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

CornyKegs 728
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PapaBearJay said:
Place the harvested flower stems on tinfoil/wax paper out of direct sunlight. Place them so they'll shed onto it. I would wait until the flowers have already opened, as otherwise they may just shrivel before they open. If they've begun to shed then collect immediately.

Storing....fridge? They're still respiring, so you'll want to limit the amount they do. Keep it wrapped-up like a note you received from the cute girl in class with a paper clip or envelope. Or if you have vials, etc.. be creative!
Click to expand...

Do you have any data yet on the ideal stage of burr development for fertilization?
I haven't been able to keep good notes yet, but going by "instinct"
somewhere between pinky-nail and thumb-nail size looks best to me...
Before that seems kind of early and after that they rapidly Kafkasize into cones....
 
Blue-Frog said:
Do you have any data yet on the ideal stage of burr development for fertilization?

I haven't been able to keep good notes yet, but going by "instinct"

somewhere between pinky-nail and thumb-nail size looks best to me...

Before that seems kind of early and after that they rapidly Kafkasize into cones....
Click to expand...


Though time consuming, it might be easiest for home-growers to re-pollinate at certain intervals....


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nagmay said:
Sure, we should swap pollen. Any tips on collecting and keeping it fresh?
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Wayyyyy technical, but the following study shows that keeping pollen in a close jar in the fridge (up to 1 year) is a good solution for keeping pollen for fertilization.

PhD study on pollen


Edit: ** NOTE ** In the study, a 200-mesh screen (around 74 microns) was used to separate pollen from other unwanted particules. Not sure if it's easy for everyone to find that kind of filter... but some inexpensive cone paint strainer are filtering particules 125 microns and up, that is something like a 120-mesh screen.
 
Collected pollen. I brown bagged the male flowers shortly before they opened - not optimal for collection, but I'm trying to be a good neighbor. Later, I shook the flowers using a sieve:

pollen.jpg
 
DarkCoder said:
Wayyyyy technical, but the following study shows that keeping pollen in a close jar in the fridge (up to 1 year) is a good solution for keeping pollen for fertilization.

PhD study on pollen


Edit: ** NOTE ** In the study, a 200-mesh screen (around 74 microns) was used to separate pollen from other unwanted particules. Not sure if it's easy for everyone to find that kind of filter... but some inexpensive cone paint strainer are filtering particules 125 microns and up, that is something like a 120-mesh screen.
Click to expand...

Any idea about fine cheese-cloth?
 
This is what I was thinking for pollen capture. I'm also going to place a protective bag over the burrs to insure that the females only get pollinated by the males of my choosing. My only concern is that the bags might tear if they get wet, but I don't plan on having them there that long.

004.jpg
 
alane1 said:
This is what I was thinking for pollen capture. I'm also going to place a protective bag over the burrs to insure that the females only get pollinated by the males of my choosing. My only concern is that the bags might tear if they get wet, but I don't plan on having them there that long.
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Did you get your package?
 
Is everyone keeping track of their crosses this year? If so, can you all post them here? If they're successful, is everyone up for trading seed?
 
alane1 said:
I'd be interested in a seed exchange, I'd also like to do a hop exchange at some point so we can start a sensory panel.
Click to expand...

One characteristic I am interested in is "fitness".

WikiPedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_(biology)

or

.edu: http://www.radford.edu/~rsheehy/GraphingDemo/fitness1.html

This said, I don't know how many flowers each of us plans on pollinating or how many seeds we can get based on differences in pollination protocols. That said, would it be wise to base our sharing on a percentage basis?

We communicate which crosses were made throughout the season, then have a rank-and-file system, which we order our top 5 (for example) and then distribute a percentage of seed based on the number of people requesting the same lots?

If only one person ranks it at #1, maybe they get 15-25% of the seed lot. If more people rank it in there list, it then gets further subdivided amongst the group. (If two rank it #1, then maybe each party gets 12.5%, etc. If one ranks it #1 and another ranks it #2, then #1 gets 15% and #2 gets 10%.)

This is just a suggestion, but I'd like input as well. We can always just have it be by decision of the breeder, but I'm trying to make this as unbiased as possible.

We're all subject to making our own breeding decisions and having our own criteria, but it allows for knowledge and material to be exchanged.
 
alane1 said:
About 40 but only 10 or so are thriving.
Click to expand...

Much like you alane1, I have one that is extremely short. Less than 3-4' tall, but I won't make any considerations about it being dwarf until next year when it has a full season in its current spot.
 
PapaBearJay said:
Any idea about fine cheese-cloth?
Click to expand...

I found a site indicating that their "fine cheesecloth" have 30 threads per inch...so probably able to filter particules of 595 microns and up.

See that mesh/microns chart.

The study says that on their first attempt to store pollen, they took a 100-mesh screen, which failed to separate pollen and resin gland and that the mixture become clumpy after a certain period of time. Then, they tried with a 200-mesh screen, which did the job.
 
PapaBearJay said:
Is everyone keeping track of their crosses this year? If so, can you all post them here? If they're successful, is everyone up for trading seed?
Click to expand...

Yes, I will keep track and yes, If I have a lot of seeds, I am up for trading. Based on the germination rate, I am afraid to give away to many seeds and end up with no new seedling next year. So far, I have 2 females flowering with 6 to 8 nodes with a few burrs each. And 1 male that has not open flowers yet.
 
nagmay said:
Yep. Those flowers are now in a bag dropping pollen (hopefully). If it goes well, I should be able to offer it to those on my list soon. You all still have plants in the burr stage, correct?
Click to expand...

