was going by this video where he talks about the multi-trunks might wrap around each other and girdle themselves but also on the top wire he unravels them and pins them up with rubber straps. those straps may work for them since the canes are going to be supported by their T trellis but i dont have anything there to support their weight on mine. i think @vitog might just use straps of cloth on their vertical trellis iirc.
Yeah, if you had a T-bar trellis it would be easier - the laterals kind of sit on the wires to support the cordon.
With your setup, tie the cordon to be nice and straight. Who cares if a lateral or several twine around something, as they get cut back every year anyway.
I haven’t used these, but I would personally consider trying reusable velcro straps. Velco straps on amazon
Either that, or 3/16 cotton rope, since it will compost itself if it gets lost. I dislike using plastic in the garden…
I got my first harvest this year. About 5 lbs of kiwiberries. Harvest unripe, then counter ripen.
I haven’t had any Anna yet, probably one of them will be ripe this evening.
Hardy red. Good flavor, very pretty - red inside and out when ripe. Skin a bit thicker. Staggered ripening. Some were full red and dropping while others were still rock hard.
MSU. Decent. Faint lingering flavor/mouthfeel that im not a fan of. Seems prone to blotch/discoloration if you’re worried about visual appeal.
Geneva 3. A+. Really good even when not fully ripe. Developes more complex tropical flavors when extra ripe.
Obviously tasting notes are from a small sample size, so take that into consideration.
I use cloth strips while the trunks and cordons are young. When they get larger and woody, I use scrap insulated wire pieces; the cloth deteriorates after a few years. The laterals are left mostly unsupported.
do you go up and over first and then secure it hanging like im doing or do you just bring the cordon up from under the level and keep it under the whole way?
I keep it under because I’m using wires. If a cordon runs over a wire, it may eventually grow around the wire and eventually sort of swallow it. That’s not a problem if you’re just going over a wooden beam.
With my Issai I don’t even have semi-permanent cordons; I grow it like a cane-pruned grapevine similar to the Kniffen system, except with many more canes. The new growth originating near the trunk is usually long enough to fill all of the available horizontal space. This may not be possible with a vine that is less vigorous than mine.
Can confirm. My issai loves to reach into trees 10-15 ft away. On the plus side i can cut those vines and the goats will happily remove the leaves. My issue with it is that it sets fruit but drops them before they ripen. Im hoping the addition of a male plant will fix that. I tried to graft one onto it but failed so the jury is still out.
Now, that’s interesting. I’m planning on a fuzzy next spring, and I wonder if it will work to try that. I love the annual clean slate approach for managing size as I’ll be growing it on a relatively small (for kiwi) 8’ trellis.
It might work with a fuzzy, but I use the cordons on wire system with my fuzzy green kiwi. Its growth is far more vigorous than the Issai’s. If you want a long horizontal, you would have to find a place to grow it that wouldn’t interfere with the fruiting laterals. This would be a bit easier if you have access to both sides of the trellis; my trellis is against a south-facing house wall, leaving a lot less space for growing long replacement horizontals. Note that the leaves on the fuzzy kiwi are huge compared to those on Issai.
Do you have pictures up on one of these threads? Would love to see both of your trellises.
I think that dropping fruit by Issai kiwis might be climate related. Where I am in the PNW I’ve been growing Issai for over 20 years and always have an excess of fruit that needs to be thinned. The only male kiwi vine nearby is the Actinidia deliciosa type, and it doesn’t bloom the same time as the Issai.
That may well be the case. Its the only one i grow and I’m unaware of any other local kiwi berry growers to reference. The regional group here is a pretty solid source though so i should pose the question there.
My trellises are nothing useful to look at. They were each built when I started growing kiwi vines, and I knew nothing about kiwi vines or trellises. I just built something to support the vines with whatever material I had available for free: some used lumber from our old house that was torn down back in 1985 and odds and ends of wires found while hiking in the nearby woods. I also used lots of bamboo poles because I was growing the plants.
At this time of year, you can’t see much of the fuzzy kiwi trellis because it is covered with kiwi vines. The Issai trellis was built almost entirely with bamboo poles connected together with pieces of copper wire. It will be replaced later this year with a sturdier trellis, since it is too weak to support the Yellow Queen vine that I recently planted on one side of it.
I meant with the plants on them to see how it grows out with your pruning methods. I always try to use whats on hand before spending money. I’m impressed they’ve stayed up on bamboo for even one year.
So I bought some from Costco that was tasteless and gave me an allergic reaction…
Had a few that was overly ripe and not so good…
Had an issai and another variety today from my own tiny vines that blew me away 
So weird how much variety matters. I’m sure they sprayed the Costco ones with whatever pesticide I’m allergic to because it’s been doing the same itchy stuff to my mouth.
My kiwi vines are not growing the way I’d like them to grow. The whole plant is so large and old that I’m afraid that it may be damaging the siding that some parts are attached to. I’m in the process of replacing the whole vine (trunk and all cordons) with new wood, starting from the base of the existing trunk. I expect this to take two or three years; so far, during the first year, a new trunk has grown to the top, which is lower than the previous top. I’m getting more nervous with age about standing on the very top of an 8 foot step-ladder to harvest and prune.
The vine has special constraints, such as growing around a greenhouse window. I don’t think that you will learn anything useful, but I could show you a photo of the mess.
Are they pruning super aggressively here? Or do they have more dwarf varieties?
Do most of the male cultivars’ bloom overlap with Ken’s/Annasnaya/79-49?
Does anyone have any pics of their artic kiwi Berry vines? Andnhow much shade do they really tolerate
Sounds a lot like oral allergy syndome. Kiwi is a major one that triggers this. Basically youd be allergic to some type of pollen that is on the outside of the fruit. Cooking it removes the pollen and then ofc issai is self polinating so maybe somd effect? Not sure since its not usually the fruits pollen. Or maybe whatsver pollen youre allergic to just isnt around you. For kiwi its usually some sort of tree or grass pollen allergy
mine get full sun until about 2pm then dappled shade and grow well . they are trained to a 10ft. trellis and are easy to control. no pics. sorry.
