Has anyone grown Neomexicana hops?

[PapaBearJay]

The bad news... I was limited on time so I only grabbed a few rhizomes to plant here. For any locals looking to grab some rhizomes, I found these growing right next to the Las Huertas creek just upstream from the turnoff for the Sandia Cave. If I get a chance to go back up in the next couple weeks I'll grab some more rhizomes for HBT folks. If not, I may have some from my yard after this year's growing season.

At the very least, I'm planning to go back up there in the fall to do some wild hop harvesting.

Find any seeds in any of the cones during your expedition?


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[Doog_Si_Reeb]

I grabbed a couple cones to look at closer to see if there are seeds. Are hop seeds easily visible in a cone? I don't think I've ever seen hop seeds before.

 

[PapaBearJay]

If you macerate the flowers the seeds will be round, dark tan to dark brown in color, and about 0.5-1 mm in size.

Otherwise just remove the bracts from the strig, if there are any seeds present they will be positioned near where the bracts (leaf-like features of the flower) attach to the strig and that area should be swollen or inflated.


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[corkybstewart]

The bad news... I was limited on time so I only grabbed a few rhizomes to plant here. For any locals looking to grab some rhizomes, I found these growing right next to the Las Huertas creek just upstream from the turnoff for the Sandia Cave. If I get a chance to go back up in the next couple weeks I'll grab some more rhizomes for HBT folks. If not, I may have some from my yard after this year's growing season.

At the very least, I'm planning to go back up there in the fall to do some wild hop harvesting.

What do you think the elevation is at that spot? Are there lots of plants or just a few. I will probably have to be in Santa Fe sometime in the next month or 2, that would be a great side trip.

 

[brewerelated]

The bad news... I was limited on time so I only grabbed a few rhizomes to plant here. For any locals looking to grab some rhizomes, I found these growing right next to the Las Huertas creek just upstream from the turnoff for the Sandia Cave. If I get a chance to go back up in the next couple weeks I'll grab some more rhizomes for HBT folks. If not, I may have some from my yard after this year's growing season.

At the very least, I'm planning to go back up there in the fall to do some wild hop harvesting.

Excellent. I am wishing you luck in growing the rhizomes so that you will have more to share with the community in the future. I'd be happy to buy some rhizomes from you in the future. If you run into any male plants in the wild please grab me a rhizome. I would gladly pay for that as well.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

What do you think the elevation is at that spot? Are there lots of plants or just a few. I will probably have to be in Santa Fe sometime in the next month or 2, that would be a great side trip.

The spot I marked on my GPS is 7234 ft. If you drive through the town of Placitas and just continue on that highway, it will turn into a dirt road. I think I drove 3 or 4 miles on the dirt section before stopping. The Las Huertas creek runs right along side the road. I found two of the plants growing about 10 feet away from the creek. The third plant I found was up the hill a bit, probably about 75 feet from the creek.

Considering how quickly I found last year's bines still coming up from the ground, I would guess that there are a lot of plants in that area.

To give away all secrets, here are the coordinates I marked on my GPS for the plants I found:

N 35 14.852'
W 106 24.857'

 

[B-Hoppy]

I grabbed a couple cones to look at closer to see if there are seeds. Are hop seeds easily visible in a cone? I don't think I've ever seen hop seeds before.

Here's a pretty good page that goes into the morphology of the hop cone http://community.mrbeer.com/communi.../07/30/flower-power-part-ii-(anatomy-of-a-hop) and a few pictures from last week's brewing. They're a lot easier to find once the hops get to the stage that you found them in as opposed to looking for them them in a sticky gooey fresh cone.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

Excellent. I am wishing you luck in growing the rhizomes so that you will have more to share with the community in the future. I'd be happy to buy some rhizomes from you in the future. If you run into any male plants in the wild please grab me a rhizome. I would gladly pay for that as well.

I was hoping to identify some male plants based on the dried bines, but I don't know if they are easy to identify based on the bines alone. The cones I saw were clearly female so I went after those rhizomes. Are male bines distinctively different?

 

[brewerelated]

I've only seen male plants in pictures. Here is a picture that I found on the internet. I have not seen one in person.

 

[PapaBearJay]

I've only seen male plants in pictures. Here is a picture that I found on the internet. I have not seen one in person.

It's actually quite amazing to see the males in flower, some can quite literally be encased in a shell of flowers.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

No luck with seeds in the few cones I had grabbed. Being that the cones are incredibly dry, I wonder if there may have been seeds, but they fell out over the winter.

I saw some vines that had small branches, ~4", coming off of either side periodically. I wonder if those could be male hop plants. I'm going to make a couple more trips up to that area throughout the summer and fall to see if I can identify some males.

 

[shtoive87]

The spot I marked on my GPS is 7234 ft. If you drive through the town of Placitas and just continue on that highway, it will turn into a dirt road. I think I drove 3 or 4 miles on the dirt section before stopping. The Las Huertas creek runs right along side the road. I found two of the plants growing about 10 feet away from the creek. The third plant I found was up the hill a bit, probably about 75 feet from the creek.

Considering how quickly I found last year's bines still coming up from the ground, I would guess that there are a lot of plants in that area.

To give away all secrets, here are the coordinates I marked on my GPS for the plants I found:

N 35 14.852'
W 106 24.857'

I just went up today trying to find some at the location you mentioned. My wife and I looked for 2 hours and couldn't find anything... Maybe all the cones have blown away by now? We'll have to go back near the end of the summer.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

I wouldn't be surprised if the cones had all blown away. We've had some pretty wicked winds this spring.

Before I saw the cones, I first noticed the tangle of dried vines in the bushes next to Las Huertas creek. The spot where I found them was directly across the creek, where several logs make it easier to cross. As I walked up from the creek, maybe ten feet from the water, I noticed the vines in a bush to the left.

