Crap! I think I have males in my hopyard...now what?

[kilohertz]

Hi Guys,

Been a crazy early summer and little time has been spent in the hop yard. As a result, weeds are tall, things are unkempt and it's looking shabby, but growing like crazy.

I discovered that 4 of my transplanted heritage hops looks completely different than every other plant I have (135). I am guessing these are males, and haven't opened yet. I have 10 other varieties in the yard and don't want to create any oddball creatures. What is my best course of action? Yank em out buy the roots and burn them? Let them grow, harvest the seeds in the fall and then nuke the plants, storing the seeds for someone who wants to play with hybrids?

My first exposure to males. Help please.

Cheers

Here they are. Top picture is my guess the male, the lower one is 1 plant out of the 4 I planted of the same variety, which looks to be "normal" female, old heritage hops from the 1900's.

 

[DarkCoder]

Yep, top picture is a male !

If you plan on having seedling, reduce the amount of male flower and cover them with paper bag... collect pollen and select the female plant to pollinize. If you let the male "free", you will get a lot of seeds, which may fall on ground and seedling will pop everywhere in Spring.

 

[DarkCoder]

If you don't want seedling, just cut back the flowers / bine (keep some leaves) and make sure no new flowers grow. You can send me the plant in Fall, I will be happy to add his genes to my experiment.

 

[kilohertz]

Thanks guys,

My big concern is still...I don't want any crossbreeding happening naturally in my hop yard. I am not trying to come up with new funky plants, I just wanted to propagate an old heritage variety, so if killing them now will prevent that, I need to know. I also want to know that if I let them flower and continue to grow, can someone else use the seeds or plants for their own experiments, without harming or contaminating my hop yard?

Guess I need to dig in and read and learn about hop propagation in the wild.

Cheers

 

[B-Hoppy]

Actually, you don't have to kill them to prevent pollination from taking place. Just cut the vines at the base of the crown and they most likely won't have time to regrow to make more mature pollen. Keep an eye on them and cut again if you have to. This way, you can save the crowns and use them to barter for some beer?

 

[kilohertz]

Actually, you don't have to kill them to prevent pollination from taking place. Just cut the vines at the base of the crown and they most likely won't have time to regrow to make more mature pollen. Keep an eye on them and cut again if you have to. This way, you can save the crowns and use them to barter for some beer?

Thanks Bob,

So there is some commercial value to them? I admit, I am a complete nub to males, and don't understand how they work or ?? but I have read they can wreak havoc on an established hop yard. So I cut them back, find a buyer, remove the entire plant/crown in the fall, and go back and find females in the fall from the same area I found these, and fill the voids left by the males. Correct?

Thanks!!

 

[B-Hoppy]

Yeah, they make the girls have seeds. The new plants that come from the seeds have some of each of their parents genes and every last one that sprouts is at least a little different from each other. If you take a rhizome cutting from a plant, you're going to end up with an exact copy of the plant you took it from. Some folks like to grow the seeds out and see if they can come up with something new and exciting, it's pretty cool actually!

When you go back to find replacements for the males, just look for dried up cones and follow those vines back to the ground so you know you'll be replacing them with girls. Have fun!

 

[kilohertz]

Again Bob, thank you!!

Okay, I have a better understanding of the situation. If I was just a hobbyist playing around I agree, it would be cool to come up with something new, but as I am trying to grow consistent, reproducible results, I can' afford to "play".

Cutters coming out tomorrow....damn the torpedoes or whatever was popular in the 50's.

Cheers

 

[alane1]

If you're getting rid of the males, I'd be interested. Send me a PM if you'd be interested in a trade or something.

 

[DarkCoder]

If you're getting rid of the males, I'd be interested. Send me a PM if you'd be interested in a trade or something.

You can't !! He is in Canada !

 

[PapaBearJay]

In addition to sending material to DarkCoder, there is a research group at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I believe they are also looking for wild plants to assess and utilize for breeding.

 

[PapaBearJay]

There is also Ernest Small at AAFC in Ontario. He is one of the fathers of hop taxonomy...

 

[Bobbybob]

I am assuming these are new plants not established plants gone hermaphrodite on you.

You know you love beer and hops when a phrase like "My first exposure to males" comes along and not a joke to be found. Sorry, thought I would lower the tone of this thread.

 

[DarkCoder]

I am assuming these are new plants not established plants gone hermaphrodite on you.

You know you love beer and hops when a phrase like "My first exposure to males" comes along and not a joke to be found. Sorry, thought I would lower the tone of this thread.

I almost wrote a joke when I read that sentence !!

 

[kilohertz]

I am assuming these are new plants not established plants gone hermaphrodite on you.

You know you love beer and hops when a phrase like "My first exposure to males" comes along and not a joke to be found. Sorry, thought I would lower the tone of this thread.

Well, I was contemplating using that as the title...but thought I'd better not.

Yes, these are "new to me" plants that I planted from rhizomes this past spring (4 months), they are from an old hop yard, planted in the 1890's, and I wanted to revive an old breed. See my other post "What hops were around in 1900's?"

As for the males, I have an "off grid" friend on the other side of the mountain that I am going to give these too so he can keep them going, and we can experiment up there with some new varieties. All this discussion has me interested in learning much more about hops, beyond just correct soil, growing conditions and varieties.

I think I will go out this weekend and find a female plant from the same area and start again. You just can't tell the boys from the girls until they reach puberty.

There you go, I'll leave that one for you guys add on to.

 

[alane1]

It happened to me a few years ago(not puberty) I collected rhizomes from a dense patch. The one I kept turned out to be male, and the rest I shared with some on the forum. What did you guys end up with?

He's just about ready to start getting frisky with the ladies

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1468690753.382410.jpg

 

[dmunkey]

Female plants can show male signs during times of stress, like too little water, nutrient deficiency etc... Could be whats happening here.