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View Full Version : Anyone know about kiwi plants?


cbezak
11-12-2012, 06:58 AM
Hi, I have 3 kiwi vines, one being 20+ yrs old! The other 2 are about 3 yrs old!

Now for the problem; is there anyway to sex the vine? I found the first vine at a local farmers market, not realizing I needed both female and male so I just enjoyed the beautiful vine for many years.....it grows like a fast weed!! I have to trim way back every winter. About 3 years ago I ran into some nice plants in a local greenhouse, so I bought them thinking that would be enough to make them fruit??

Have tried to find some more info on producing fruit. I found the plants on
Banana Plants & More Tropical Plants For Sale, Florida Hill Nursery (http://www.floridahillnursery.com), any advice as to what I should do now!

They suggest a 4 to1 ratio, 4 female-1 male.

Hey, am I spitting into the wind or could I maybe get some fruit in the future?

PS: I am in zone 6-7 about an hour straight west of Pittsburgh,Pa right on the Ohio river. The plants have thrived here! I leave them in ground with very little protection!

Any help would be great!!!
Carla:2129:

sunfish
11-12-2012, 08:53 AM
http://www.farmingtongardens.com/pdf/infostation/kiwis.pdf

pmurphy
11-12-2012, 11:23 AM
The first thing is trying to determine what type of kiwi you have as there are a handful of hardy varieties - which you must have as they are still in the ground and thriving. The first type that can easily be verified is the "arctic beauty" which is grown not only for its extreme hardiness but its color as well....it has varigated green, white and pink leaves. However if this is what you have it is most likely male as they tend to be more colorful than the female and therefore more males are grown and sold by garden centers than females. If this is not what you have we can try to confirm or eliminate the hardy "fuzzy", do they have large fuzzy leaves? If so, then we have a winner.
If this is not what you have then it becomes more difficult and I would suggest checking with the garden center where you got the last two to see what they norally sell as there is also at least one self-pollinating variety that I am aware of - "issai" I believe - in which case it does not matter what you have.
If this information is not possible to find out then there is one last thing you can check to see what sex you have if not what type. At this point I am assuming that all the vines look the same and we can assume you have 3 of the same type of kiwi. Now, when the vines are flowering in most cases the female will open first and will have clusters of smaller flowers whereas the male will usually open a little later and have fewer but larger flowers.
If you do indeed have at least one male and one female you still have one more hurtle before getting fruit as the male flowers must be located within 8-10ft of the female flowers to ensure polination (I have to hand pollinate mine as my new 'replacement' male is still too small to be close enough to the female's flowers).
I hope this helps because the only other way to try and determine what you have is to look at the fruit - shape, size, color and texture. And if this is the case then we know you have at least a pair and all is good....

:2738:

RobG7aChattTN
11-17-2012, 09:59 AM
In your zone you certainly have one of the cold-hardy varieties. That means it is probably kolomikta or arguta (I might be off on the spelling of that first one). One will NOT pollinate the other...so if you have a male of one and a female of another you still won't get fruit. Usually, the kolomikta is only sold as the male, which is ornamental and has pink and white variegation. The female will have some pink in a "bronzing" fashion...but only in full sun. If they are sold as fruiting varieties they will most likely be arguta types. Both species are extremely cold hardy taking cold down to zone 4 or 5 but they cannot be allowed to dry out or they die quickly. There also can be issues with blooming before the last frost which is tough because they also like full sun so in many areas they will lose their blooms. There are actually a lot of other cold-hardy species but none that you are likely to find in cultivation.
======EDIT==============================
Here's a link with some interesting information. They actually show a male deliciosa with a zone 5 rating (typo?) and they claim a deliciosa female with a zone 7 rating (wishful thinking?). I might have to place an order. Anyhow, you can get a good look at some of the types.
Edible Landscaping Plant Sale: Buy plants online from our garden center and plant nursery (http://ediblelandscaping.com/buyPlants.php)