Hop Seeds?

[ShoeBrew]

I bought wet Centennial hops from the local homebrew store, and found a boatload of seeds while going through them.

I understand that I may get a male plant and that if anything grows it will be of Centennial heritage rather than what would be considered a true Centennial and that I won't see any cones for the first year or so. Which I'm totally cool with, as potentially having my own "house" variety, I think would be AWESOME. :rockin:

Before anyone says "get rid of the male plant," I see one as a long term benefit, as genetic diversity does great things for any species, also I've read that having one nearby can potentially make the cones bigger. And if I only get a male plant, I can HOPEFULLY get my hands on some rhizomes next year... Maybe balancing it out with Chinook and get some bass notes in there (if any activity occurs).

My questions are:

1) Has anyone tried this?
2) If so have you had any luck?
C) What methods did you use to propagate them?

 

[nagmay]

Always good to meet another person enthusiastic about growing from seed.

1) Yes, there are a few active threads on this board. Here's the one I started: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=397219

2) Quite a bit. I have 2 small yards running right now - about 150 plants, all from seed. Last year we selected 8 candidates from the original sprouts. They are putting off a ton of cones right now and we hope to get some chem analysis done this year.

It's a good time to mention that under the right conditions, you should be able to sex the plants (and maybe get a bunch of cones) in the first year.

3) Damp paper towel and direct planting in soiless mix both gave fair results for me. However, there are 2 things to consider:

- The seeds like a long stratification period. I would place the seeds in slightly damp perlite and place them in the fridge fro a few months.

- Even with the stratification, the germination rates can be abysmal. Plant as many seeds as you can.

 

[ffaoe]

Its certainly possible to get viable seeds within a package of hops but the odds are very low. I have tried this method 7 or 8 times and only once got viable seeds, of which only the mother was known. The time that I got viable seeds, the germination rate was very low, less than 5%. You have to remember that any seedling will be unique and may not have any characteristics of the mother.

In each case I would cold stratify them in the fridge and do the wet paper towel method of germination. The time I succeeded in germination, I simply put the seeds directly in seed starting media in the green house. In that situation I felt more confident as the seeds were larger than the others and more developed. The open pollinated seeds I got to germinate were of a Cascade mother, unknown father.

Of the 12 that germinated, 10 survived, and 2 of which produced male flowers. This is my first year for the seedlings. I took flowers from the two probable males and made crosses with Cascade, Centennial, Brewer's Gold, and 4 of the probable female seedlings.

Hopefully there are some good viable seeds in the hops you purchased. The more hop breeders out there the better. Not only for sharing best practices, but also for sharing plant materials.
Best of luck ShoeBrew

 

[B-Hoppy]

Those seeds sure can grow into new plants. My first one came up in my compost back in the mid 90's and is now donating her seeds to a breeding program up in Michigan at Great Lakes Hops. I've used whole hops exclusively since I began brewing back around '88 or '89 and have found tons of seeds over the years. The spent grains and hops end up in my compost pile after the brew. After planting my garlic in November I always topdress with an inch or so of compost and the seedlings begin to pop around the beginning of April.

Having a male around does make for bigger hops with some references stating that the cones increase in size by 30% over unseeded . Just do a search for "seeded hops" and a bunch of links will show up. I'm kind of concerned that the ones you found may not have had a chance to mature as it takes between 4-6 weeks? Only time will tell in your case.

On a side note, 'B-Hoppy' will be attending this event: http://ihs.hopsteiner.us/ If anyone has any questions about breeding, PM me and I'll try to see if I can get them answered. Should be a good time!

 

[ShoeBrew]

Thank you all for the knowledge.

Nagmay:

Hell yeah! Although, I'm sure most brewers don't even consider it, being that most commercial whole hops have the seeds removed and rhizomes are readily available if you can jump on them in time. And from what I'm reading, it appears to be a task that most people (not even people foolish enough to pick up brewing as a hobby) are willing to undertake. But I dig the idea of having one's own "house strain," especially if it has favorable characteristics.


Ffaoe:

Thanks man. I'm counting on a Centennial lineage rather than a full on Centennial. Which is great about home brewing, is that you can really put your own personal spin on brews. So if I get a male plant (if any), that would be ideal so I could cross it with either a rhizome of my choice or a female plant that also pops up. And like you said with sharing plant materials, living in an apartment, I'll have to if more than two take off.

B-Hoppy:

I'd imagine that it's pretty awesome to watch those babies take off beyond your own personal use.

Even, if the ones I've found have not had a chance to mature, I now know where to look and keep trying, especially if that hop farm is local to me.

-Brew On!