Seeds this year

[100amps]

Hey all, just thought I'd get your thoughts on this: My Zeus plant and one of my Cascade plants have produced seeds this year. The Zeus plant is loaded with them, the Cascade only has a few seed clusters. I've been growing hops (4 plants) for 6 years here and I've never seen seeds clusters appear. I'm guessing there's a male plant in the neighbourhood, or maybe they were feminized seeds, as described in this snippet I found somewhere.

"Feminized seeds are any seed found on a female plant, which has been pollinated by another female plant or itself, resulting in only x,x chromosome pairs. These will look identical to male seeds, however they will all be female seeds. Hops and it's close cousin, the Devil's Lettuce, are two plants which are commonly feminized."

Is there any best practice on how to handle it. I'll be harvesting the plants in the few days, so the bines (including seeds will go to the landfill soon.

Thoughts?

 

[B-Hoppy]

Those aren't seeds, they form at the base of the bracteoles right where they attach to the strig inside the cones. What you're seeing is actually male flowers that sometimes are produced on female plants and it's said to happen when the plants are stressed for one reason or another. CTZ all are known for this happening very very frequently, at different intensities from year to year. My Cascades and Brewers Gold also do this but very minimally. It's not big issue as a home grower, just go ahead and pick as usual.

 

[100amps]

Fascinating. Thank you, B-Hoppy. I haven't read any papers or articles that mentioned this. Presumably that's because hop farmers don't neglect and stress their plants as I have done this year, and so don't run into this.

Yeah, these hops have had a tough year. It has been unusually dry for this region and I haven't been nearly attentive enough at keeping them watered and fertilized. Spider mites are also present in much greater numbers this year and I should have used some controls for them. The older leaves, up to 8-10 ft or so are pretty much toast, and quite a few randomly above that height.

My Centennial is also very sick this year. According to my reading, it might be a virus, or it may not have been cold enough long enough in the winter. It produced very few side arms until about 12+ ft. The colour of the leaves is much lighter, yellower than usual. This was apparent early in the season. I'll have to keep an eye on that one next spring.

Today's lesson: Learn how to treat your hops properly -- before they run into problems, not after.

 

[bracconiere]

If it's a herm, wouldn't that mean the cones are going to have seeds?

 

[B-Hoppy]

Plant stress is a relative term, actually this could probably be applied to humans also. Some people would stress out under conditions that others may thrive on. What I've seen with Zeus is that when the season is moderate, ample amounts of rainfall and mild /normal summer temps, there's a ton of male bloom and with a very hot, dry season, almost no issues? It does happen but it's more of a varietal thing for the most part.

 

[B-Hoppy]

If it's a herm, wouldn't that mean the cones are going to have seeds?

All the info I've seen points to the fact that the pollen isn't viable. Even if it was viable, the female flowers are beyond being receptive.


https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/springfever/Hops.pdf

 

[bracconiere]

not the way it works with " Devil's Lettuce "...lol

 

[100amps]

What I've seen with Zeus is that when the season is moderate, ample amounts of rainfall and mild /normal summer temps, there's a ton of male bloom and with a very hot, dry season, almost no issues?

Normally that Zeus plant is a healthy hop producing machine. My best grower. The obvious differences this year are lack of watering and no fertilizer, so I'll address those issues in the future (and generally pay more attention to a reasonable farming regimen) and see if it makes a difference. The concern I have with growing those flowers is the potential (probable?) diversion of plant energy away from producing lupulin.

Speaking of producing lupulin, is there any method I can employ to focus the plant's energy on producing lupulin? Like providing a potassium boost over the last few weeks before harvest, or whatever?

 

[B-Hoppy]

I've heard a lot of "I uses this" or "I do that" when the plant changes gears from vegetative to reproductive growth from many small growers outside the PNW, but none of their programs are found in any sort of literature or research that I've seen. And all of the commercial growers I've questioned out west have beat around the bush as to what they do. I have spoken to or heard from a couple Agronomists who have eluded to the use of some sort of biostimulant as part of the solution and I tend to agree as making flowers(reproductive organs) in any plant is the single most energy expensive process in the life cycle of that plant. I've abandoned any sort of commercial fertilizer applications for 5-6 years now in favor of a few compost applications (spring and fall) and it seems to be taking care of things quite well.

I would suggest keeping them healthy and well watered up to harvest as I've seen research stating that the alpha acid ranges tend to be on the low side in draughty years. That's all I got.

 

[100amps]

Good info. Thanks. Yeah, compost is never a bad thing. I don't make it myself, and all the commercial stuff around here is really woody, more like mulch. I suppose I could use it like mulch. Wouldn't hurt.

 

[B-Hoppy]

You're golden man! If the compost utilizes a good bit of woody material as a base, you'll generally end up with more fungi than bacteria in the finished product. Certain types of fungi form associations with plant roots and are able to help the plants out by acting as sort of an extended root system giving the plants to access to a greater pool of nutrients in the soil. It takes time so don't expect miracles over night.