Wild Hops

09th August 2012

Walking home last night I did a double take having talked about growing or finding wild hops.

Yep, thats hops.

So, now we wait and see what flowers it grows. The difference between male and female is pretty obvious. I wonder if the plant is quite late for this time of year, we will see.

16th August 2012

Having given them a few weeks it turns out there are both male and female plants here.

Male

Female

That would explains how well established and widespread the plants are. They have pretty much taken over all other plants in the area.

10th September 2012

To my surprise I noticed that there are now some hops growing. I had been keeping an eye on the bines, but seen anything up until now.

18th September 2012

Looking at the hops they looked ready. Papery to the touch, visible yellow pollen and slightly browning at the tips.

So this evening I decided would be good for a spot of hop picking. I found a slightly larger collection just a bit further along the road which made up the bulk of my forage.

43g in total, not much but enough for a few 1 gallon brews.