There might even be some visible shoots coming up from the roots at this point. When I grabbed a couple rhizomes a few weeks ago, there were small purple/white shoots coming up about 1/2" from the root. The one that I have in a pot in my yard is starting to show some small leaves.

 

[Crito]

So far amillia was good quality rhizome. Neo1 were all junk. I will be surprised if 50 % will grow.

The review of neo1 wasn't from a forum sponsor. Apparently a lot of retailers got the short end of the stick on neo1 rhizomes. There's only one source for them.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

Sorry to hear about the Neo-1. I was hoping to get one of those rhizomes, but everyone was sold out of them.

Here's how one of the plucked-from-the-wild neomexicanus hop rhizomes is doing.

 

[Crito]

If anyone finds a strawberry or peachy flavor. You have hit gold.

 

[blizzard]

Sorry to hear about the Neo-1. I was hoping to get one of those rhizomes, but everyone was sold out of them.

Here's how one of the plucked-from-the-wild neomexicanus hop rhizomes is doing.

You're definitely off to a good start.

 

[brewerelated]

Here's how one of the plucked-from-the-wild neomexicanus hop rhizomes is doing.

Awesome, hopefully you'll get some cones.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Well done!

 

[Crosshatch]

I have 2 Neo rhizomes and 2 Cascade rhizomes that I am going to be planting this weekend, (in western Maryland). I'll let you know how they do. This is my first time planting hops so hopefully all goes well.

 

[corkybstewart]

I got 4 Amilla and 2 Neo's, the neos were twice as big but had fewer sprouts. Still, they had root so I think they'll be OK.
I ordered 4 Neo's but only got the 2 and a store credit for the price of the others. If they do well I'll probably have a few small root trimmings to sell or trade next spring.

 

[roastquake]

Just got mine as well, 2 each of Neo-1 and Amilla. Now it's time to see how they stand up to wet heat!

 

[corkybstewart]

As of yesterday 2 of my Amillia are up, still no neomexicanus.

 

[brewerelated]

As of yesterday 2 of my Amillia are up, still no neomexicanus.

That is good news. About the Amallia that is.

 

[Sanchothe7th]

I just went for a wild hop hunt, and was quite successful. Got a few rhizomes and there was an established plant surrounded by a few other established plants. I will post pics of it all tomorrow. These were found in the Sacramento's in a valley.

Hopefully they will take and maybe make some good hops. who knows.

Its a female, I didn't see any males. all seemed like one big plant that has spread out for god knows how long. Found some old cones, were pretty small but I figure its because it hasn't rained much here. The yellowed cones still smelled good, but its hard to gauge on something that has been baking in the sun for 8 months. Still bitter too.

 

[brewerelated]

I just went for a wild hop hunt, and was quite successful. Got a few rhizomes and there was an established plant surrounded by a few other established plants. I will post pics of it all tomorrow. These were found in the Sacramento's in a valley.

Hopefully they will take and maybe make some good hops. who knows.

Its a female, I didn't see any males. all seemed like one big plant that has spread out for god knows how long. Found some old cones, were pretty small but I figure its because it hasn't rained much here. The yellowed cones still smelled good, but its hard to gauge on something that has been baking in the sun for 8 months. Still bitter too.

Hopefully they will be successful. In couple of years maybe we can do a rhizome swap. I live down in SoCal.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

I just went for a wild hop hunt, and was quite successful. Got a few rhizomes and there was an established plant surrounded by a few other established plants. I will post pics of it all tomorrow. These were found in the Sacramento's in a valley.

That's cool that you were able to find some in the Sacramento's. Did you find them near a creek or some other year-round water source?

I'm going to check the Jemez and see if I can find some growing there as well. I want to pick some wild cones this fall and would really like to collect them from multiple locations. It would be cool to make a couple beers with wild hops picked from different locations to see if there are noticeable differences.

My native plant is doing pretty well. One bine is about 18" long and is starting to go up twine. With any luck, I'll be able to clip off a rhizome or two next year in exchange for some other variety.

 

[Sanchothe7th]

That's cool that you were able to find some in the Sacramento's. Did you find them near a creek or some other year-round water source?

I'm going to check the Jemez and see if I can find some growing there as well. I want to pick some wild cones this fall and would really like to collect them from multiple locations. It would be cool to make a couple beers with wild hops picked from different locations to see if there are noticeable differences.

My native plant is doing pretty well. One bine is about 18" long and is starting to go up twine. With any luck, I'll be able to clip off a rhizome or two next year in exchange for some other variety.

They weren't in a creek, but they were in what seemed to be a drained out area in a steep valley of a mountain. it was mostly rocky so I assume that most of the soil had been cleaned off the top leaving a nice rocky embankment. I looked around for awhile and ended up seeing the tell tale signs of them. I was looking for light foliage trees and bushes with vines growing up them. Some of the small elderberry trees were completely overgrown with old yellow vines and old hops. I mostly just took some small off shoots that had a few bines and leaves on them 2-3. except for one larger one that was easier to get to.

This one is in too small of a pot but i want its root structure to get back to snuff before i throw it in the ground.

there is another rhizome in this pot as well, not sure how well its gonna do but we will see.

I cant help but notice that this specific plant has 5 very sectioned, pointy leaves...

 

[corkybstewart]

That is good news. About the Amallia that is.

One neomexicanus seems to have poked it's little head out of the dirt today.

 

[jonnysoups]

I dropped by the LHBS yesterday and they had a few more rhizomes left, so I got the last two Neo1 and put them in the ground in SE MI yesterday. Maybe a little late and possibly not the best climate, so we'll see what happens.