Hello Hop Growers,
I've been home brewing for a bit over a year now, and i want to get into growing hops.
Since this spring i've been hoping to find some wild hops along the bike path i ride to work, and last week i did. I've found 10+ plants along a 3 km stretch of bike path that runs along a river. i thought i had hit the jackpot, but it turns out that out of the 7 plants i managed to sample (some are growing in a dense Willow tree forrest) i've only found 3 distinct different types:
Specimen A: the plant i first found, it has green bines and green leaves, with plenty of cones i gatered 82 grams dried. The aroma of the cones is piney and herbal, when made into a tea it also gives a grassy flavour, with very clean bitterness. Surprisingly bitter actually. Carries seeds.
Spec A: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1026nKoM4VtwGwj6F_wVocWF3NgqgjTvM
Specimen B: the second one found, with red bines and dark green leaves. This one was bushy as it had nothing to climb on. Harvested about 100 gr of wet cones, still drying. Aroma is ''dank'' and piney, in a tea the bitterness is a bit more harsh then spec A. Carries seeds. Most likely closly related to spec C.
Specimen C: the biggest plant found, red bines and dark leaves. Very big with loads of big cones. I harvested 400 gr wet, still drying. Aroma is pungent piney with onion, peach, overripe mango and pineapple. In a tea the pineyness overpowers, bitterness is more harsh then spec A. Carries big seeds. The 5 other plants i sampled were very similar, i was surprised that they were so similar.
I've taken cuts from these 3 plants, hoping they will grow roots. Im curious if the aroma of the cones will be different next time they flower if i've taken care of the plants, so ill try and grow them.
My question to you guys is: do you think its worth trying to grow the seeds from the cones, are they really as heterozygous after all? I've found 5 to be similar, im just hoping they are the +/-50% that smells oniony/garlic as Nagmay discribed. Is there still a possibility the seeds grow into a plant that is very different from its parents? I mean you cant polish a turd, right?
I dont know the father to the seeds i find in these wild plants, but im suspecting its closely related to Spec B and C. (because there were so many alike growing closely together)
What i am going to do is try to grow a male from spec A or spec C and try to cross those, because the seem to be very different from each other. And im going to try grow females to see if they are different from the parents. And lets just hope the cuttings make it.
Greetings,
Chris Baan.
I've been home brewing for a bit over a year now, and i want to get into growing hops.
Since this spring i've been hoping to find some wild hops along the bike path i ride to work, and last week i did. I've found 10+ plants along a 3 km stretch of bike path that runs along a river. i thought i had hit the jackpot, but it turns out that out of the 7 plants i managed to sample (some are growing in a dense Willow tree forrest) i've only found 3 distinct different types:
Specimen A: the plant i first found, it has green bines and green leaves, with plenty of cones i gatered 82 grams dried. The aroma of the cones is piney and herbal, when made into a tea it also gives a grassy flavour, with very clean bitterness. Surprisingly bitter actually. Carries seeds.
Spec A: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1026nKoM4VtwGwj6F_wVocWF3NgqgjTvM
Specimen B: the second one found, with red bines and dark green leaves. This one was bushy as it had nothing to climb on. Harvested about 100 gr of wet cones, still drying. Aroma is ''dank'' and piney, in a tea the bitterness is a bit more harsh then spec A. Carries seeds. Most likely closly related to spec C.
Specimen C: the biggest plant found, red bines and dark leaves. Very big with loads of big cones. I harvested 400 gr wet, still drying. Aroma is pungent piney with onion, peach, overripe mango and pineapple. In a tea the pineyness overpowers, bitterness is more harsh then spec A. Carries big seeds. The 5 other plants i sampled were very similar, i was surprised that they were so similar.
I've taken cuts from these 3 plants, hoping they will grow roots. Im curious if the aroma of the cones will be different next time they flower if i've taken care of the plants, so ill try and grow them.
My question to you guys is: do you think its worth trying to grow the seeds from the cones, are they really as heterozygous after all? I've found 5 to be similar, im just hoping they are the +/-50% that smells oniony/garlic as Nagmay discribed. Is there still a possibility the seeds grow into a plant that is very different from its parents? I mean you cant polish a turd, right?
I dont know the father to the seeds i find in these wild plants, but im suspecting its closely related to Spec B and C. (because there were so many alike growing closely together)
What i am going to do is try to grow a male from spec A or spec C and try to cross those, because the seem to be very different from each other. And im going to try grow females to see if they are different from the parents. And lets just hope the cuttings make it.
Greetings,
Chris Baan.
