I have never had it happen to me before, but my Challenger hills are starting to produce male flowers in addition to cones. I understand that the development of male flowers on a female plant can be a sign of stress.
You got 'em. It happens, but I have not seen it (yet).
I had to do a double take to ensure that I was not seeing things.
This is very common with most of the so-called “C” hops. My Cascade hops have done this. A friend of mine had this happen with his Columbus.
What do you do in this situation? Let it be?
I know if you arnt careful then Jurassic Park happens…
I’ve had small amounts of male bloom on a few hops over the years and never had any problems with seeded hops. One year my Zeus was about half male and still didn’t have any seeds. I’ve seen this situation explained two ways: 1) Any pollen produced will most likely not produce seeds on nearby females, and 2) If viable pollen is produced and nearby females are pollinated, the resulting seeds will not be viable. Take it for what it’s worth. Mine should all be viable though, now that there’s a male in my yard again!
The male flowers will not hurt anything. They even have a tiny amount of lupulin. Play with them, or ignore them. They will not be any trouble.