Growing hops from seed

[ffaoe]

So today most of the flowers on my first male hop plant open up so I started cross breeding. I wasn't entirely sure the best method for hand pollinating. What I did was cut clusters of male flowers and brush them against clusters of burrs. I then tagged the groups of burrs. I did this for my centennial and brewer's gold plants. The burrs on the centennial were very close to the bine so I was unable to place a protective bread bag over top like I did for my brewer's gold. I have a second male plant that looks like it should flower next week and will repeat the process.
Any reason why my method should not work?

Edit: 7/18/15
Tried the paint brush method today which worked surprisingly well. I used a cheapo plastic watercolor brush to dust the pollen from several flowers into a 2 dram glass vial. I then brushed the pollen onto burrs of a female. The pollen is very easy to see on the black plastic brush bristles.

 

[nagmay]

New sprouts! Yes, these are from the same batch of seed that was started back in February

Some of the seeds germinated in the first week. Over the next few months many more popped up. After a long lull, I threw the remaining seed in a tray and set it aside. So, I was pleasantly surprised last week to see brand new sprouts.

 

[nagmay]

We stopped by the hop yard to check on the first-years.

Out of the 78 original plants: 10 died and 12 males were culled. The remaining 56 plants are all female. Some are still covered with burrs, while others have fully developed cones.

 

[nagmay]

There is also one special plant that I have been keeping my eye on. From the start, the leaves have been a bit different than all the rest - elongated and heavily toothed. There are also a number of leaves with two lobes (rather than the typical, 1,3,5 configuration).

I thought the plant might grow out of it, but the phenotype is still going strong in this one. So, I was especially excited to see burrs, confirming that she is a female.

 

[nagmay]

Last night we stopped by the yard with the 2-year-olds. They are loaded with cones.
I am very excited about the prospects of getting these analyzed.

 

[alane1]

@Nagmay- Do you plan on any brewing trials?

 

[nagmay]

@Nagmay- Do you plan on any brewing trials?

The 8 plants that we selected to keep for this 2nd year all passed an initial round of brewing. Basically, we made a number of simple extract brews - switching up the hops each time. We tried to keep the procedures as exact as possible: http://gabriel.nagmay.com/2015/01/nhb00x/

But... those were 1st year plants. It will be interesting to do some more brewing this year and compare to my initial tasting notes.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Last night we stopped by the yard with the 2-year-olds. They are loaded with cones.
I am very excited about the prospects of getting these analyzed.

Way cool! How detailed are you going to get with analysis? Have you contacted OSU or using a private lab like this: http://www.karlabs.com/hops.htm

 

[nagmay]

Way cool! How detailed are you going to get with analysis? Have you contacted OSU or using a private lab like this: http://www.karlabs.com/hops.htm

Looking into private labs. I'm open to suggestions if you have one to recommend.

 

[B-Hoppy]

The only testing I ever had done was a deal I had going with a fellow at OSU a long time ago who did alpha, beta and HSI on a few samples but have heard good things about Kar. Some growers I know in MI have dealings with: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~gzt8940/andre_venter/Hops.html and have had good results. Still up in the air though.

Have been going through some of this year's seedlings recently. The first three pics are of one of the volunteers that has a very appealing bright lemon character. The last two are of one of the seedlings from the Brewers Gold and looks to have a propensity for angle wings? Of all those seedlings that I kept, they all retained most of the aroma character from their mom and are just as greasy as she is!

Also, I noticed that in the background of the 4th picture is the Canadian Redvine so I included it last, good for nothing hop other than to cover things up with, ha! That shows most of the upper half of it.

 

[nagmay]

Finally got around to the hops in the first-years yard.

Most were past prime for brewing, but our main goal was to pick the plants that will continue on for next year. A little less stringent than last year - we simply judged based on the cone size, compactness, scent, the amount of cones, and plant health. Unfortunatly, the crosses did so well that we had trouble culling 90% as hoped. Instead, we decided to continue with 26 for next year:

• Chinook ♀ x (Magnum x Cascade) ♂ - 7 plants
• Nugget ♀ x Neomexicanus (EV02) ♂ - 7 plants
• Galena ♀ x (Magnum x Cascade) ♂ - 4 plants
• POR ♀ x (Magnum x Cascade) ♂ - 3 plants
• Nugget ♀ x (Magnum x Cascade) ♂ - 2 plants
• (Magnum x Cascade) ♀ x (Magnum x Cascade) ♂ - 2 plants
• (Magnum x Chinook) ♀ x (Magnum x Chinook) ♂ - 1 plants

It was surprising to see how many Nugget x Neomexicanus crossed made the cut. These plants had consistently large cones with strong citrus/spice scent.

