the vine (see below). Is this as big as they will get (about the size of the fingernail on my pinky)?

Cheers

ToG

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

ok, a rhizome from a female plant will only produce female plants. you don't want to trade in seeds as they could be male plants, and going through the sexual reproduction will probably yield a different end product.

Interesting :lol:

BYB

 

[Nick JD]

Often a similar plant, if stressed (through having no contact with male pollen) will produce its own "male" flowers and "pollenate" itself with it's own genes - producing a seed with no "Y" chromosome and therefore only giving rise to more female plants.

So - gathering the pollen from a female "male" flower will give you a female offspring cross.

 

[Jonez]

Hi Jonez, The buds I'm refering to are the actually flower buds but they won't appear till around Feb. Keep in mind that the flower bud only appear on the upper parts of your bines(vines) so limit the amount of shoots on your first year plant as this while concentrate the plants energy to the selected shoots and make them grow taller thus increassing your chances of acually yielding hops in the first year.

Hi Darkman,
It seems like the more I do this the more shoots keep coming. I have a third one coming off the ground and it looks stronger than the other two which have split in three or four each. I have it in a small pot given that after transplanting several times it did not seem to do well in any spot except in there. Is it ok to let it climb a bit before transplanting it to the final spot? or should I do that now?. I was waiting until I get some better soil.



Edit spellings

 

[browndog]

I received a Mt Hood from The Scientist and put it along side my Chinook, it has grown these dingleberrys in place of flowers



So this is a male and not of any value to the home brewer?

cheers

Browndog