Purple Hops

I planted rhizomes this spring in two areas of my yard. One area collected allot of water from the unusual amount of rain we got and it killed the little cascade that was starting. I dug up the rhizome and planted it in my raised bed to see if i could bring it back. A hop plant did come up in my raised bed but about 4 feet from where I planted the rhizome which is not that unusual but the strange thing is the cones are purple!
So my question is are these cascades and the stress of being submerged and replanted caused purple hops? or are these wild hops?

It's cousin can get purple late in the year due to lower levels of light and cool temps-I would guess that this is that characteristic.

Difference being it's cousin is then bred for this characteristic, while the hops aren't. Some varieties of hops are probably more likely to turn purple though.

EDIT: Actually, it looks way more like the cousin...

Got a frontal pic of leaves?

What ned said ^^

And make that full frontal please.

I've never run across a purple hop. Even Sunbeam and Blanc (which have yellow and white leaves) produce green hops.

That looks very strange. Do they smell/taste normal?


Wait, are you sure those are female cones? Seeds maybe?


Edit number 3:

Found this on google image search for "hop seeds":

Nice Buds!!!!! LOL

Devonian said:

A hop plant did come up in my raised bed but about 4 feet from where I planted the rhizome which is not that unusual but the strange thing is the cones are purple!

Click to expand...

HAHAHA, nice try bud, you had me goin for a while there.

The vine is very toothy which made me think these were japanese hops at first.
Some more pics...

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Wow dude, that's crazy.

Taste and smell?

marijuagnum hops, its a hybrid?

Crazytwoknobs said:

Wow dude, that's crazy.

Taste and smell?

Click to expand...

They smell kind of piney and grassy... like grass not pot.
I'll dry some out and se if that changes the smell.
Maybe I should try and smoke some too.

1. Dry them out
2. Roll 'em up
3. Report back

Those ain't hops

Indica maybe, but that is one leaf not many and they're too small and the flowers are wrong.

I know the flowers look like "buds" but this plant is a vine so it is not cannabis.
I'm going with japanese hops based on the leaf shape and this pic I pulled off this site http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/huja1.htm.

REAL noticeable 'hairs'/stamen? Quite purple.

Still seems like hops from the vegetation, but the flowers are awesome!

Dude, if you DO burn some, at least let it dry slow and age a couple months.

Helluva coincidence to have that right next to your hops.

Them don't look like hops!

That's not ganja. Female flowers of the dank plant bud RIGHT in between the main stem and the petiole (leaf stem) just below the internode. The picture you posted shows the flowers actually having a peduncle (where the flower/ovary "sits") which marijuana flowers do not have. I'm 99.9% sure those are not cannabis sativa/indica. If you try to inhale that your throat will be sore for a day or two.

<RANT>
And can anybody answer me why whenever I post something about ganja, even if it's relevant to the topic, it's immediately deleted and I'm warned but others can talk freely about it and even post pictures of some SERIOUS pictures of gigantic colas? It's always the excuse that "we don't talk about illicit or illegal activities" but everybody looks the other way when there are CLEARLY people who brew more than 200 gallons a year...
</RANT>

Looking at the plant in my backyard I never once thought it was cannabis. I can see how the cones might look like "buds" in the photos but if you look at the whole plant it is some type of hop.
What I am trying to figure out by posting this here is

A What type of hop

B Was the color brought on by stress from me replanting after wilting from too much rain

C Is this just a wild japanese hop plant that happened to come up near where I replanted the rhizome (which presumably died)

D or Thyme Garden sent me the wrong type of hop (a wild or uncultivated type).

Ah gotcha. Ya know, it looks very very much like the japanese hops image you posted just with purple flowers. Here are my three predictions:

1) It's a japanese maple and the purple is caused either by harsh conditions (usually cold) or a mutation
2) It's a bine from your rhizome and the purple is caused by harsh conditions or a mutation
3) It's japanese hops like the image you posted and the purple is caused by late season/harsh conditions

Looks like a hop to me. Some plants flowers change color due to soil acidity. Hydrangeas are a good example of this changing from blue to green to white to pink depending on level of soil accidity. Maybe you have a hop that does something similar.

I think you ought to give it a try. Maybe you've stumbled upon something great. Also, you might just want to contact Thyme Garden and ask them.

nice hops. I wouldn't think ph is the cause of the change. I know hops like lower ph. and people growing down in texas with high ph haven't reported anything unusual. Cold weather does can cause purpling. Also you said its in a container. Lack of prosperous also can cause purple tints. Maybe if you hadn't put down any fert. it could be it.
I could also be some mutation. Watch it next year and see if it does the same. You might have something new.

Crazytwoknobs said:

That looks very strange. Do they smell/taste normal?


Wait, are you sure those are female cones? Seeds maybe?


Edit number 3:

Found this on google image search for "hop seeds":

Click to expand...

Someone had male hops in the area near this plant! If my cones had this many seeds I'd probably discount the AA% and use more to brew a batch!:cross:

cuinrearview said:

Someone had male hops in the area near this plant! If my cones had this many seeds I'd probably discount the AA% and use more to brew a batch!:cross:

Click to expand...

