Good morning. How far away from septic leech lines can a hardy kiwi (ananasnaya and ogden along with a male) be planted? I’m sure further is better, which I can do, but that complicates other things I want to do.
Thanks!
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While it is true hardy kiwis do not like wet feet, I can’t imagine a septic field would have much effect there. Of course you might just be adding gasoline to a fire by giving the vines access to that much moisture and nitrogen. Mine already grab and try to strangle anything they can…
Does the septic area flood or keep standing water when you get heavy rains?
Scott
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The area does not flood but my property as a whole can have standing water in places if the event is large enough. I live in Tennessee and have hard, compacted clay soil that does not absorb water very fast.
My main concern was locating them too close to the septic lines and then having them penetrate the lines in search of moisture/nutrients. That would make for an expensive repair I imagine.
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I’m not familiar with the growing habits of kiwis, but the number I’ve seen it the expected max height of the tree x 20 percent just to be on the safe side.
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I moved mine to containers… I would say that they are borderline invasive… They’ll climb anything and grow like crazy…
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In Kansas I was hard pressed to keep them alive the several years I grew them. They like more moisture than I had to give them in the spot where I had them.
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We’ve had a hard time getting kiwi started here in KY on heavy clay. Had three rot in the ground. From what I’ve read they do fine on clay once established, but have to be nursed along the first few years.
Rule of thumb for trees is mature height away from septic lines. I don’t know how that would transfer to kiwi, but it’s a start!
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they are shallow rooted so i think you would be ok as long as you water them well. i have 2 males and a female arctic kiwi i planted this spring. i amended my heavy clay with pea gravel , compost and peat moss to lighten it up some. so far are growing well. they’re in partial sun so i hope they produce fruit for me.
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Lowes had Ogden male and female plants for $7 for a pair. I’m interested in growing them and the price seems good enough but I understand they don’t have the same taste as the non Hardy kiwi the fuzzy ones. Is the Taste somewhat the same because I don’t want to waste my time with them if it’s not
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I’ve read they are sweeter than the fuzzy kiwi. hopefully ill get to taste one in a few years. 
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Moose, I know you’ve said in previous posts you get some cold weather up there. Year one you might consider placing the vine on the ground and (possibly if you feel like it) insulate it. Year two run 1/2 of the vine on the ground during winter and expose the other half.
Go from there. The first winter is going to be crucial.
Dax
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thanks for the tip! i heard they can be frost tender the 1st. couple years. only problem with that is some years we get bad vole damage under the snow. suppose i could cover in hardware cloth then straw.
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hardware cloth and then reflective aluminum insulation with cheap dollar bags of top soil holding it in place. Do protect for two years and then expose half the vine the third winter. Good idea.
Year two you want rapid growth. Fertilize early spring with urea. Remove any fruits or leave a few/couple dozen, whatever.
@tonyOmahaz5 for telling me how he utilizes urea on newly grafted trees (frost tender or not) during year two. Tony also told me that high nitrogen urea will cause aborting of fruit, but that his goal is to get as much growth as possible. Makes a lot of sense.
Dax
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great advice! thanks! growing anything up here is a challenge so ill take any tips i can get. i use urea diluted on my plants all the time. i just don’t tell anyone.
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Fool!
Dax
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