Has anyone grown hops ?

[keat63]

I'm growing some hops from seed (Humulus Lupulus), however, I'm convinced that about half a dozen are nettles.
I've about 3 seedlings that I guess are hops, but about half a dozen I'm not so sure about.
Whether these were in the pack of seeds, or in the bagged compost, i'm not sure.
Short of trying to sting myself, does anyone know of a fool proof method to determine if they are indeed nettles.

[veggiechicken]

Not foolproof but photos would help.

[nickdub]

Quite a lot of wild hops in the hedges round here - easy enough to identify as the vines feel rough to the touch, with with short bristly hairs - feels a bit like velcro.

[Jay-ell]

Best way to discover if it's a nettle is to stroke it

I can see how the seedlings may look similar but hops are a plant I wouldn't grow from seed.

Firstly you have no idea what the qualities of the resulting plants are going to be and how to use them in home brew (the main, but not the only reason, for growing hops) - if they would be best for lager, bitters, IPA etc

Secondly - you have no idea which are male and which are female. As it's the cones fro the females that are used then you have to grow each plant to flowering to find out. I believe that generally un-pollinated cones are regarded as the best ones to use - something to do with essential oils, alpha acids or enzymes.

Then you have to dig out all the males so that next year the cones don't become pollinated and hops can have a pretty big root system (you may also have to deal with other homebrewers/hop growers who now have pollinated hops from your males - it's worse than angry fathers because you've messed with their BEER).

However I can see why you might want to try it from seed - there's the fun of actually doing it and the chance that you may grow a new and fantastic variety but this does take space - a mature hop can grow 16 foot tall - they grow them up roped attached to tall telephone poles.

[keat63]

I'm a member of a UK homebrew forum and posed the same question.
Being made aware of the male/female saga, i bought a guaranteed female rhyzome, the seedlings will maybe go in my hedgerow.

The plant on the left is the guaranteed female hop.
The big leggy things on the right, I believe to be nettles.

Whilst both have similar leaf petterns, the hop has a rounded edge to the jegged edge, and creeping vine like features.

[veggiechicken]

I'm puzzled because if you have a known plant the difference between the leaves is obvious?

The ones on the right are nettles.
Are they the ones you think are hop seedlings?

[keat63]

Sort of.

I planted about 20 hop seeds, then pricked out when they got big enough to handle.

Of the 20 seeds, I have about 9 plants, 3 which I think may be hops (not shown in the image), and half a dozen nettles.
The 3 of which I believe are indeed hops are obvious climbers, the suspect nettles not.

As they started to mature, I noticed a subtle difference in the leaf pattern, and I initially assumed that maybe male and female plants may have different characteristics.
However as the plants have grown bigger, those different characteristics have become more apparent, to the point that I now believe I'm nurturing nettles.

The guaranteed female clone came about, when I concluded that.
1. I'm growing nettles.
2. There's no gurantee of a female from the 3 other seedlings.

The clone I received last week.

[keat63]

The seedling in the yellow pot, I think is a hop.
Note the more rounded leaf pattern same as the clone.

I guess also consider that these are around the same age, the nettles are twice the size.

[veggiechicken]

If its any consolation, I've done the same in reverse!
A few years ago I planted a couple of Prima donna hops as part of a community programme to produce a local beer. Then I rejigged the garden and forgot all about them. Recently, whilst weeding, I grabbed a sprawling weedy thing and it hurt, really scratchy. Then I remembered - its a hop!
Its a different type of pain to handling a nettle.

[Ocelot]

Only from a small plant I bought (golden hop). It went massive, but seems to have gone now. Plenty of hops though.

[ESBkevin]

The hop plant has a smooth stem and the nettle is hairy.

[hamamelis]

Maybe this will be of some use