I have a female Neo1 and Chinook in burr stage. My Cascades and Columbus have already formed cones and will probably be ready for harvest soon.
 
DarkCoder said:
Yes, I will keep track and yes, If I have a lot of seeds, I am up for trading. Based on the germination rate, I am afraid to give away to many seeds and end up with no new seedling next year. So far, I have 2 females flowering with 6 to 8 nodes with a few burrs each. And 1 male that has not open flowers yet.
Click to expand...


DC, that in part was why I suggested a percentage-based ranking system. That way only a maximum portion is given out and that gives some flexibility to the breeder yet.

I realize that until we establish a large population this is a limited set of individuals, but we should at least develop framework for what we hope to accomplish, right?


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brewerelated said:
I have a female Neo1 and Chinook in burr stage. My Cascades and Columbus have already formed cones and will probably be ready for harvest soon.
Click to expand...


Were you able to pollinate anything this year?


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Has anyone started culling yet?
Click to expand...
I have been pulling all the males from the main yard and placing them in pots away from the ladies. This has freed up space to plant a few more seedlings.

Many of the first years are covered in burrs, but there is one that is already developing a ton of small, lupulin-heavy cones. They already smell, really, really good!

Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 6.06.38 PM.jpg
 
An update of the "hopyard". All of the named varieties have initiated flowering, and pollinations have started. So far only Magnum has been pollinated, but there will be more to follow in the coming week.
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1405951469.525974.jpg


No selections have occurred yet and all but three plants have reached the top which is ~10' in height (due to monetary and labor restrictions). None of these plants have begun flowering (which may be due to the late planting...).
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1405951477.083834.jpg
 
So we've all been interested in finding plants and/or seeds. While plants provide obvious growth and potential pollen/eggs sources for our breeding efforts, I like the idea of starting from seed.

I think the largest issue of growing from seed seems to be the acclimation process, or at least for me it has been. I have lost a fair amount of my seedling population because of it. I do have a handful of first-year plants that I am interested in, specifically some that came from a couple of the seed lots pictured here below.

I haven't posted any pictures of those yet, but will update in the coming days.

I am working on creating a genetic seed stock that will hopefully carry a lot of diversity in it. One of these is a recent acquisition and I will be attempting to confirm its viability in the coming months with my own pollinated seeds. If it comes back successful I plan on placing a large order.

ImageUploadedByHome Brew1406003029.024011.jpg


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ImageUploadedByHome Brew1406208898.356992.jpg

What a crossing label might look like for those interested.

This morning I walked away with 36 more pollination attempts.

While I would like to make numerous different crosses this year, I think for the benefit of still being able to harvest something out of my yard, I will only be making a relatively small number.

My plan at least is to use 3-4 females crossed with as many males as possible. This will allow for calculations of paternal influence on heritability of traits, as multiple families will be derived from the same maternal background.

Plus several of you have already made crosses with some of the same varieties that I have, so I will attempt my other cultivars. Next year I plan on reversing which ones I cross with.

EDIT:

I also plan on adding accessible texts to our Dropbox so everyone may read and get ideas. If you have a paper you'd like to add, feel free to send it to me and I'll add it in. I will also include plant breeding texts as I come across them.
 
Thinking about crosses...

I have also been hand fertilizing small sections from each female with pollen from different males - hoping to achieve a variety of crosses. As you know this can be time consuming. It is also probably pointless for triploid varieties such as Willamette (feel free to correct me if this is not the case).

Does anyone have a list of the ploidy for commercial hop varieties?
 
nagmay said:
Thinking about crosses...

I have also been hand fertilizing small sections from each female with pollen from different males - hoping to achieve a variety of crosses. As you know this can be time consuming. It is also probably pointless for triploid varieties such as Willamette (feel free to correct me if this is not the case).

Does anyone have a list of the ploidy for commercial hop varieties?
Click to expand...

Triploid: Mt Hood, Willamette, Liberty, Crystal, Santiam, Ultra... probably "Super Alpha (NZ)" too, info found about her pedigree says that it comes from a tetraploid Smooth Cone.
 
The list is actually quite long, a majority of NZ hops are triploid. There are also new developments and breeding being done as a means to replace older European varieties with updated characteristics (specifically yield).


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Just a little status...out of my 17 remaining (interesting) seedling, I have 4 females, 3 males (probably a 4th one). I will not be able to provide pollen this year, my plants only have a few bunch of less than 10 flowers. But at least, I can tell their sex.
 
PapaBearJay said:
The list is actually quite long, a majority of NZ hops are triploid. There are also new developments and breeding being done as a means to replace older European varieties with updated characteristics (specifically yield).


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Click to expand...


Well, most NZ are not available in North America, so I did not loose time to watch their pedigree. :)
 
DarkCoder said:
Well, most NZ are not available in North America, so I did not loose time to watch their pedigree. :)
Click to expand...


Yes but some of the parents are, as they have utilized many NA cultivars. It's always a good idea to have pedigree information on hand when deciding what crosses to make during a season.


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ImageUploadedByHome Brew1406399526.210921.jpg
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1406399541.825470.jpg
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1406399556.274857.jpg

Surprise, surprise! Some more seedlings decided to germinate. Good thing to because a good amount did not survive transplanting, thus decreasing the potential diversity of my setup.


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As of this morning, I've landed 200 hand-pollinations...I'm really hoping for 85% success, but we will see...


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