Pollen From Female Hop Plants For Breeding

[ekul]

I don't know if this has been discussed before or where this topic should go but i thought this was a good a place as any.

Anyway, there is a compound called 'silver thiosulfate' (to be refered to as STS). When sprayed on a relative of the hops plants it makes the female plant produce male flowers which produce viable pollen.
Because the plant is female the plant has xx chromosomes, so the male pollen can only carry xx chromosomes. This means any resultant seed will be female.
I don't know if it would actually work on hops but it would be very interesting to try. This could be very useful in breeding varieties of hops because you would know the quality of the genetics of both parents.

I only have 2 hops rhizomes atm so i won't be trying this for some time so this is for others to try.

I hope this of interest to some people.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Better off using the rhizomes to propagate I reckon. You wont end up with seeds all through your female buds and propagating from seed is difficult.

 

[ekul]

I agree wholeheartedly boagsy. Propagation doesn't get much easier than planting a rhizome and wating for hops to grow!!

I actually thought it would be more handy for having a crack at breeding, not so much for propagating varieties you already have.

 

[batemanbrewer]

I agree wholeheartedly boagsy. Propagation doesn't get much easier than planting a rhizome and wating for hops to grow!!

I actually thought it would be more handy for having a crack at breeding, not so much for propagating varieties you already have.

Sounds good. Do you know where to get this stuff/how available it is/how expensive it is?

In two years we might have Galaxmarillo and Fuggscade rhizomes flooding the AHB marketplace! It'd be interesting to see how some crosses taste and smell.
It'd be an interesting experiment in the very least. :icon_cheers:

Mitch

 

[Newbiebrewer]

Hmm what relative of the hop plant is it because all the information I have found on sts relates to foliar degredation.

 

[jyo]

I don't know if this has been discussed before or where this topic should go but i thought this was a good a place as any.

Anyway, there is a compound called 'silver thiosulfate' (to be refered to as STS). When sprayed on a relative of the hops plants it makes the female plant produce male flowers which produce viable pollen.
Because the plant is female the plant has xx chromosomes, so the male pollen can only carry xx chromosomes. This means any resultant seed will be female.
I don't know if it would actually work on hops but it would be very interesting to try. This could be very useful in breeding varieties of hops because you would know the quality of the genetics of both parents.

I only have 2 hops rhizomes atm so i won't be trying this for some time so this is for others to try.

I hope this of interest to some people.

If it works, it could be very interesting. My guess is that you would have to isolate the chosen male flowers (by encasing in a plastic bag or some such) otherwise you could risk your entire season's yield via natural pollination.

Found this: Male Flowers

 

[Newbiebrewer]

If it works, it could be very interesting. My guess is that you would have to isolate the chosen male flowers (by encasing in a plastic bag or some such) otherwise you could risk your entire season's yield via natural pollination.

Found this: Male Flowers

before going into this gender changing the hops is it possible to get male plants?

 

[~MikE]

hmm, could work, while it would technically be a form of sexual reproduction, there'd be no true crossing occuring as it's self pollinating. i'm not sure of the molecular mechanisms of how this works though...

 

[ekul]

Bateman brewer- You have to make it yourself. The process is easy enough though. Get silver nitrate and sodium thiosulfate and mix the two together, i don't know the exact ratios, i'll ask my friend that told me about it. Maybe try a big hydro shop?

Jyo- yes you would need to keep the male plant away from the rest of your crop as the pollen will make your crop a seedy one.

Hughezy- re. foliar degradation. The friend that told of this has said that the plants treated do suffer considerably, but when they bounce back they have male flowers.
And yes i assume its possible to get male plants but you can't get a named strain male. This makes breeding a little iffy because you don't really know what kind of genetics the male carries (males don't have hops so you can't test them out).

Mike- this may be true if hop varieties are stabilised which i am unsure of. But why would you want seeds of a variety (which are apparently tricky to grow) when you can just take a section of root? I think it would be useful for crossing one variety with another as bateman brewer mentioned. So instead of having to go to all that effort of adding amarillo AND centennial when making neils great beer, we could breed the two together to make centarillo!! Wicked


Another thing that interests me is whether the hops plants will stay male. Its not like their chromosomes have actually changed, the plants are still female, just wt male parts. i wonder what would pop up te next year? So many experiments!! Need to get some more rhizomes!

 

[Wolfy]

You have to make it yourself. The process is easy enough though. Get silver nitrate and sodium thiosulfate and mix the two together, i don't know the exact ratios, i'll ask my friend that told me about it.

The 'friend' who told you about this, is he a biologist, geneticist or something similar?
Or is he just an avid grower of another plant that is a member of the Cannabaceae family?

If the former can you please ask for some scientific documentation where the experiment has been tried on hops? If it does work, is it used in all the commercial hop growing and breeding gardens?

 

[ekul]

He's a biologist. And he never said that it would definitely work on hops, he just assumed it would. Thats not to say that its never been used on hops, just that he hasn't had any experience of such an experiment.

I had a search on google but i can't open any big webpages because my internet is shaped atm. But if you put in "silver thiosulfate humulus" i think the top result may have some good info.