Male and female flowers?

[basslake]

My first year cascade is showing signs of having male and female flowers. I imagine it happens from time to time when a plant gets stressed but I've never seen it and am worried about my other plants getting pollinated. Should I chop it down before any damage is done or does it not pose a threat? Thanks for any help.

 

[B-Hoppy]

I wouldn't worry about it, it's a thing that happens and you'll most likely not have any seeds form. Nagmay (on this forum) has apparently gotten viable seeds to form from a situation like yours but I've never had any problems. Here's a link to a similar discussion: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/hermaphrodite-columbus-1st-year-420759/.

 

[Barley_Bob]

Pollination isn't going to damage your plants in any way - it's just going to produce seeds (assuming the female flowers are left on the plant long enough to reach that stage). It's possible your female flowers have been pollinated by wild hops every year you've had them and you just didn't know it.

I don't know too much about the specific breeding of hops, but I do know it's possible for plants to mutate in ways that are inconceivable for vertebrates. For example, a strictly female plant could develop a male limb. Weird things happen, and I just wouldn't sweat it.

 

[basslake]

Sweet. That's what I was hoping for.

I also lucked into about 25 free rhizomes of CTZ that were going to be thrown out.

Most of them were very large and look to still be in good condition so I'm going to get them in the ground and hope to have a good root ball started before the season is up. I'll have some serious work ahead to expand the garden but I just can't pass up free

 

[Barley_Bob]

That's awesome. Can you post a picture of a rhizome or two? I'm interested to see what kind of condition they're in. Because that is a bargain if I ever heard one!

 

[basslake]

No problem. I'll get some up tonight when I get home

 

[basslake]

Here are a few of some good ones

 

[Barley_Bob]

They look like they're in fairly good shape. They've probably lost some viability, and you can expect they'll take longer to establish and produce like they should. But they don't look like they're too desiccated, and I think you got a steal.

 

[basslake]

Thanks for the help, that's about what I was thinking.

My brother is the rep for a local craft brewery that sponsored up at 4 free rhizomes for anybody locally that wanted to grow for a local wet hopped IPA so I was already able to get some cascade and centennial for the garden this year. I wasn't trying for a third variety but when opportunity calls, you have to answer. Couldn't let these guys hit the dumpster

 

[day_trippr]

Pollination isn't going to damage your plants in any way - it's just going to produce seeds (assuming the female flowers are left on the plant long enough to reach that stage).[...]

I'd think you'd want to avoid allowing the plant to burn energy building seeds instead of more cones, lupulin and oils?

Cheers!

 

[Barley_Bob]

Someone should fact check this, but my assumption is that lupulin production and seed formation will occur as separate stages of flowering. Flowers run a set cycle, and they don't necessarily stop flowering just because fertilization has occurred. Once that window closes, senescence occurs and the flower dies, leaving only the seed pod to develop. If fertilization does not occur, some flowers will develop infertile seeds, while others will simply drop the whole pod. It's very likely that hops follow this pattern, and it doesn't matter if fertilization has occurred or not as long as harvest takes place within that window. Someone should fact check that, but I would put money on it.

Also, basslake, upon reflection, I want to recommend that you baby the free hop plants you got. Even if the roots are still in good shape, they've probably still lost some viability. So, I would lightly fertilize them once they sprout, and definitely pick off any flowers that appear - this is going to encourage good root development.

So, I should totally do a Master Gardener program, but I'm so lazy.

 

[basslake]

Wow

I second that you should take the master gardener course. That was way more analysis than I was expecting. Thanks

Got half of them in the ground and will work on getting pots for the rest. Fingers crossed.