Wild hops found growing in fencerow

I live in a rural area of southwest Ohio and have discovered hops growing in a fencerow on my property that borders a cornfield. We have lived here ten years and the previous owners lived here since the 1940's. I'm pretty sure they were non-drinkers, definitely not home-brew types, so I'm guessing these plants may have been here a while. The cones are light green about 3/4 of an inch with a nice aroma when crushed. Any ideas on how I could identify a variety? I'm wondering whether they could be a native North American species.

homebrewme said:

I live in a rural area of southwest Ohio and have discovered hops growing in a fencerow on my property that borders a cornfield. We have lived here ten years and the previous owners lived here since the 1940's. I'm pretty sure they were non-drinkers, definitely not home-brew types, so I'm guessing these plants may have been here a while. The cones are light green about 3/4 of an inch with a nice aroma when crushed. Any ideas on how I could identify a variety? I'm wondering whether they could be a native North American species.

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There are lots and lots of cluster hops around my area, probably planted 80+ years ago. Lots of people used them for ornamentals. Identifying the specific variety may be very tough.

There is a slim chance they are native - which would be the Brewers Gold family. More likely they are a remnant of the Detroit brewery heydays. Think Tivoli, Ames, Stroh,Von Beer, Cadillac, Banner, Fritz, Pfeiffers, Goebels, etc.- all had growers in the region.
There were no high alpha types back then, so you can safely assume you have an aroma hop with alphas of 2.5 to 5%, with a relatively low yield. (compared to today's hybrids)
What is interesting IMHO, is that your discovery may be a surviving sport of a noble type that is more resistant to mildew - which is what wiped out the industry in the midwest areas. Natural selection is a wonderful thing - it's how many of our favorite hops were "found". Try to get a chunk of the crown and put it back into cultivation - good find!

I'd pay you to ship me a few rhizomes to experiment with. I'd love to experiment with something like that.

Thanks for all the info. I think I am going to dig up some of the rhizomes and replant them in another area so they can be tended to more easily. Is this a good time of year to do this?

homebrewme said:

Thanks for all the info. I think I am going to dig up some of the rhizomes and replant them in another area so they can be tended to more easily. Is this a good time of year to do this?

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Probably not in Ohio. Spring is a good time.

I found some near Dayton. They are growning near a creek by my house. They had seeds, so my guess is a true native hop, and obviously a male near by.

SALUTE!
~XM~

I'm not too far from you, between New Lebanon and Farmersville. Yes, I noticed some of my cones had a seed in them also.

Seeds don't necessarily mean there is a male around. Hops can sprout male cones on a female plant when conditions are harsh. It is a coping method....a last ditch effort to have their genes survive. I picture them saying "Well crap, if I'm gonna die this year I might as well lay down some viable offspring to take this place over, where I have lived for the past 100 years or more, and have some fun doing it!"

Hops don't just have the simple XX or XY sex determinant genes, they have many dozens of them. If you remember back to those tic-tac-toe type square genetic diagrams, then stretch it out to 5 checker boards wide and 5 high; that's sort of how many plants determine sex. Newer varieties have been streamlined to have very little (if any) male genes left in them.

I grew wild hops this year. Left some on the fence row, but trellised them up 15 ft. and took some home and grew them in containers with good moisture and fertilized regularly. The container hops were fewer, but much better cone quality and aroma. I am going to dig some more up this spring and put them in the ground. We had a pretty hot and dry summer up here in WI (not compared to other places) and the hops left in place sprouted a few male cones here and there.

Used a few in a batches comparing wild to known first year hops (cascade and EKG). All of the beers were bland, with no hop character. I have yet to use the container "wild" hops and see what they are like.

Grow em, try em, and then decide what you want to do with them.

mthompson said:

Hops can sprout male cones on a female plant when conditions are harsh. It is a coping method.

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So, they can go blank themselves?

Wow I'd love to try the wild hops from all different areas of the country. Well as long as they're native varietals.

If they are low alpha and make bland beer in "normal" quantities, could you just increase the amount you are adding?

If you get them free and have enough, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

Dynachrome said:

If they are low alpha and make bland beer in "normal" quantities, could you just increase the amount you are adding?

If you get them free and have enough, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

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assuming you like the flavor/aroma, otherwise you have a very intrusive decorative weed.

SALUTE!
~XM~

Hermit said:

So, they can go blank themselves?

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Well, bugs do the "blanking"... Essentially they want to ensure they have the best chance of producing seeds that will survive if the mother and plant dies. By putting out male flowers, this increases the chance of the female flowers being pollinated greatly because the bugs don't have to go from plant to plant.

Here's a link to my male flower post with pictures:

male flowers

Hope that helps explain things a little better.

ANYONE.... willing to send some I'd pay you to ship me a few rhizomes. That fact that they have been around that long unattended tells me they are likely survivors as has been said... by natural selection. I wouldn't care what variety they are. Heck I'd love to take a bike ride down to Ohio to see them... I live near Buffalo, NY. What GREAT excuse to take off for a summer weekend. LOL Let me know?

Vernacular said:

ANYONE.... willing to send some I'd pay you to ship me a few rhizomes. That fact that they have been around that long unattended tells me they are likely survivors as has been said... by natural selection. I wouldn't care what variety they are. Heck I'd love to take a bike ride down to Ohio to see them... I live near Buffalo, NY. What GREAT excuse to take off for a summer weekend. LOL Let me know?

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I'll be digging a bunch of rhizome up this spring. In my research, the last time hops we grown to any extent commercially around here (Fond du Lac county, WI) was in the 1870's. For a few short years, Wisconsin grew more hops than anywhere, creating a huge bubble that burst and bankrupted all but a few farmers. I don't remember the exact account of the times, but I'll see if I can find a link to that old ag report again.

Anyway, if you are interested, I could ship some out in March-April sometime. The few I dug up last year, and cared for in containers, had much better flavor than the wild ones still growing on the fence row.

Just let me know.

Here's the link: http://books.google.com/books?id=XN...a=X&ei=6Y0RT-vVCeHv0gGo1pC_Aw&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ

Hops should be highlighted so you can find the paragraphs easily.

Vernacular said:

ANYONE.... willing to send some I'd pay you to ship me a few rhizomes. That fact that they have been around that long unattended tells me they are likely survivors as has been said... by natural selection. I wouldn't care what variety they are. Heck I'd love to take a bike ride down to Ohio to see them... I live near Buffalo, NY. What GREAT excuse to take off for a summer weekend. LOL Let me know?

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Take a ride up to Hamlin/Hilton/Spencerport area some time. I found some growing in a hedgerow in that area back in the mid 80's while working out of Greece. They did have that 'wild American' character to them. If I remember, the beer I brewed with them had a very nice garlic character to it. Perfect with pasta!

The bike path from Dayton to Xenia has some growing along the way. It use to be a traintrack, so who knows the actual origin. They have a mild lemony, orange citrus aroma.

If anyone is interested in these, I will try to get out and find the rhyzomes. Just PM me (just cover shipping )

mthompson said:

I'll be digging a bunch of rhizome up this spring. In my research, the last time hops we grown to any extent commercially around here (Fond du Lac county, WI) was in the 1870's. For a few short years, Wisconsin grew more hops than anywhere, creating a huge bubble that burst and bankrupted all but a few farmers. I don't remember the exact account of the times, but I'll see if I can find a link to that old ag report again.

Anyway, if you are interested, I could ship some out in March-April sometime. The few I dug up last year, and cared for in containers, had much better flavor than the wild ones still growing on the fence row.

Just let me know.

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Mthompson.... I too live in FDL County and would be interested in these rhizomes. PM me if you would please!!!