Hop to tell hops rhizomes apart?

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

The hops I ordered finally showed up this week, while I was out of town. My 4 year old, "opened Dad's package for him and just dumped them in one big pile...

So now I've got 2 each of Cluster, Sterling, Crystal and Centennial and no way to know what's what. My dad wanted me to plant these out on his farm to see what grows well...probably need to be more specific that "well, uh, that one".

 

[Bubba Wade]

Good luck. I would probably have to resort to DNA testing.

 

[Craigerrr]

Crazy kid! I bet he thought he was doing dad a favor!

 

[thunderwagn]

What @Bubba Wade said. Without testing, it's a guess. Perhaps once you have hops and have exceptional senses, it'll be a best guess. Hops do very in cone shape and size, but you'll really have to do your homework.

 

[4Bentley]

If they physically look different you might call the supplier. They might be able to recognize by the size, length, or color of the rhizome.

 

[Head First]

What @Bubba Wade said. Without testing, it's a guess. Perhaps once you have hops and have exceptional senses, it'll be a best guess. Hops do very in cone shape and size, but you'll really have to do your homework.

What a helpful child. MY son would have done that too. At least he didn't plant them for you! There are some hops with distinct characteristics but lots of hops are very closely related with many traits belonging to like hops. You could research their parenting (cluster is a parent) and maybe get a general idea of leaf shape, aroma and size of cone. There may even be suttle differences in the rhizomes themselves. It will all still be a guessing game though with nothing absolutely positive.

 

[Yooper]

I can't even tell adult plants apart, except to know where I planted what. The leaves vary even on the same bine. The rhizomes look the same to me. It'd be like trying to tell red tulip bulbs apart from yellow tulips I think.

 

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

Planted them in a new row...have to call that the Gary Bulin special blend...people will think it’s after his grandfather.

 

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

Ordered some plants from Great Lakes Hops to plant in the top row. I already have one Cluster on an end and Sterling on the other, getting some additional Cluster and Sterling to fill in those sections and Crystal for the middle one.

Been using a lot of Sterling lately. I've come to the conclusion that if my Great Great Great Grandfather would have had Sterling available, maybe the brewery...

 

[Craigerrr]

Very Cool!
Maybe you will be able to do some surmization as to which plant is which when you are able to harvest

 

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

Very Cool!
Maybe you will be able to do some surmization as to which plant is which when you are able to harvest

That’s the plan, not sure if I’ll be able to figure out Cluster Crystal and Sterling unless I get lucky and can do it by the shape of the cones...think I may be able to pick out Centennial as it should be different enough from the others.

 

[Head First]

Worst case scenario is you will aquire a lot of hop knowledge while researching

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

If you can't determine which hops are which, then all your beers made with those hop plants will have that "secret ingredient". So secret not even you know what it is!