So...You Want to Breed Your Own Hops.

[PapaBearJay]

Papabearjay,
What are your recommendations for central Florida? Forget it?.
Very sandy soil. Deadly sun.

My recommendation would be to grow in LARGE containers, that you still have the capability to move.

A few things you'll need to consider...

Variety - You'll likely not be able to grow many European varieties. This is a function of photoperiod, as central FL will not receive the same amount and will not yield nearly as much if at all.

Nutrition - Nutrition will be tricky, they need a lot. Here's the issue, the temperatures will be much higher (in most cases), and the humidity will provide an environment which disease can thrive. Both of these factors will affect the plants ability to take up nutrients, due to the intense sunlight and supraoptimal temperatures.

Irrigation - They will need a lot, which could provide you with more issues. One easy way to cool down the plant would be to hose it down when you water it, but this will also provide a humid environment for mildews to thrive especially if you're not maintaining the canopy structure and clearing bottom growth. Also, you may find yourself frequently irrigating, which could lead to rot. Both drought stress and overwatering have very similar symptoms, and both can be compacted with nutritional problems.

Temperature - The two things I will associate with temperature quickly are nutritional deficiencies and dormancy. During active growth, and really during the peak growing season, supraoptimal temperatures will begin inhibiting the plants ability to uptake nutrients. Dormancy is a physiological requirement for plants, in which they need to receive some set of conditions in order to resume active growth. For hops, a 6-8 week period is needed for temperatures below a ~45 degrees, which is something I'm not sure FL can provide all that well.

Others here seem to be set on growing hops in FL, though I don't know how well they've done. If you truly want to grow hops, you'll find a way. Do not look at the information I provided you with as a reason to not do it, use them as a way to find ways around such barriers. If you put your mind to it, you'll be able to do it.

If you want any more help in variety or site selections, please feel free to ask, I'll do what I can to help.


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[PapaBearJay]

Checked on things this morning, found that I had six more germinate while I was gone, bringing the total to 28 across 5 families. (This does not include plants in culture.)

Currently the germination rates vary from 16 - 60% across the 5 families, with the range of plants from 2 - 11 per family.

 

[alane1]

Here's some progress on the seedlings. I have them under an HPS lamp on a 16/8 schedule. Thanks again for the advice Jay.

 

[PapaBearJay]

What kind of soil mix are you using?


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[brewerelated]

What kind of soil mix are you using?


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I was gonna ask the same thing.

 

[alane1]

It's Miracle gro seed starting mix.

 

[alane1]

It does look a little light on perlite, do you guys make your own? I've done it before with 1/3 compost 1/3 peat moss and a 1/3 perlite if memory serves me correctly.

 

[brewerelated]

I could not tell you what the ideal potting mix is for hops. I wonder about it myself.

 

[brewerelated]

I'm new to this so I would like to hear from anyone who's had success germinating from seed. What was your method and germination rate? The instructions that came with the seeds said: soak in water overnight, drain and place in the fridge to cold stratify for 30 days, then plant in 1/16 in. of soil. Does this sound right or are there other methods? I also scuffed some of the seeds with fine grit sandpaper and put them in a separate bag to see if that made any difference.

Did scuffing the seeds make a difference? Also when you scuffed the seeds did you afterwards put it into potting mix or did you have it germinate in the bag on top of damp paper towels.

My seeds are approaching 30 days of stratification and I am wondering what my next step should be. Should I allow them to germinate in the bags with moist paper towels or should I transfer them to soil and have them germinate in soil?

 

[alane1]

Did scuffing the seeds make a difference? Also when you scuffed the seeds did you afterwards put it into potting mix or did you have it germinate in the bag on top of damp paper towels.

My seeds are approaching 30 days of stratification and I am wondering what my next step should be. Should I allow them to germinate in the bags with moist paper towels or should I transfer them to soil and have them germinate in soil?

The one's that I scuffed with sandpaper aren't at 30 days yet, so no news on that. The ones that I soaked for 24hrs then stratified for 30 days I just left in the paper towel in a plastic bag and let them germinate individually. Out of 100 seeds I got 12 to germinate.

 

[alane1]

On a side note I noticed some strange seeds in an order from another vendor.

