unknown hops

Last year while shopping at lowes in July. They had hops plants marked down to $3, I figured I'd be stupid not to buy them, all the tag said was "hops plant". I got them planted so late they never had a chance to bud.. Now it is the 2nd year, and i continued fertilizing them through the winter(besides when the ground was frozen.. So now in their 2nd year they are growing very nicely, damn near a foot at this early stage. Problem is i have no idea in what strand they could be, i live in Indiana, could anyone help me figure out what plants they could be?

Since you'd got them from Lowes, I'd bet they are some form of ornamental variety which isn't really of much use in brewing. There are a lot of non-brewing types out there - Humulus lupulus 'Aureus', Humulus lupulus 'Bianca', Humulus japonica and so on...

Edit: Even if they are ornamentals, keep em. They look great in the yard and attract butterflies.

Sunbeam is often sold as an ornamental hop. From what I've read it's a "shorty" growing 20ish or less. I've read that it's not a favored brewing hop but this is where it gets I interesting. I know a guy that used sunbeam strictly for dry hopping because it wasn't a great brewing hop and he loved it. He said it was lemony. I almost got some based on how much he liked it.

Having said that there is almost no way to determine what you have unless you set up a lateral tasting of hops and are confident you have a good pallet or the only true way via testing.

I would call them a heirloom hop native to the region and impress the various brewers that try your beers.

Thank you for the replies.. I will take care of them as I have been in hopes of good harvest, even if they are not ideal for brewing, I plan on buying some cascade hops and these will act as my training plants.. They are actually the first plants I have ever grown, and look fantastic right now, perhaps I'm a natural.. Thanks again for your input

Ive got 18 of these last year because they offered them to me for a buck a plant. i tracked them down to the the original grower and all they kept saying is they are humulus lupulus i told them i was looking for which variety they told me they have no idea. ive put mine on a fience to cut out my neighbors view of me. and so i dont have to look at his sorry azz