Male hop plant?
Male hop plant?
Hi!
I've found another wild hop plant in Doncaster (I've found 5 so far). This one is a monster and has spread along a fence and is on both sides of a busy A road. Thing is, I guess it's still too early to expect any flowers, but what is growing on this plant looks a bit odd:
Are these male hop 'flowers'? They dont look like the usual female flowers i get on my plants.
I've found another wild hop plant in Doncaster (I've found 5 so far). This one is a monster and has spread along a fence and is on both sides of a busy A road. Thing is, I guess it's still too early to expect any flowers, but what is growing on this plant looks a bit odd:
Are these male hop 'flowers'? They dont look like the usual female flowers i get on my plants.
- scuppeteer
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Re: Male hop plant?
To be honest this doesn't look like a hop at all. Male hops produce much finer and smaller flowers than your pic and are more spaced out than this. There's a male growing in the orchard next to me and looks nothing like this. The female ones near by are now starting to burr and are a very different shape to the males. I'll try and post a pic of my male and you can compare. Unless you can post a few more of your plant.
Dave Berry
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Re: Male hop plant?
Thanks scuppeteer!
I'm fairly sure it's a hop plant, I've developed quite a skill of spotting wild hop plants...4 out of the 5 plants I've found had cones, this one is the 5th. I guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks before I know for sure.
Quite reassuring that it doesn't look like your male plant.
I took some cuttings of this just in case it's a good one.
Here's a small section of it. It runs all along the fence for about 10m or so, on both sides of the road...
This is what makes me think it's a hop plant - look at the end section of the bine - very hop like! Also the bine was lightly barbed, as hops tend to be. Also you can just about see the flowering bits in the top-right:
I'm fairly sure it's a hop plant, I've developed quite a skill of spotting wild hop plants...4 out of the 5 plants I've found had cones, this one is the 5th. I guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks before I know for sure.
Quite reassuring that it doesn't look like your male plant.
I took some cuttings of this just in case it's a good one.
Here's a small section of it. It runs all along the fence for about 10m or so, on both sides of the road...
This is what makes me think it's a hop plant - look at the end section of the bine - very hop like! Also the bine was lightly barbed, as hops tend to be. Also you can just about see the flowering bits in the top-right:
- scuppeteer
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Re: Male hop plant?
Having had a look now, this could well be a male, you're a bit further north than me so it may not be as advanced yet as my local ones. Also the spread of it would indicate a male as they grow much more vigorously.
Dave Berry
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Re: Male hop plant?
Yeah, think it looks like a male
Hoping there is a female somewhere in there, no sign of any cones yet.
This is another plant over the road:
There must be at least 6-7 plants along this road. Expect they're all very similar though.
Hoping there is a female somewhere in there, no sign of any cones yet.
This is another plant over the road:
There must be at least 6-7 plants along this road. Expect they're all very similar though.
Re: Male hop plant?
My Wye Challenger hills went hemaphroditic on me this year.
Last edited by YeastWhisperer on Thu Jul 31, 2014 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- scuppeteer
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Re: Male hop plant?
This is quite rare to see. I wonder why they do this, maybe a lack of good local pollination?YeastWhisperer wrote:My Wye Challenger hills went hemaphroditic on me this year.
Nice cones by the way, you must be 4-5 weeks in front of the UK.
Dave Berry
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Re: Male hop plant?
I exchanged e-mail with Lynn at Great Lakes hops. She mentioned that growers are experiencing this problem with several hop cultivars this year. The cultivars that I can recall off of the top of my head are Zeus and Cascade. Apparently, environmental stress experienced around the summer solstice can cause hops to go hermaphroditic. I planted this hop yard last fall with whole crowns and field-grade plants just in time to experience a record cold winter.scuppeteer wrote: This is quite rare to see. I wonder why they do this, maybe a lack of good local pollination?
Maryland has a much shorter peak photoperiod than the British Isles. My Wye Challenger and Cascade hills did not start to flower in earnest until the photoperiod dropped below 14 hours and 40 minutes, which occurred on July 16th. The photoperiod in Wye, Kent will not drop below that threshold until August 14th, which correlates with what you have said. My Fuggle H hills started to flower at the beginning of July, which does not bode well for the cultivar. It tells me that Fuggle may be too photoperiod sensitive for Maryland. I experienced photoperiod-related problems with Golding and Saaz. With those two cultivars, the bines would grow, but little to no cone production would occur. I am hoping that Fuggle H will prove me wrong next year. The jury is still out on my Horizon, Santiam, and Spalt Select hills. Horizon is a challenging hop to grow for even professional hop growers.Nice cones by the way, you must be 4-5 weeks in front of the UK.
Last edited by YeastWhisperer on Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
- scuppeteer
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Re: Male hop plant?
This just fascinates me. Its amazing to see the difference in the growing period just because you are that much further South and the temperament of certain varieties which require more or less sunlight. Its not until you are fortunate enough to travel that you realise just how much sunlight you get in England during the Summer months. I went to Western Australia over Christmas in 2012 and they have at least 2 hours less daylight than here. Obviously it is also very dependant on the quality of the local terra.
Unfortunately I think you will struggle to ever get a good crop from the Fuggle just because of where you live. Always deemed to be the quintessential English hop, its heritage is from Czechoslovakia and even English growers have a hard time getting a good harvest. It is also not very resistant to various hop related diseases which doesn't help either.
I'm not familiar with Horizon. Is it an American cultivar and does it seed? It may well fair better here. I've successfully grown an Australian Galaxy this year from seed and my next years project is the fabled New Zealand Riwaka. Hopefully I can help to save that variety from its agronomic problems there, I know it won't be the same as a cutting but one of them may be pretty close.
Unfortunately I think you will struggle to ever get a good crop from the Fuggle just because of where you live. Always deemed to be the quintessential English hop, its heritage is from Czechoslovakia and even English growers have a hard time getting a good harvest. It is also not very resistant to various hop related diseases which doesn't help either.
I'm not familiar with Horizon. Is it an American cultivar and does it seed? It may well fair better here. I've successfully grown an Australian Galaxy this year from seed and my next years project is the fabled New Zealand Riwaka. Hopefully I can help to save that variety from its agronomic problems there, I know it won't be the same as a cutting but one of them may be pretty close.
Dave Berry
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Re: Male hop plant?
By the way, I planning to post new photos of my Challenger and Cascade hills over in the hop growing thread.
Last edited by YeastWhisperer on Tue Aug 12, 2014 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- seymour
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Re: Male hop plant?
THIS. IS. SO. WEIRD.