 

[alane1]

which look a lot like these, humulus japonicus

 

[PapaBearJay]

Did scuffing the seeds make a difference? Also when you scuffed the seeds did you afterwards put it into potting mix or did you have it germinate in the bag on top of damp paper towels.

My seeds are approaching 30 days of stratification and I am wondering what my next step should be. Should I allow them to germinate in the bags with moist paper towels or should I transfer them to soil and have them germinate in soil?

I'll say this, I nicked/removed a portion of the seed coat by holding the seed between forceps and using a 5 mL syringe to scrape along the seed coat after having soaked it for a period of 24 hours. The seed coat came off fairly easy in most cases, and the seeds seemed to germinate fairly well in culture. A quite similar procedure was used for a soil mix, but the seeds were only slightly nicked in most cases instead of near excision, so the rate of germination is lower, but that's likely because of physical difficultly (though seed viability and damage to the seed is a likely explanation as well).

 

[PapaBearJay]

2 more seeds this week germinated. I'm not holding out hope for many more, but we'll see.



This was the other day. These were transplanted and I still need to transplant others.


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[alane1]

How many weeks are those?

 

[PapaBearJay]

How many weeks are those?

These are between 1-2 weeks old.

 

[alane1]

I have a question, from what I understand, "Cluster" was an open pollination between Humulus Lupulus and Humulus Lupulus var. Lupoloides, but after so many generations in the fields and elsewhere seeds would produce the same plant. How many generations would it take to homogenize?

 

[PapaBearJay]

I have a question, from what I understand, "Cluster" was an open pollination between Humulus Lupulus and Humulus Lupulus var. Lupoloides, but after so many generations in the fields and elsewhere seeds would produce the same plant. How many generations would it take to homogenize?

Ok, let's take this example. If those same two plants mated (we'll call them P1 and P2), and produced a number of offspring (called F1's), which were then allowed to grow and pollinate only each other, and this successive cycle occurred generation after generation. Each one being strictly confined from the previous generations, the original heterozygous population would take about 7-8 generations of continuous inbreeding before being nearly homozygous at all genetic loci.

There are a few select reasons for doing this, and they usually relate to studies attempting to understand how traits are inherited and where specific genes are located.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Some updates. I pulled these out this afternoon to check on things from last year.



A upclose and personal shot.



What's under the engine?



In addition, I recently received wild Oregon hops and have a number of new cultivars coming to me to experiment with.

Thanks everyone for your support!


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[PapaBearJay]

This week temps have dropped back down below freezing, so I'm hoping that everything will hang on. We're expecting snow here today across the state.

That said for the current outside conditions, things inside are taking off now that I've added poles to their container and they can climb. I've also had two more seeds germinate this week.

 

[brewerelated]

My 30 days of stratification are complete and I took my seeds out of the refrigerator to warm up. Two of my seeds seem to be growing mold on them. I take it that this means that they are too wet? Is there something I should do to treat these seeds? About how many days should it take before seeds start to germinate?

 

[alane1]

you might be able to use anti fungal soap, soak down the paper towel and transfer them to clean one.

 

[alane1]

I had one cup get that damping off haze, I used a weak peroxide solution. Plant seems ok, but this was just an experiment.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Second year Nugget from rhizome


Second year Chinook from rhizome


These are homegrown and those of you who sent new varieties will find a home in new spots.



I have another raised bed area that will be devoted to seedlings.




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[PapaBearJay]

My 30 days of stratification are complete and I took my seeds out of the refrigerator to warm up. Two of my seeds seem to be growing mold on them. I take it that this means that they are too wet? Is there something I should do to treat these seeds? About how many days should it take before seeds start to germinate?

Expect a greater number to germinate within the first week or two, and it to be sporadic afterwards for the weeks following.

 

[brewerelated]

Expect a greater number to germinate within the first week or two, and it to be sporadic afterwards for the weeks following.

I hope some of them sprout. The mold that I found on my seeds are making me feel less optimistic about my chances, but maybe the seed or two will survive and germinate in spite of my mishandling of the seeds.

 

[OakPond]

Hey just read the thread through, I'm a bit new to the hop growing game (just started my first dozen rhizomes last week) but the science side in me is itching to play around with this more. Graduating with a Biology degree in a couple weeks and I don't get to play around with plants very much in the lab because research mentors have other interests.

Anyway, I don't know if you still are "sharing" that document (been awhile) but I would like in if you still have it.