 

[Mojzis]

I love following this thread and the other. You guys are doing very cool things and like watching the progress!

I've been looking for feral hops for the past two years and finally stumbled on some. First was right down the road from my job climbing a telephone pole. No seeds. The second is more of a patch that I haven't gone through thoroughly but I checked a couple cones early in the season and no seeds. Hopefully I'll make it back to check again soon.

Anyway keep up the good work!

 

[HopStalker]

I just went and harvested some wild or feral hops that I’ve been monitoring so that I could get some seeds for next year. I cut a bunch of them in half to check their maturity and they are all half empty and full of green or black stuff, not nice solid white embryos.

Earlier in season I assumed that they were immature, but now I’m starting to think something is wrong.

Will they ever develop into viable seeds? Is it possible that they were pollinated by the Japanese hops in the area and are sterile?

Photo 1 is of some other seeds that I have and what I was expecting. Photo 2 is the wild or feral hop seeds. Photo 3 is the wild/ feral cones.

 

[alane1]

@HopStalker Something is definitely wrong with those seeds. I first thought they may be underdeveloped so I cut one of the seeds I harvested in early September. Underdeveloped but Still white on the inside.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443959380.438138.jpg

 

[nagmay]

Mid-winter here, so not much activity in the hop yards, but I did go and check on them this weekend - and found a surprise...

For the 1st and 2nd year plants, we have been harvesting by hand, rather than cutting down the strings. Throughout the yard the bines were dead (as you would expect)... except one. This cross has new, green shoots all the way up to the top. The pic is from about 5' up. It's been warm the last few days, but we just had several weeks of hard freeze...

I cut her down to the base, just as a precaution. I didn't want her wasting all her energy with so much time till spring.

 

[lump42]

I just went and harvested some wild or feral hops that I’ve been monitoring so that I could get some seeds for next year. I cut a bunch of them in half to check their maturity and they are all half empty and full of green or black stuff, not nice solid white embryos.

Earlier in season I assumed that they were immature, but now I’m starting to think something is wrong.

Will they ever develop into viable seeds? Is it possible that they were pollinated by the Japanese hops in the area and are sterile?

Photo 1 is of some other seeds that I have and what I was expecting. Photo 2 is the wild or feral hop seeds. Photo 3 is the wild/ feral cones.

Once the seeds are removed from the plant or the plant dies back, the seeds will not continue to fill. The only reliable way of knowing if they are viable is to take a small subset and run a germination test, essentially damp paper towel in a plastic bag kept warm (upper 70s) (think kindergarten lima bean sprouting experiment). They could have been pollinated with not compatible pollen. It could cause seeds to initiate and then abort.

 

[B-Hoppy]

This cross has new, green shoots all the way up to the top. The pic is from about 5' up. It's been warm the last few days, but we just had several weeks of hard freeze...

Was that plant a seedling last year? I've noticed that trait on most of my seedlings (maybe 2-4 feet up), but after the seedling year it doesn't seem to occur.

 

[nagmay]

Was that plant a seedling last year?

This one was a seedling two yeas ago. Seedling/young-ling vigor would make sense - I just have never seen this before.

 

[B-Hoppy]

I've seen some older literature citing the suggestion of starting new plants by laying the vines down after harvest and covering with some soil. Although I've rarely seen it since I began growing back in the 80's (other than in my seedlings), your experience seems to lend some truth to it!

 

[nagmay]

Time to start updates for 2016:

The three hop yards are full with 2nd, and 3rd year selections. With this in mind, I planned to focus germination on a limited set of seeds to fill in any open spots. This includes:

• NHB002 (EV02) x Cascade
• NHB002 (EV02) x Galena
• NHB005 (MxCas01) x Nugget
• NHB017 (MxCas13) x NHB032 (MxCas18)
• "Midwest" (open pollinated seed from a grower in - you guessed it - the Midwest US)

However, the germination rates this year were off the chart. There are now over 300 healthy sprouts! Many of these sprouted in the fridge in late February. They are now all greening up and developing true leaves.

The question now is: Where am I going to plant all of these for the season?

 

[DarkCoder]

I don't know if we are getting more experienced, but I have the same problem this year...

I took around 30 seeds of Canadien Redvine, I choose those that look not mature enough, thinking that only a few should germinate... they almost all germinate, I kept only the 10 most vigorous.

4 on 4 for my Neomex cross.

