That’s very interesting. It’s the opposite problem with mine, the male is blooming too late. The green male cannot fertilize the yellow female?
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Kiwinut could you help me identify the flowering hardy kiwi I have? Based on the flowers, it looks female to me. The leaves have a slight red tinge to them and have a rough texture, as if covered by minute hairs. I also have another hardy kiwi that is not blooming yet, but has many flower buds. It has longer shaped leaves which are pure green and shiny, not covered by tiny hairs. My label fell off the vine whose pictures I posted above. I suspect that it might be an arctic beauty female? Thank you
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@TheNiceGuy
Put male tree in a warmer place (if it is in a pot); or buy new one. You can try to increase warmth around: more sun, more mulch around, some more protection, and it will wake up earlier. I have potted apple trees in a shade, adjacent to the wall of house, starting flowering soon; and dormant Apple trees in the middle of backyard.
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This is a female A. kolomikta, which is most commonly called “Arctic Kiwi”. The term “Hardy Kiwi” usually refers to A. arguta. Argutas typically have longer narrower leaves, and the anthers are black. Kolomiktas have wider, heart shaped leaves, and yellow anthers.
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They can if the bloom periods overlap, but most green males are too late for the yellow kiwis. When the males bloom too late, the only option is to save pollen and freeze it for the following year, or get an earlier blooming male.
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Thank you!!!
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Very good to hear! First yellow F ones are opening right now. The green F look very close behind. I’ll check the neighbors green M ASAP.
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My garden is in a frost pocket, but in front of my house is always a few degrees warmer, full sun. Will this really work if I got a M in a small pot that I could move up during blossom time?
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I tried kiwi grafting for the 2nd time this spring. The previous time was years ago and a number of them took that time, but I didn’t keep the underlying stock from sending out shoots which subsumed the grafts. This time, I’ll keep an eye on it better. I made the grafts on 3/27 and as of a few days ago, most started to leaf out.
Edit: As pf 5/7, ALL of the grafts seem to be leafing out.
The above grafts are to change a Chico (large, reasonably productive and not that tasty) into a Cordifolia (very tasty, but not as productive). So I need more Cordifolia and less Chico/Jumbo. If this goes well, I may graft over the Jumbo (same cultivar, different name) next year.
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My chum tree is in quick death from likely verticillium wilt. I’m wondering if the 3 kiwi vines I lost in a similar fashion are also victims of verticillium wilt? If so, is it a lost cause to keep replacing them?
Initially I thought it mole damage to roots, but the vigorous chum can’t have been brought down this way.
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What about your rooting experiment, any progress? Did cuttings make nice root system?
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Unfortunately, the cuttings all died within 3 days after moving to moist potting soil, except for one of the grape cuttings which is growing well now. The buds had pushed some odd or etiolated growth, which started to turn green, but then suddenly died. I guess this shows this was not a great way to root cuttings. I’m trying a bunch of green cuttings right now.
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Sorry to hear, that all your cuttings died. It needs to be replicated more times and avoid overwatering. What about your procedure of softwood cuttings rooting, do you use perlite/soil mix to rooting process or use normal pot soil? Somewhere I read to cover cuttings in pot with PET bottle to keep high moisture and imitate greenhouse effect, do you use plastic bottle cover?
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I probably should have flipped the rooted hardwood cuttings in the same sand and let them push shoots exposed to light before transplanting.
I’m trying two methods for the softwood. The first is in vitro rooting in a sterile medium with a small amount of IBA (0.02 uM). I’m having issues with contamination, even though I collected green shoots from cuttings indoors in water, and surface sterilized, but a few are looking promising.
I’m also trying non-sterile green shoots in sphagnum + perlite. These are in small partially sealed jars with vented lids wrapped with parafilm. The film does allow some air exchange, but holds in the humidity well. So far, the cuttings are holding up really well after several days, even with the upstairs AC going out for a couple of days and temps near 90 F. Some were done with a 1 minute dip in 1:10 Dip-N-Grow, and some others with a rooting gel that stays on the cutting. We’ll see if one works better.
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Does air layering work with kiwis?
I did several grafts – some for Kiwibob at his place and the left over scionwood I grafted on my vines and for another kiwi enthusiast.
Most of the grafts are looking quite good. I wonder if air layers can be set on them in the future as an easy way to propagate them on their own roots.
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I would be surprised if it doesn’t work well, but I don’t actually know of anyone trying it before. I plan to try on my grafts soon as well.
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@scottfsmith Male kiwi in bush form - what a great idea! Can you share some pictures of your male kiwi bush? How constrained do you make it? Also, if you could share a picture of your condensed plantings of female kiwi vines after pruning, I would find that most helpful.
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Kiwinut
Did you succeed in greenwood cuttings rooting? I had no luck with green or hardwood rooting of fuzzy kiwi. It started to grow but no roots, what stimulator do you use?
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I never had enough new growth this year from my grafts to even try green cuttings or air layering, but I would think you will need a good mist system to have any decent success with cuttings. I have tried and failed many times with dormant cuttings from yellow kiwis in water or various rooting media. Some managed to survive for up to 6 months, but only produced callus and no roots.
I have a Golden Sunshine grafted on fuzzy rootstock, but it only put out a few inches of new growth this year. I planted it in the ground this spring with the stock nearly horizontal, and buried a portion of the GS stem so it can root by ground layering. I don’t know if any roots have formed yet, as I don’t want to risk damaging any roots. I’m hoping the growth will take off next spring if roots have formed.
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Did you observe any graft incompatibility between fuzzy rootstock and yellow kiwi grafts? What was by your opinion reason of weak growth of yellow kiwi on fuzzy rootstock?
I need to buy mist system, maybe it will enhance root formation, but not also mold? Fungicide application would probably be necessary.
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