I ordered some kiwi vines from fedco, and they should be arriving in a few weeks. I got “arctic beauty male” and “red beauty female”. I debated whether to get A. arguta or A. kolomikta, and decided on kolomikta because I was concerned the arguta might get out of control and go all “kudzu” on me.
Has anyone here had luck growing kolomikta (arctic) kiwi? if so…
*what variety? did it have a name?
how long did it take to fruit?
how big are these vines?
what kind of trellising or training system have you used, and how’s it working out?
I’ve grown arguta and kolomikta and I really don’t remember my sources but they were all highly touted varieties. The best one for me was an Arguta called Rosanna, I believe, which I cut down a couple of years ago because I lost interest in it before planting a male right against it (about the only way to get kiwis to crop consistently because local bees and honeybees don’t like the flowers).
The kolomikta varieties I had produced nice fruit because they were selected for that (in Russia) but they leaf out about 10 days before arguta here which makes them highly susceptible to spring frost. Kiwi’s burn from even the lightest frost which usually dooms the harvest.
It was all the pruning that made me decide to remove all my argutas- the suckers put out growth! I used to use a weed whacker towards the end of our relationship.
I grow kolomikta and arguta, and plan on adding more of each. Kolomiktas benefit from a semi sun situation, they need some shade. Mine are growing under maples where they get 4-6 hrs of sun per day. They start to fruit quicker than arguta, and have a third of the vigor. Mine are not on a formal trellis, but I do plan on installing a T trellis for a larger planting I’m planning.
I too have AB and RB from Fedco, this will be their fourth year. The small kiwi berries I got from my RB were tasty enough to make me seek out other varieities selected for fruit size and quality. There are some available from One Green World.
I haven’t had issue with them getting frost burned, maybe my site helps with this(north facing slope with protection from nearby trees).
I haven’t gotten much of the white or pink leaf color on mine, I hear this happens more to sun exposed plants.
I’ve got 7 A. Arguta (2m 5F). Very vigorous (out grew and choked out sweet autumn clematis)
Took about 4 or so years for fruiting to start. Pruning seems to be the biggest challenge. Not really any disease or insect problems.
I ordered Actinidia Polygama (silver vine) last year but it never established and wilted down to nothing. Supposedly these are sweet and some varieties have heat like a chili. I have visions of A Polygama/mango salsa. I may try again this year, but I will get it planted more quickly (family issues last year)
I wish I had a picture of my neighbour’s plants… two10 years old and not very big kolomiktas. They grow on a fence and are super healthy, under the shade of a big black walnut tree. They are both male plants The owner didn’t know they were kiwi vines and was super surpised when I told him. He said the nursery that sold them to him told him it was an ornemental plant that loved shade (which is true; it’s got beautiful whitish-pinkish leaves). I’ll try and remember to take a picture once they leaf out. I planted RB male and AB female last spring. They didn’t make it. I ordered replacements and planted them again, in july. One of the female fruited around 5 to 6 berries, but I didn’t know when to pick them and I think they were overripe…
Kiwi konfusion!
My Arctic Beauty(Fedco) male plant made bisexual flowers this spring, Kruplodanaya females(Trippel Brook) made only male blooms, and my Red Beauty(Fedco) didn’t have but a couple of blossoms.
Now looking at a very nice fruit set on the AB, wassup? It’s profuse bloom made a lovely lemon scent this spring.
Happy to say that the majority of my a kolomikta cultivars I rooted last year survived the winter and are doing well, these will be planted out next spring in a semi shaded zone where I will trellis them properly.
Yes, I am growing them. I got my first vines from Burgess, but DO NOT recommend them. When I realized that after 5 years I hadn’t seen any variegation on the leaves of the “male”, nor fruit from any of the females, I bought a male from Burnt Ridge. It was large and healthy and flowered the same year in which it was planted… yielding lots of fruit from all of the other vines. They are sweet and nice, supposed to fruit heavily (I think I read 100 lbs per vine, potentially) and grow like crazy. We put up a Pergola for them to climb on and shade our back porch area. It’s working out well and I don’t have to prune them heavily yet as there is plenty of space for them to cover. I think you need to stay on top of pruning once they are established, but otherwise they are great, and the males are nicely decorative. Pretty trouble free with comparison to all the spraying, etc. I need to do for my trees, but the squirrels in my yard have realized that their chances of eating an unknown and having it be tasty is great, so they raid my kiwi vines too. Beware of them, and pruning… other than that smooth sailing! I think that Hardy Kiwi are more popular because there are more named, improved varieties available, but I don’t see much of a downside to the Arctic Kiwi. Lovely vines which grow splendidly once established.
My question is whether anyone out there has been growing any kind of cold hardy kiwi for over 10 years and still considers them worth their space. It doesn’t seem like “pee wee kiwis” ever made it in the commercial arena, although attempts were made. If they were dependably productive the Argutas, at least, seem like they could fill a nice niche for farm market growers in the east that want to offer organic fruit.
Mine are planted in full sun, south facing. The leaves shrivel or drop and turn brown and crispy every year - they’re still small. I think they can’t handle full sun? Although google said they can and fruit better there…
For arguta,I know a guy who has had them for 19 yrs in Maine and is quite fond of them, he wrote an article awhile back, ‘Yes you can grow kiwis in Maine’.
See also Kiwi Berry Organics in PA, they sell out of their crop edy kiwi for over 10 years and still considers them worth their space. http://www.kiwiberry.com/
Don’t know of many folks trialing or growing kolomikta, Lee Reich does mention them on his blog a bit.
Most work with kolomikta is in eastern Europe…
Jesse,
I need to try the artic types because regular hardy kiwi took to much water for Kansas. I watered twice per day and it wasn’t enough. I kept them alive for several years.
I never got them to be consistently productive but didn’t love the fruit enough to give it my best try. To me they are nice to pick a bowl or two and eat for a few days but I just don’t find them highly appealing. This has been my experience with several unusual fruits including paw paws.
I wish I loved paw paws, because they are very productive for me and require less work in ratio to harvest than anything else I grow. I keep growing them because they are so visually amazing from flower to fruit and I have a couple friends and relatives that cherish the fruit.
Some assorted a kolomiktas topped with Michigan State arguta. Nice thing about these is that they can be picked early and will keep for awhile in the fridge and then can get brought to room temp to finish ripening, going from 6-8 brix when picked to 18-30 brix when ripened. No problem with swd that way.
i have a red beauty female and arctic male i planted last spring from hirts. didn’t put on much growth but what they did was healthy. they are in sun for 8hrs then afternoon shade protected from wind buy a hedgerow to the west and my shed to the north. have them well mulched with plenty of room to grow. will make my arbor for them next spring. hoping they do well there. too cold for A. arguta up here.
What is your lowest winter temperature? Some ‘extra hardy’ kiwi are rated to -35 F, Tatyana was one I tried in Durham that was quite good sized, early ripening and tasty. One Green World sells it and another couple kinds of that subgroup. I also like kolomiktas ‘September Sun,’ and ‘Krupnopladaya’ for fruit over the more common ‘Red Beauty’.
The owner didn’t know they were kiwi vines and was super surpised when I told him. He said the nursery that sold them to him told him it was an ornemental plant that loved shade (which is true; it’s got beautiful whitish-pinkish leaves). I’ll try and remember to take a picture once they leaf out. I planted RB male and AB female last spring. They didn’t make it. I ordered replacements and planted them again, in july. One of the female fruited around 5 to 6 berries, but I didn’t know when to pick them and I think they were overripe…
