Been dying to put in male & female hardy kiwi vines. I tried Issai years ago and was turned off by it’s weak habit. Having tasted these tasty damn things I vowed to come back to them when I had room and could put in a structurally sound trellis for the male (the female I’ve already worked out). I’m thinking a large and old shade tree in the backyard may be the answer to my trellis concerns.
How do I attach the male kiwi to the tree? This thing won’t vine up it on it’s own will it? Aren’t there things people use to attach vines/espaliers to a wall without a trellis?
Can I cut back the male vine hard every year and still expect flowers?
Does anyone have a preference for a female variety or all they are quite similar?
i have 2 arctic kiwi i put in 2 years ago. they are very slow to establish for me. the female is a anna and i dont remember the name of the male. only put out 18in. of new growth so i haven’t built the trellis for them yet. just today added sentyabraskaya female. this came from burnt ridge nursery already a 4 ft. plant in a 6in.pot nicely leafed out with some clusters of little kiwilets on it . ive read that this cultivar has some of the bigger kiwis for the hardy arctics. the other 2 from hirts were in a 2.5in. pot and were dormant 6in. twigs. have them in full sun untill 130 pm , then dappled shade. I’ve read arctics like some shade in the afternoon. i ve alsoi read that you don’t need to trellis the male and just let it climb a tree nearby the females. ill probably go that route so i have more room on the trellis for the females. just let him happily twine his way through my stand of mountain ashes. arctic arent as vigorous or produce as many fruit but they are cold hardy to my zone so it was a no-brainer for me.
I second this… I have an Anna that has grown pretty well for me, but the male is sluggish. I was uninformed when I planted them and gave them equal space and trellis size, but I’m planning to plant a second female and give the male a smaller trellis.
I did have to work a bit to get the female to climb properly. It had a tendency to wander laterally, so I had a attach it to the trellis for the first couple of years until it stuck.
As far as flowering goes, my understanding is that they flower on last year’s growth, so you can’t prune the male too hard.
I don’t have a recommendation for a variety… I chose Anna because it’s supposedly the easiest to grow and I figured they were going to be challenging, so it was probably best to pick the easiest one!
I’ve had great success erecting 60% shade cloth around the entire hardy kiwi trellis… I’m in southern AZ so I assume the dry, windy 100F summer heat isn’t ideal for them, but the fact that they’ve grown well under 60% shade suggests to me that part sun in most climates wouldn’t be a problem.
your post gives me hope. if you can grow them down there I sure as hell can up here! i don’t know how you guys grow anything down there. i was visiting my son stationed at yuma 2months ago and that is the most inhospitable area of the country I’ve ever seen! was impressed at all the fruit grown there!
Mine was slow for the first three or four years but really took off last year and has blossoms for the first time this year. Unfortunately I have had trouble getting a female established so it will have nothing to pollinate. I finally have a couple of healthy looking females that made it through this past winter so maybe in a few years…
I’d like to know that too. Just read something interesting, Ram. You can heavily prune the males after they flower. Real estate issue solved. Seems like 25 feet is a good distance.
I have a male arguta that is now 40’ up a maple, I gave it a pole to climb from the ground and there ain’t no stopping it now! I figure that the pollen will shower down on the females I have trellises below…Michigan State, Geneva 2 are two of the better tasting females according to Iago Hale at UNH Durham where they are trialing a few acres of these.
planted my male northwest of the females. should work out perfect to let him climb the trees unhindered. won’t have to worry about pruning him back. should be interesting to see.
im going to run a long bamboo stake to a low lying branch not far above where i have the kiwis planted. have a long hedge row of moutain ash/ spruce 40ft tall behind them seperarating my property and a field. think it will naturally grow up then south to get the best light, which would take it right over the females. west /n. west wind will do the rest.
I prune my male arguta kiwi back pretty hard - only give it about 3 ft of trellis compared to 15 ft for the females. It might be harder to prune if it’s growing in a large tree, though, unless you make sure to keep at least part of it within easy reach to maintain last season’s growth for flowering. I tasted at least 6 or 7 varieties at Edible Landscaping in VA, and Meyer’s Cordifolia was the real stand-out for flavor, so that’s what I planted. The others all tasted pretty similar to me - good, but not as good as Cordifolia. Unfortunately Cordifolia hasn’t been productive for me - I’ve grown it for 5 years now and this is the first year it has any fruit on it (immature at this point, but I’m hopeful to get a taste this year). I blame late frosts the last couple of years - Cordifolia does seem more susceptible to late frosts than my male. I’ve added Anna, Issai and Chang Bai this year to see if they can fruit more reliably.
Put them in ASAP. It can take 10 years for them to fruit. Less if you spur prune.
I’m going to hijack your thread and beg for male pollen. My females have flower buds and my 10+ year old male didn’t come back this Spring. Is anyone willing to send me some male flowers or pollen? Thanks!
Advertising over, the male doesn’t need anything sturdy. Mine needed help climbing a fence. Thumb tacks and string are enough. My understanding is that the male needs to be spur pruned as well to accelerate flowering so I wouldn’t let it get stratospheric until after it starts flowering.
I’m not sure what happened at my place here in IL zone 5b. I scratch tested my (4) kiwi’s early spring and all were nice and shiny green.
My (2) Isaai are now dead throughout the woody portion but my Ken’s Red female and seedling Ken’s Red pollinator didn’t blink thru the winter and are growing very well.
I’m hoping and that’s my question that the Issai’s will come up from the roots… is that a possibility?
This winter was one of the coldest I’ve ever seen with two weeks of such as -8 F to -17 F (twice) and all cold days in a row within that range. Like I said, if anything should not have made it I would’ve thought the Ken’s Red. Isaai is reportedly cold hardier.
Thanks for any information regarding the likelihood of my Isaai’s returning from their roots.
