Hops sex????

Hey guys, so this is my third year attempting to grow hops, its gone pretty well except that all 5 of my columbus plants are growing what look like seeds to me. One of the said plants came from one supplier, the other 4 from a local brew shop however all five of them are growing these crazy little clusters. My first thought was damn, iv got a male plant but after taking a hard look it appears these clusters are turning into cones ..any ideas on this???Thanks guys

Those aren't seeds. Seeds grow within the cones - what started out as female flowers - and where you'd expect to find seeds on pretty much any plant. What you're seeing are male parts, and - no - they aren't going to grow into cones.

Your plants have gone "hermaphroditic". Apparently this can be caused when the plant is experiencing stress conditions (like too much heat, not enough water, etc). You can remove the male parts so the plant doesn't waste energy on them...

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply! So, I have 3 different varieties growing several feet apart. The Columbus is the only plant (all 5 of them) that ive seen this on. If I leave these plants is there a possibility of the other varieties going "hermaphroditic"? Or should try to get rid of this variety??? They all did VERY well this year and id hate to have to dig them up and start over..thanks for your time...Mike

palongee1 said:

Thanks for the reply! So, I have 3 different varieties growing several feet apart. The Columbus is the only plant (all 5 of them) that ive seen this on. If I leave these plants is there a possibility of the other varieties going "hermaphroditic"? Or should try to get rid of this variety??? They all did VERY well this year and id hate to have to dig them up and start over..thanks for your time...Mike

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Hermaphrodism isn't contagious No need to tear any plants out in a hurry. Some strains are simply more susceptible to this phenomenon, but aside from the plant wasting energy growing male parts, it's pretty much harmless behavior. The male parts are supposedly infertile, so they won't cause the plants to waste energy making seeds.

I'd say let 'em all ride through and see how they do. If you're pressed for growing space you might consider replacing the Columbus with another strain next year...

Cheers!

mine did the same thing this year but not quite as pronounced. I'm just going to let my Cascade be it's own "person."

...Thanks for the replies! I was getting pretty nervous! We finally got a good thing going and now the Columbus decide to go Tranny:cross:...lol...next year is gonna be interesting! the first year we got about 2 lbs dry out of all the plants..so far this year were at like 12+ LBS...We brewed a 10 gallon batch with mostly whole hops and the fermenting fridge decided to quit working ...still waiting to see if growing these things is even worth the time..harvesting and drying that much hops is a bit time consuming! Hoping to redesign the trellis system next year and get up 20' or so where they need to be...heres some shots of this year...Mike

Holy cr@p! The density of cones on those plants is outrageous! I can see how processing that harvest was actual work. Tough nuggies!

Cheers!

Yah man...by the time we got to the Columbus I just started cutting off the side shoots and throwing them in the cart, we stripped them in the shop, way easier than the ladder. The odd thing is, the first year plants produced HUGE beautiful hops and the second year plants were small massive clusters..cant wait till next year!...assuming we actually can use these....