Have I made a strategic error with this kolomikta kiwi? And if so, how can I recover?

General Fruit Growing
1

Last year I planted a kolomikta kiwi alongside a chain link fence, thinking the fence would give it support and it would be nicer to look at than chain link. The vines grew vigorously around and through the links, and I did not prune it down or keep it all on one side.

Recently I saw a full grown kolomikta at an arboretum. The central leader was several inches thick. I realized that if that happens to this one, it could destroy the fence, strangle the plant, or both.

What are my options at this point? Should I:

a) not worry about it, the kolomikta will adapt to its fence
b) harshly prune it down as low as it can go as soon as possible, and carefully train it so it doesn’t weave through the fence, but just stays along one side (or will that be futile?)
c) harshly prune and then try to dig it up and transplant it to a wall or something else it can’t weave through (or will that kill it?)

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2

It will continue to send out vertical shoots from the ground so when it does train one away from the fence with a t post or stake and then remove the intertwined one as it becomes strong enough to be the “central leader”

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3

It certainly won’t kill the plant and probably won’t damage the fence. But then I’m not sure how big it will eventually get. All that really needs free of the fence is a few shoots that reach the top. After that they can go wherever they want without any danger.

Any chance that you could pull a good deal of it out of the fence now? Then train those shoots up the side until they reach the top of the fence.

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4

arctic kiwi are less vigorous than hardy kiwi. if its the hardy one that fence may need more support and lots of pruning to tame it. if you can, dig it up and put it under a purpose built kiwi trellis. plenty of vids on YouTube how to make one. could even use a 16ft. cattle panel tied to 6ft heavy t posts every 4ft. that would be strong enough to handle it and its cheap and easy to do. i did this with my grapes.

5

It’s an arctic one.

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6

I think they can eventually get pretty thick: https://extension.umn.edu/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/caption_medium/public/Pergola%20row%20view_SethWannemuehler.JPG?itok=YZ5Uy6l7

I’ll see if I can pull anything out from the fence and tie to one side.

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7

you might be ok then. mine are pretty slow growers. do you have male nearby to pollinate?

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8

I have two. Interestingly the males appear to flower a bit before the female and so far I haven’t had any overlap. Hoping they sync next spring.

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9

once the male gets a little older it will set flowers for most of the mid/ late summer. i got 3 females trellised. i planted the male near the wood line to crawl up my big spruce. no pruning for him.

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