There definitely aren't ANY hops in that picture...

Just stumbled across this topic since I've been researching the internet about these "purple" hops. One of my hop plants just started producing this same type of flower, cone, bud, as Devonian's pictures show. I'll take some pics of my own hops for comparison, but the biggest stumper is that it's late autumn upstate New York weather right now. These strange things are surviving in 40 degree weather out there, and just sprouted out of nowhere last week.

The local brewery has a few cascade hop vines out front for decoration.

When I drove by yesterday, I noticed that the vines had turned purple. Didn't get a good enough look to tell if it looked exactly like yours, but the overall color of the plant matched.

Reno_eNVy_446 said:

<RANT>
And can anybody answer me why whenever I post something about ganja, even if it's relevant to the topic, it's immediately deleted and I'm warned but others can talk freely about it and even post pictures of some SERIOUS pictures of gigantic colas? It's always the excuse that "we don't talk about illicit or illegal activities" but everybody looks the other way when there are CLEARLY people who brew more than 200 gallons a year...
</RANT>

Click to expand...

Because we don't discuss illegal/illicit activities. Period. It is a rare occasion that anyone freely admits brewing over the legal limit, and we won't tolerate that, either. Let's cut the chat about weed in this thread and stick to hops, please.

This isn't up for debate.

Cool temps cause plants to be purple instead of green... Happens to my tomatoes until things warm up in late July before things cool off again in late August.

Frickin' New England.... I love it, but the cold is a pain.

I dont' care about plants other than hops here, but yellowing leaves that are curling up is still a manganese deficiency. Pee on your hops mound!

Soooo a drowned and sickly bine rhizome popped up a bine 4 FEET from where it was planted.

NO WAY.

Sorry.

Even My 3rd year Cascade starts all bines within 3 feet or so. A transplant 1st year 4 ft away? No Way.

Male Hop Plant

i bought japanese hops seeds last year. the leaf shape was just like that (except some of my leaves were mutated, some leaflets were fused) and the plants came with spider mites or something i guess which destroyed the one i got to grow.
i never got to the flowering stage.
i hope you preserved that specimen, i would love to grow me some purple hops lol
the seeds i got were humulus japonica/scandens. i know they are a weed but they just don't grow around here and i couldnt find any normal beer hops seeds to try.
so did that plant ever make seeds, or is it still living or what?
that's.. unique.
i just sprouted some clarks heavenly blue morning glory seeds, the cotyledons were that shade of purple until they got a few days of sunlight. but you got green leaves and purple flowers/cones and i would buy a clone of that, or some seeds, but theres a chance the seeds wouldnt exhibit the same phenotype.

i only paid attention to the first leaf pic. what you have there looks like more of a hybrid, where humulus lupulus beer hops are trying to be more like japanese hops. my japanese hops started off with 5 and 7 and 9 leaflets, i see yours are starting off more like 1,3 and going to 5. i guess they are all a little mutated.. but i really like them, they are interesting.
from what i've seen, humulus lupulus doesnt usually make the 5 pointed and higher leaves, usually more like 1-3, so this looks like it has hybridized a bit more with the other, so i am wondering if it made seeds, viable ones., or if it is male like the last person said, at least you got some pollen floating around with some desirable characteristics. that probably wont do much for creating more purple hops but if you get seeds maybe something else interesting will come of this.
i'm pretty sure it is more of your non-japanese hops, like 60-40, 70-30 mix etc. something like that, predominantly non-'japanese hops'. i would really like to have one though, it's awesome i love mutants

It started coming back this year and I pulled it. Hopefuly that takes care of it.

that sux. i would like to put one in my woods and let it grow wild and spread then i can have purple hops growing invasively lol

There is a variety of purple hop that is used for decorative purposes. I think its related to Hallertau. Its listed somewhere in here - http://thehennings.com/beer/hops.html

ctheis said:

There is a variety of purple hop that is used for decorative purposes. I think its related to Hallertau. Its listed somewhere in here - http://thehennings.com/beer/hops.html

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So - the pictures are pretty wild. I would love to have a mutant. How could would it be to make a new variety! Anyhow - I did notice that my tettnanger bines are quite purple when they come out, whereas Nuggett and Cascade are not.

This is also common in Asparagus (heirloom asparagus) and on a related unamed plant which also has green and purple coloration. so it definitely makes sense. I would love to get a taste report on a beer made with these hops.

Probably nitrogen deficiency caused it.

My Fuggles crop turned purple also. I transplanted mine into the front raised bed in the spring and did not see any growth until about a month ago when we had tons of rain. Now I have 5 main shoots which then have many offshoots. There are many factors, I think, that have mine purple. 1) late bloom with cooler temps 2)miracle grow was used in the garden by my brothers wife (while not growing yet for her flowers) 3)the growth of the crop is so massive. I have more cones than leaves.

The garden is 2'x10' and in that area I have (estimated) a few thousand cones. The growth of it took place so fast that I did not have time to string it up but with the high crabgrass in there it kept the vines off the ground and the amount of cones is just crazy.

Once I find some batteries for my camera I'll link them.

100% guarantee those are humulus japonica. They're a pretty nasty invasive species.