So...You Want to Breed Your Own Hops.

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I know what you mean

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Today was nice enough I took a few moments to go outside and work. In the process I found a few moments to string some lines and at least tell myself that the season is near..

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Five down, two to go. After that maybe the fence...and then the house...


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alane1 said:
I did some burning yesterday to clear out some land, which is nice to finally get outside and start work. Today is also day 30 stratification for my 1st package of seeds, moving them someplace warmer today.:)
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Woohoo! Just remember that some seeds may take up to 4 weeks to sprout. If you don't have any after that point, replace them for a couple more weeks. Then try again!


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I am on day 16 for my hop seed stratification. These are the seeds that DarkCoder sent me. I really hope that I am successful and able to post results.

Here is a picture of some of my hops that are currently growing in my yard.

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brewerelated said:
I am on day 16 for my hop seed stratification. These are the seeds that DarkCoder sent me. I really hope that I am successful and able to post results.

Here is a picture of some of my hops that are currently growing in my yard.
Click to expand...


Varieties?


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PapaBearJay said:
Varieties?


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Click to expand...

The Centennial is 2nd year and all of the other plants are 1st year grown from rhizomes. I am relatively new to hop growing.

The seeds that DarkCoder sent me were seeds from whole leaf Cascade from Hop Union. I wish I had more space because I'd love to plant a bunch more varieties for my breeding project.

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Hope for the best prepare for the worst, they say.


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From what I read on here on the forum it seems that germination rates are pretty low. It would be nice to get at least one male and one female. That would make me happy. If I could only pick one I would pick the one male. As that would give me a way to create my own seeds.
 
Nice. I really should of ordered some this year. I have a lot of room to grow them in too


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brewerelated said:
From what I read on here on the forum it seems that germination rates are pretty low. It would be nice to get at least one male and one female. That would make me happy. If I could only pick one I would pick the one male. As that would give me a way to create my own seeds.
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That's precisely what I'm hoping for as well. At least this season I'll be able to determine the gender of 2nd year plants, and hope that if I have any males that I get pollen in time.
 
How many second year plants do you have? I am thinking there should be roughly a 50/50 chance of getting a male vs female.

If you have 4 plants you have about a 94% chance that you get 1 male or more assuming that hops are 50/50 male to female.
 
madcore said:
Nice. I really should of ordered some this year. I have a lot of room to grow them in too


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You can probably still get some rhizomes. Some of the rhizomes that I ordered this year haven't even arrived yet. They usually start shipping at the end of March or beginning of April.
 
brewerelated said:
How many second year plants do you have? I am thinking there should be roughly a 50/50 chance of getting a male vs female.

If you have 4 plants you have about a 94% chance that you get 1 male or more assuming that hops are 50/50 male to female.
Click to expand...

I don't remember the exact number at this point, in fact, here in the next couple weeks I need to uncover and pull them out (of the ground). My luck I won't have any males.
 
PapaBearJay said:
I don't remember the exact number at this point, in fact, here in the next couple weeks I need to uncover and pull them out (of the ground). My luck I won't have any males.
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Don't look at it like that, you could have a female that's a winner, or a male that's resistant to every disease. You never know, that's the beauty of genetics.
 
Actually, you could simply use your female plants for pollination. Spraying a water solution with fifty parts per million or so of gibberellic acid and shading the plants should make your females produce some male flowers. Or not. I'm just guessing at it.
 
Some early morning goodies.

So, 10 more germinated over the weekend, excellent. That's 13 total, across 4 families/seed lots.

The toothpicks will signify their germination week, and they will be assigned breeding numbers based on the seedlot, date, and germination week.

Here soon I will be starting a document to pass around as a central organizing document for us to keep track of our materials.

Is everyone on board?

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What was your method for getting the seeds above to germinate? Did you germinate them in the vermiculite or did you germinate them first and then transplant them into the vermiculite? How long did you stratify those seeds for?

I am on board for documenting and staying organized.
 
PapaBearJay said:
Here soon I will be starting a document to pass around as a central organizing document for us to keep track of our materials.

Is everyone on board?
Click to expand...


That would be nice...maybe a spreadsheet share through Google doc. That would be a nice way to show plant material that we are ready to share with the breeding community.
 
brewerelated said:
What was your method for getting the seeds above to germinate? Did you germinate them in the vermiculite or did you germinate them first and then transplant them into the vermiculite? How long did you stratify those seeds for?

I am on board for documenting and staying organized.
Click to expand...

The above pictured seeds were cold-stratified at 40-46 degrees for 6 weeks. Two of the green (toothpicks) seedlings were actually germinated inside of the cooler. They were stratified in their current container in the cooler, in the soil mix. Moisture was checked weekly and a dome was placed on top to reduce moisture lost.
 
The glare from the lighting looks like high pressure sodium, is that what you're using? When my seedlings germinate I plan on using 400 w high pressure sodium with a 12/12 schedule. I like your idea about staying organized too.
 
alane1 said:
The glare from the lighting looks like high pressure sodium, is that what you're using? When my seedlings germinate I plan on using 400 w high pressure sodium with a 12/12 schedule. I like your idea about staying organized too.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are HPS. Frankly, I'd recommend giving it 16/8, as that way they will be fully vegetative, especially since the growing season will be upon us soon. Also the longer you can extend the growing season the better, though they'll get to be a decent size by the end of the first season.
 
Here's an update from yesterday everyone. Seven more seedlings germinated.

I am working on the document right now and should be able to send something out this evening.

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PapaBearJay said:
The above pictured seeds were cold-stratified at 40-46 degrees for 6 weeks. Two of the green (toothpicks) seedlings were actually germinated inside of the cooler. They were stratified in their current container in the cooler, in the soil mix. Moisture was checked weekly and a dome was placed on top to reduce moisture lost.
Click to expand...

what was your germination rate, or is the jury still out?
 
alane1 said:
what was your germination rate, or is the jury still out?
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As far as I'm aware they're still germinating, so the jury is still out. Generally I try to allow for up to 8 weeks after stratification before I make any determinations. Yes, that seems like a long time, but some seeds need more help than others.
 
I guess you can still get some to germinate this way but from what I've been reading a natural winter (outside) will give the best results. I'm only expecting around 5-10% germination rate. Next year I might try the natural winter and compare results.
 
Papabearjay,
What are your recommendations for central Florida? Forget it?.
Very sandy soil. Deadly sun.
 

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