Does anyone know if ‘Jumbo’ is the same variety as MSU?
Raintree seemed to claim it was an Italian variety. I ordered one several years back to compare, but it has yet to really take off.
I remember reading that UNH was going to determine something of the genetics of each cultivar, including which cultivar names are redundant. They rated MSU very poorly in their trials, which i don’t understand at all. I get that commercial production has its iwn requirements, but MSU seems to have excellent traits. Its my earliest (my Dumbarton Oaks isnt fruiting yet), fruit are consistent size (massive!), and ripen all at once. I wondered if there might be a terroir issue at their trial grounds or something since theyre description seemed to contradict almost everything i just said.
I thought that Jumbo, MSU and Chico are all the same vine. I had the misfortune of planting Jumbo and Chico at 2 of the 4 positions on my large trellis. When the fruit seemed identical, I started doing some checking and found that they were synonyms.
I’m not all that impressed with Jumbo in terms of flavor and it isn’t an great producer either. So, I grafted one of them over to Cordifolia (even a bit lower producer, but great fruit). Large kiwi vines make more than enough fruit, so it is more important to find one that produces quality.
Regarding the pollination, while the pics look pretty close, I would have to say that the vine with manual pollination (waving the branch around) probably has only about 2/3 as much fruit as the one growing next to the flowering male vine. Maybe some of the spots didn’t get as much pollen waved at them as others.
This was from doing this 3 times over a 10 day period. One time I also had an arctic kiwi male, as well as a hardy kiwi male. At lease according to the label that Henry Fields sent it with. Even though I don’t have any arctic kiwi, I just put it not too far from my other male, and the bloom partly overlapped. After waving the male branch around, I stuck the cut end in a pot in the area of the vine, though it wilted and died pretty quickly, so I’m not sure how much that helped.
Chico is not a single variety. Rather, there is a numbered series of kiwi accessions at the Chico USDA Experiment Station. 74-49 aka ‘forty-niner’ seems to be the most widely circulated Chico accession. If its the same as MSU, its news to me. i bought one for my wife’s mother some years back. It may have been mislabeled but it’s definitely not the same as MSU, at least IME
I know there are other varieties from Chico, such as Fortyniner (74/49). I have it and it is definitely different than Jumbo/MSU. The “Chico” I am referring to was the one sold by Rolling River back in 2013, without any additional numbers.
When I posted about this in 2018, @JesseS was the one who said they were the same variety, but I don’t think he’s been around for a while. As far as I could tell, the fruit was the same, so I didn’t dig any deeper.
It looks like they identified that there are two different clones circulating as “Michigan State”. One was genetically the same as ‘Ananasnaja’ and the other was the same as ‘Jumbo’/‘Chico’. Since most people don’t seem to think their ‘Michigan State’ and ‘Ananasnaja’ are the same though it must mean that most if not all of the “Michigan State” in circulation are the ‘Jumbo’ clone with the other probably just having resulted from a past nursery tag mix up at some point.
Interestingly ‘Rossana’ was also found to be a synonym for ‘Ananasnaja’.
I have Anna, Jumbo, Ken’s Red and Hot Pepper (which is actually a polygama).
Jumbo is my most prolific and easiest grower. Anna was my first and I really suck at pruning this monster. I’m lucky to get fruit one out of every 3 years. I have Ken’s Red in a pot and have almost lost it a couple of times. It has never fruited for me, though it is about 5 years old.
I have a couple of males along with these. I’ve heard that you can prune males back hard once they complete blooming. I actually worry that doing so would prevent blooming the next year.
Hot Pepper has bloomed for the first time this year (I think) and the flowers are different from other actinidia. Most actinidia bloom in bunches at the ends of 1 year growth. Polygama seems to bloom at nodes, underneath the leaves on 1 year growth and single.
My suggestions may be a bit late since 757 Will posted last year. But if he has room for more hardy kiwis I have a few suggestions. First, my Ken’s Reds are very popular at farmers markets, and most years will hit 25-28 on the brix scale (very sweet). As least here in Washington, the Ken’s Red have also been one of my varieties which started producing a reasonable crop after only 3-4 years. My Anna’s are not as attractive looking as some of my other varieties, but produce berries with a good, strong kiwi flavor - ideal for making jams or salsa. For some unknown reason in 2022 they were also very sweet (hitting 28 on the brix scale, though in previous years usually at about 18-20). Good sized crops as well. The hardy red variety is interesting, having a sweet-sour flavor which, to me, gets a surprisingly positive response at the farmers markets. Gets a bit wrinkled when ripe and ready to eat, and seems to drop as soon as ripe so I’ve been simply spreading canvas underneath the hardy red’s and picking up the droppings each day instead of trying to pick them. Makes a beautiful bright red jam, but without the sour taste for some reason (and this is a low sugar freezer jam, with 20% sugar and 80% kiwis - very tasty). Last suggestion, as I now have 199 vines I was lucky to have planted a bunch of different varieties simply to (hopefully) discover which were most popular/marketable. What I realized only later was that these different varieties ripen at different times, meaning picking them has been at a more doable rate, rather than at a frantic pace if I had had only one variety.
Id love to see some pictures of your operation. You must keep busy with pruning! I imagine youre managing pretty intensively. Any hot tips for us slouches?
Actually, my goal is to discover how much of a “slouch” I can be and still get a reasonable crop. You may want to check out the website for “Kiwi Korners” where the photos will show a beautifully pruned row of hardy kiwi plants. In talking with the owners, however, I discovered that the amount and time they spend on pruning has increased over the years, and resulted in an increase in crop production. My intent, however, is to do just the reverse, to see whether just doing a “basic” pruning in the winter will still produce a reasonable sized crop, and any decrease in crop size is offset by the lower labor cost (i.e., how many hours I spend out in the cold each winter). Still early in the learning curve regarding pruning, with much of my pruning an irrational response to how fast the vines will grow and try to overwhelm you if given a chance (having really good soil at the Mossyrock property has apparently turned out to be a mixed blessing). And if you want to see some pictures, just go to my website: brokenshovelkiwifarm.com.
I’m all in favor of minimal pruning. I used to do a lot of summer pruning and careful winter pruning but now I only winter prune, and I just start at the base and remove nearly all those new big canes. Then I take some heavy duty hedge trimmers and cut back anything out of bounds. It takes five minutes a vine.
Id love to see some pictures. What Im in favor of and what I actually wind up doing are sometimes at odds, especially when it comes to winter pruning of late.
yeah, I love it. I have 3 vines “trained” to a rustic locust T-Trellis. Two are sort of proper double cordons. The 3rd is a lost cause on an unfinished section of trellis.
Years ago, I visited a local orchard that had planted a patch of argutas but never built a trellis for them. A couple were growing nicely (and productively) as sort of “standards” trained up a pole. That prompted me to plant another 1/2 dozen or so to grow thusly on pine trunks of trees that i felled at just above head height.
Thank you for the suggestion, sounds like you have quite the experience! So far I only have Issai which has finally produced this year. I think it tastes great except for the fact the skin is horribly bitter. Does Ken’s Red have very bitter skin?
@757Will, I’ve been growing Issai for many years and have never noticed any bitterness in the skin or anywhere else. Maybe you are a “supertaster” and very sensitive to bitterness. What do you think of broccoli?
I would say that’s the case, but my family also agrees with me. I’m considering a variety Edible landscaping sells that they say doesn’t have bitter skin. I eat broccoli all the time, it has never bothered me.
to a rustic locust T-Trellis. Two are sort of proper double cordons. The 3rd is a lost cause on an unfinished section of trellis.