brewerelated
Well-Known Member
I want to start crossbreeding hops as well, but I have been unable to get access to any male plants. I don't want to buy seeds off of eBay because I can't trust their information about the lineage of those seeds. When I buy seeds I want to at least know which mother plant they came from even if the father can't be determined. I am thinking about buying whole leaf hops from hopsdirect or hop union just to get some seeds from a known mother plant. However, I don't know if those seeds will even grow.
Since I am having trouble getting male plants could you give tips on the process for trying to get pollen from female plants. I saw you mention colloidal silver.
Also, I read that you tried stressing multiple plants, but most of the time the pollen weren't viable. I also read in other forum post that stressed females usually don't put out viable pollen. Do you have any insight as to how to get female plants to put out viable pollen and produce viable seed? For example is self fertilization possible? Are some varieties more likely to put out viable pollen than others? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Since I am having trouble getting male plants could you give tips on the process for trying to get pollen from female plants. I saw you mention colloidal silver.
Also, I read that you tried stressing multiple plants, but most of the time the pollen weren't viable. I also read in other forum post that stressed females usually don't put out viable pollen. Do you have any insight as to how to get female plants to put out viable pollen and produce viable seed? For example is self fertilization possible? Are some varieties more likely to put out viable pollen than others? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Also, a breeding update:
Even after all the conversation on this thread regarding the non-viability of using pollen from hermaphroditic hops... I decided to try again. Pollen was collected from several monoecious plants. Most of it produced no results. However, I seemed to have somehow gotten lucky.
One batch of the pollen fertilized seeds on several plants. After a long stratification, some of the seeds are indeed starting to sprout!