Looks like my older golden kiwi from AU died to the ground and now only the root stock is growing. I did buy a couple more that I planted in December and they survived. Go figure. I thought the older plants would be more hardy. I did pile up a lot of wood chips around all of them. I am in North Alabama.
Anyone know what the root stock is for their golden Kiwi (Male and Female)?
The rootstocks are seedlings of A. deliciosa ‘Bruno’. Not very hardy and some less than others. ‘Bruno’ seedlings are also supposed to be sensitive to wet feet.
I followed the guidance at the AU website which was to plant each on a mound and I went an extra step or two by mixing in Permatil (Expanded shale) and vermiculite, with the native soil. Not sure what else could have been done except to wait until they are three or four years old before planting outside. I still have a chieftan and a Gulf Coast. I can let the Bruno grow to see what they are like and maybe graft to them in the future. How do you manage to grow them further north?
I may try to airlayer the ones I have left. Do you lay the vine on the ground and do it from there? Can you do more than one layer on one vine? I understand now is the time to do this.
Bummer, I had heard some other bad news about this year’s batch that got potentially frozen out while in pots before they were sent to people.
It’s too bad to hear these reports as I was hoping to get some golden kiwis next season, but I think so far they are just too unproven and the main supplier seems to have too many issues.
The fuzzy kiwi have been difficult, but I have never had any hardiness issues with the yellow kiwis. There is always the risk of a really late freeze killing everything, even hardy kiwi, to the ground, so having things self-rooted allows for a quick recovery without losing anything. They are hard to root, so layering is probably the easiest way. I haven’t tried air layering them yet, but I’m going to try it this year.
Guys, Good info. Had looked into the Alabama golden kiwis myself…but hesitated for several reasons. pricing, shipping, survival after transplanting. Hope they get these issues worked out .Also more experience and time will help. A golden kiwi freshly harvested sounds delicious! Does anyone know if these goldens are being tested elsewhere around the South? Was thinking maybe Clemson or Athens??Thanks, Randy
Anyone know of a way to induce flowering? I have a yellow kiwi in its 4th year (potted) grown from a seed from a yellow kiwi. I don’t mind nursing this thing along, but I’d hate to do it for another 4-5 years and find out its male.
Do they respond well to heavy flowering fertilization? Mine has started swelling buds, but will be back inside for the next 5 days to avoid the upcoming cold weather and snow.
Scott
These vines typically need to get really big to bloom, so I’m not sure how well they will bloom in a pot. My in ground seedlings took 1.5-2.5 years for males and 1-2 years longer for females, but they were pretty massive by then. My potted Golden Sunshine did produce 8 flowers on a 4 ft tall plant a few weeks ago, so some of them will flower in a pot, but it is a grafted mature scion and not a seedling. Constricting the roots may actually promote flowering, once they are mature. Not sure about fertilizer, but I would avoid adding much nitrogen or you may just get lots of vegetative growth.
My golden tiger male is flowering 1 yr after planting. My golden sunshine also planted last year was loaded with flowers about to open when it collapsed and died a few werks ago. Neither is in a pot.
Barry, Any idea of the cause of death?
Randy/GA
My AU meteor (Male for AU Dragon) is absolutely loaded with blooms. Unfortunately no flowers on dragon.
Maybe cold weather. The root stock survives but not above the graft.
yeah I think cold weather go it. Golden tiger was also affected I think because only about half of the buds opened up this spring. We had a blast of 23F back in Nov. The plants were not even close to dormant. I forgot to wrap the trunks like they recommend. What I saw a few weeks ago was dead tissue around and just above the graft union. The rootstock is now growing like crazy. I emergency grafted the sunshine scion back onto some roots I dug up and onto the male. Only one has survived, but its not growing so it may not be a true take. I have a few more in the fridge that I may graft back onto the rootstock once it hardens up a bit, if my remaining graft ultimately fails.
I used foam pipe insulation to cover the bottom foot of vine and then covered with a pile of wood chips. Did not help
found this paper at Auburn. They seem to propagate their cuttings in water. Hope this shows. [23279834 - HortScience] Vegetative and Floral Chilling Requirements of Four New Kiwi Cultivars of Actinidia chinensis and A. deliciosa.pdf (179.4 KB)
They were measuring bud break on the cuttings after storing in cold water for different lengths of time, not propagating them. I’m pretty sure they root green cuttings under mist.