4 out of 9 on Mathon cross... those seeds were given to me. The 5 that did not germinate were in really bad condition.

I am afraid of the result of the other seeds that I harvest myself. I hate to throw away healthy plants.

 

[nagmay]

Over 370 hops have sprouted so far.

The first ones up are getting quite big and to the point where they will need a stick to climb. I have found that this point means that the growth will soon rapidly accelerate.

I am also continued to be impressed by how quickly the seedlings develop healthy roots.

 

[alane1]

Those look great Nagmay!!! 370 sprouts are a lot. Last year I had over 100 seedlings and basically just left them out in the elements in early spring. Frost , wind, and pests brought that number to about 7...much more manageable.
My seeds that sprouted and died in the fridge must have just been early risers, a lot more sprouted after I took them out of the fridge. I planted them and put them under lights last Monday.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1457579738.444243.jpg

 

[B-Hoppy]

Great job folks! It looks like there's a much greater % of germination from all of you this year and was wondering if there was any one thing you attribute that too? Mine are still at the mercy of Mother Nature out in the garlic patch and also in a secluded spot out back but it shouldn't be long due to the lack of winter?

 

[ffaoe]

I don't know about everyone else, but I attribute my early sprouting to poor choice of stratification location. I had stuck mine in a compartment in the beer fridge door. This spot would have gotten temperature fluctuations and occasional exposure to light.

 

[DarkCoder]

Great job folks! It looks like there's a much greater % of germination from all of you this year and was wondering if there was any one thing you attribute that too?

So far, for the seeds that I harvested myself : approximate germination over 90%

...VS seeds that I bought : germination below 20%.

That tells a lot so far. Maybe the seeds that you can buy around are too old or were not harvest at their best maturity stage.

Also, this year I have skipped the soaking in water step that is mentionned in a lot of "how to". I only kept the seeds in a slightly humid paper towel (Bounty brand, their design is perfect for more air flow) inside an unzipped plastic bag.

By the way B-Hoppy, I am taking care of 10 of your grandchildren (Canadian Redvine babies). Where can I send you a grandchild payment support request ?!?

 

[B-Hoppy]

I don't know about everyone else, but I attribute my early sprouting to poor choice of stratification location. I had stuck mine in a compartment in the beer fridge door. This spot would have gotten temperature fluctuations and occasional exposure to light.

Could be a closer approximation of the natural flow of things?

So far, for the seeds that I harvested myself : approximate germination over 90%

...VS seeds that I bought : germination below 20%.

That tells a lot so far. Maybe the seeds that you can buy around are too old or were not harvest at their best maturity stage.

Also, this year I have skipped the soaking in water step that is mentionned in a lot of "how to". I only kept the seeds in a slightly humid paper towel (Bounty brand, their design is perfect for more air flow) inside an unzipped plastic bag.

By the way B-Hoppy, I am taking care of 10 of your grandchildren (Canadian Redvine babies). Where can I send you a grandchild payment support request ?!?

Haha, looks like a job for Maury Povich or Jerry Springer to make that call. I just brought her from New York out to Oregon to be identified. It would be great if the kids can retain mom's vigor and maybe pick up some unique aroma character from papa?

The seeds that come up from my compost are usually a week or two ahead of those that come up in the yard (those that just dropped from the plants). Maybe the fact that the ones that went into the compost were exposed to some really hot temps in the kettle for an hour or so while I was cooling? Either way, it looks like everyone's got more than enough to keep them busy here. Cheers!

 

[nagmay]

They're only a few weeks old, but the 2016 seedlings are about to be kicked outside (under a hoop house). Otherwise, I'll soon have a twisted mess on my hands.

Looking at my germination numbers, I think they're are 2 factors that made a big difference:

1) Most of the seed was collected in fall of 2014. It sat dry in a temp controlled basement for a year before stratification. The same seed germinated without that dormant period didn't do as well.

Yes, we all know that old seed has reduced germination. With hops, I suspect that young seed might also have issue. There may be a mid-ground dormant period.

2) I used sterilized, slightly damp vermiculite this year as a substrate (rather than sand or perlite).

 

[nagmay]

Finally got around to moving the nearly 300 baby hops outside. Judging by their roots, they were ready.

Due to limited room, this year the babies were planted nearly on top of each other. They are going to have fight to make it into the next round...

 

[alane1]

The weather here is still not cooperating, it's probably going to be another week before I can get them in the ground. I have a plant that started to initiate flowering indoors. I've never heard of photo-indeterminacy in hops before, I have them on a 16 hour light cycle. Any ideas?View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1461418048.375982.jpg