Where I live (France) I can't easily find hops rizhomes, but I can find seeds, so my two questions are:
- Any shop in France/Europ from which I can buy hops rizhomes?
- If I grow hops from seeds how do I identify female plants?
Hops are normally grown from rhizomes to ensure you're getting the right strain - hop seeds will often be a cross-breed and may have unpredictable flavour or alpha acid characteristics. Differences between male & female plants are most noticeable once they flower.
I don't know about suppliers in Europe, but you can generally find hop rhizomes even in places where there are restrictive quarantine rules. Check online trading sites like ebay first, otherwise commercial hop growers will often have excess rhizomes available if you contact them directly.
Hope this helps.
You also need to be careful that you are not planting any male hops, which could potentially be cross pollinated with other hop plants in the area. Here in the US they only sell female rhizomes to ensure that they are the only type out growing. Male hop plants are tightly controlled.