New Hops Grower, ID Japanese Hops ?

[TeeJo]

Got a couple rhizomes in pots getting started up, a couple each of Fuggle, Golding, Galena, Magnum, and Chinook, IIRC. Looking forward to getting them in the ground this year. Kinda late, but...

But my real question is, at this point, I have found some hops bines growing (quite well too!), and suspect that they are Japonica, rather than Lupulus.

And real easy way to ID them? The websites I have looked at suggest that the many-lobed leaves are a giveaway feature but I see some of the other pictures of 'good' hops that seem to have many-lobed leaves as well. They are growing up and over an old outhouse, and choking an apple tree and generally being a bit of a nuisance. If they are a usable hop I will likely try to mine the plants for rhizomes, or simply buck them back and dig out the crowns, but if they are not, they meet the brush saw.

I'll see if I can get some pics up today.

Thanks for all the great info here folks. been lurking for a while.







TeeJo

 

[alane1]

Japonicus are annual so they reproduce via seed, so if you dig one up and don't find any rhizomes then most likely it's Japonicus.

 

[TeeJo]

Japonicus are annual so they reproduce via seed, so if you dig one up and don't find any rhizomes then most likely it's Japonicus.

Thanks! I'll put the shovel to them later today and see what shows up.


TeeJo

 

[PapaBearJay]

I will say this...

From the above pictures, there looks to be a fair amount of old growth leftover from that plant.

If that is indeed what it is, then it's likely H. lupulus.

If so, and you're able to find rhizomes, would you be willing to share with those of us interested?

Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[alane1]

Interested, myself. Cheers!!!

 

[TeeJo]

As of yet, gonna get an ID and get figured out if useful, before I arrange anything else.

Did a quick trip in between chores and dug out these.


The largest is about 2 inches thick.









Gonna hold on the brush saw for now. Still not certain that they are anything useful, but if they prove to produce a crop of cones, they will get some cleaning and a trellis of their own.

TeeJo

 

[TeeJo]

An update of sorts.

Of the two crowns I had in the bucket, the smaller has ponded out 4 sprouts, and there is a couple likely looking buds on the larger one.

I have two other crowns that I dug out, in pots and sprouting, one well, one...working at it.

Of my potted rhizomes, the Galena's both look like duds. The Fuggles, Magnum and one of the Goldings, are doing really well, the other Golding, and the Chinooks are doing just OK. Gotta decide where they are gonna live pretty quick, as they are going to need more room than they can get where I have them potted.

Still no sign of blossoms on the bines on the apple tree, but they are doing quite well, as well as the outriders choking down the low bushes around there. Pictures later.

TeeJo

 

[TeeJo]

These are two crown planted in some sandy soil/compost mix from in front of the chicken run. Doing OK.

These are two of the crowns in a bucket, starting to sprout again. OK, the smaller diameter one is. Dunno if the larger one got too beat up, or if it is forming buds, and will soon sprout. Had to change out the swill in there, as the mosquitos had found it...


The smaller diameter crown from the bucket. IIRC, I counted 7 sprouts off it. Pretty vigorous. Hope it all turns out that it' something useful!


The resident bunch of growing experiments. Aside from the hop rhizomes, I have a bunch of grapes that I started from cuttings, potted up.



Fun-N-games!

TeeJo

 

[TeeJo]

Just went for a prowl around the old outhouse that is in the pictures above.

Hop bines frikken everywhere!

Gonna be an adventure if this stuff turns out to be a useful hop. Figure I can likely dig out 15 or more crowns as it is right now. And probably more, without making a noticeable dent in them. Was trying to figure out how to train the existing crowns into a useful direction and cannot really see it happening easily. A couple of them, yeah, but not that many plants. There is a 20 by 40 or so foot area that has all the other growth around being weighted down by the hop bines climbing over it all. Chaos!

Some buds seem to be forming. Find out soon enough, I guess.

TeeJo

 

[Jonas217]

You will be able to tell if they are Japanese hops by the cones. The Japanese variety produce puff balls instead of the true cones, I have some growing in my yard that spread over from my neighbor's yard. He was unkind enough to let a true but unknown variety of hops spread into my yard as well

 

[ShoeBrew]

Has anyone tried brewing with them? If they turned out to be tasty that would solve the "invasiveness" problem.

 

[TeeJo]

If they were worth anything for brewing, they would be propagated EVERYWHERE!

They have no use in brewing, FWIW.

And, also FWIW, mine are not Japonica. Exactly what variety they are, is subject to a bunch of guessing and estimates, but they are for sure, not japonica.

TeeJo

 

[ShoeBrew]

http://practicalplants.org/wiki/Humulus_japonicus#cite_note-PFAFimport-219-8

Drop down to Cultivation, reference point 9:

"The bruised leaves are refreshingly aromatic whilst the flowers cast a pleasing scent"

My line of thought is: Unless it will get you sick or has proven to be a poor ingredient alongside grains... Anything can be used in brewing (ala Dogfish Head). ESPECIALLY if it's a close relative to humulus lupulus; hackberry, pot, japanese hops or even nettles and figs.

I've only used the latter two, but I think it would be interesting to have a "family reunion" brew

http://www.gruitale.com/intro_en.htm