 

[DarkCoder]

Hey just read the thread through, I'm a bit new to the hop growing game (just started my first dozen rhizomes last week) but the science side in me is itching to play around with this more. Graduating with a Biology degree in a couple weeks and I don't get to play around with plants very much in the lab because research mentors have other interests.

Anyway, I don't know if you still are "sharing" that document (been awhile) but I would like in if you still have it.

We are still waiting for PBJ to share the document.

Maybe he was too busy to deal with his wife to obtain the permission to transform their backyard in an open laboratory (as per the recent pictures).

 

[DarkCoder]

I hope some of them sprout. The mold that I found on my seeds are making me feel less optimistic about my chances, but maybe the seed or two will survive and germinate in spite of my mishandling of the seeds.

Don't worry, their is always a couple of seeds that are empty, not mature enough or malform that will rot because they were 1 month in a wet environment. Sometimes, it is only the thin papery seed envelop that will rot. Just gently roll the seeds between your fingers (don't sqeeze them)...it will remove the envelop of good seeds and you will feel/see those seeds that are rotten and that can be removed from your lot.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Hey just read the thread through, I'm a bit new to the hop growing game (just started my first dozen rhizomes last week) but the science side in me is itching to play around with this more. Graduating with a Biology degree in a couple weeks and I don't get to play around with plants very much in the lab because research mentors have other interests.

Anyway, I don't know if you still are "sharing" that document (been awhile) but I would like in if you still have it.

Oi vey! Yes, PM me you contact info and I will pass it along.

 

[PapaBearJay]

I was able to send an e-mail to everyone who had mentioned an interest. Though, not I think of it and oops, I forgot to e-mail Nagmay...you still here Nagmay?

 

[OakPond]

I was able to send an e-mail to everyone who had mentioned an interest. Though, not I think of it and oops, I forgot to e-mail Nagmay...you still here Nagmay?

I got it, it looks neat. My only question, your collection dates run from 99' to 2002? Not following that considering this seems like a current ongoing project.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Double Post.

 

[PapaBearJay]

I got it, it looks neat. My only question, your collection dates run from 99' to 2002? Not following that considering this seems like a current ongoing project.

Those collection dates are surrounding the dates of the originally collected seed lots. The seed that I am germinating are from plants which have been grown on and had a number of seed increases for the sake of germplasm resources.

The seed I received isn't necessarily the same seed, it's just a sample of the original population.

 

[nagmay]

"you still here Nagmay?"

Yeah. I'll PM my email - though, you probably already have it.

 

[OakPond]

Hey, is there anyway we could buy/trade some hop seeds with you? Or if you just have some spare seeds and are feeling generous..

 

[PapaBearJay]

Hey, is there anyway we could buy/trade some hop seeds with you? Or if you just have some spare seeds and are feeling generous..

I don't know that I'll give any of my current seed lots out, as a majority of them have been sown already, but I will provide a list of the sources I've purchased from, and viability of the seed as I've tested it. From there it's up to you to make a decision.

 

[alane1]

Two of my seeds seem to be growing mold on them. I take it that this means that they are too wet? Is there something I should do to treat these seeds?

I've been thinking about this, I figure a good way to treat hop seedling is with...well, HOPS!!! I basically made a hop tea by boiling 3 hop pellets in a liter of water for about 15 min. After it cooled I used a spray bottle to apply

before and after

 

[brewerelated]

I've been thinking about this, I figure a good way to treat hop seedling is with...well, HOPS!!! I basically made a hop tea by boiling 3 hop pellets in a liter of water for about 15 min. After it cooled I used a spray bottle to apply

That's a good idea. Better than my initial thought which was to spray Starsan on them, which would probably kill the seeds too. I think I'm gonna make me some hop tea to spray as well.

 

[PapaBearJay]

That's a good idea. Better than my initial thought which was to spray Starsan on them, which would probably kill the seeds too. I think I'm gonna make me some hop tea to spray as well.

It should only damage them post-germination, the seed coat functions very much like a semi-permeable membrane. Plus, you could have had an extremely dilute solution and tested that as well.

One thing to note, a rinse with 70% Ethanol for 5-10 minutes will kill all microorganisms present and functions very well as a sterilizing agent.

Everclear is useful!!


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