How long did it take your hardy kiwis to fruit?

Two years ago I planted an male kiwi as well as a Ken’s red and Anna. They didn’t put on a ton of growth the first year but are growing by a foot or more a week now! They’ve taken over our six foot arbor and I’m pretty sure I won’t see any wood by the end of the summer. On average how many years does it typically take hardy kiwis to fruit? Any suggestions for winter pruning to allow fruit buds to form next year? Can’t wait to try some!!!

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Summer pruning of the most vigorous shoots will help spur development and hopefully flower buds for next year.
Hardy kiwi usually take 3-5 yrs(or more) to start bearing, depending on sunlight exposure and management style. Mine had their first blossoms this year after 5 yrs in the ground, but they are in a semi shade location and I haven’t done much training besides letting them cover my son’s play structure/tree house, and pruning errant shoots. On a trellis or arbor in full sun with dormant and summer pruning they start fruiting more quickly.
Lee Reich has a good write up on pruning these if you google it.

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I’m interested too as i just planted 2 male and 1 female arctic kiwi this spring in part shade. they have put on some new leaves but not growing much. must be establishing their roots.

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I planted a Ken’s Red and a pollinator a month ago in blazing full sun in rich black loam. They’ve grown about 4". A friend rooted Issai from hardwood, late-winter-cuttings he stuck in cells here in zone 5b outdoors. I put it in the ground the other day.

I thought they’d take off like gangbusters but I see others having the same experience.

My Ken’s Red arrived in 2" x 2" pot(s.) One is apparently a seedling-male of Ken’s Red. Both were real dinky. Still, I have the plant and that’s what matters.

Dax

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Make sure you keep them well hydrated, especially during establishment. Good news for you is that kolomiktas (arctic kiwis) are much more precocious than arguta (hardy kiwi), so you should get fruit next year. When my Red Beauty made fruit in its second year and I sampled them, I promptly started planning to add more vines and varieties-now I have an actual kolomikta vinyard with a couple dozen vines stretching up towards the top wire of the trellises. Many of these are ripening their first crops 3 years after I stuck the cuttings which the plants were derived from.

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Mine took 5-10 years to fruit depending on variety. They are in a half-shade area. Ken’s Red fruited after ten or so years then decided to die back to the base. Myers Cordifolia did the same except it had not even fruited yet. Issai, Michigan State and Annasnaya were pretty fast, they were 5 or so years.

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@JesseS
@scottfsmith

Are the kolomitka’s as flavorful as the arguta’s? Do both species produce the same size fruits?

Is A.arguta ‘Bingo’ in the USA yet?

Dax

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good to hear! one of the males is a different variety hardy kiwi i planted last fall . i thought didn’t take but came back late may so I’m growing out all 3. the 2 new ones are A. kolomikta. the leaves on the one i planted earlier are wider with a red margin around the leaf. i love kiwi! anxious to see how they do in my zone 3b.

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Kolomikas’ fruit are smaller than arguta, depending on varieties being compared they could be 1/2 -1/4 the size. Flavor is similar, sweeter perhaps and they are also higher in vitamin C. Not as much of the ‘green’ flavor that argutas have. They ripen in August here in Maine, most argutas ripen a month or two later. They also drop off the vine when they are ripe

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good to know jesse. where you at in Maine ? I’m up in the st. john valley. n. aroostook.

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i also heard that although the fruit is smaller it is more prolific. is this true?

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I don’t think kolomiktas are more prolific than argutas, just quicker to come into fruit. My plants are still young though, so who knows? I am in southern oxford county, near Bridgton and Fryeburg, zone 5a.

My male Hardy kiwi just bloomed in its second year. I wasn’t expecting it so soon. Hopefully the females won’t be too far behind.

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I checked on my male kiwi flowers and they look like they have berries. Do males have some sort of pod or swelling after blooming, or did I get a mislabeled female?

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Definitely female.

We’ll, crap. That was supposed to be my male. That’s a second year vine and the only one that flowered. Must be a self pollinating variety?

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My Issai flowered and is currently forming fruits 2 years after planting (absent a male). Training it to a single vine in the first year and increasing it’s root mass by mound layering may have helped me especially in a part sun location. Just planted prolific last week

Anna kiwi took 3 years to flower for the first time. It didn’t hold onto any fruit.

After 5 years it is loaded with hundreds of flowers but no male around other than a couple of Chinensis!
I had to resort to male flower cuttings brought from elsewhere.

Cordifolia has not flowered after 6 years!

It still should work as a pollinater since it pollinated itself

Could be an Issai or there is a male in the area (arguta pollen can travel a long distance downwind). The green petioles are consistent with Issai. The only other self-fruitful variety in the trade is Prolific, aka 119-40B, which has red petioles.