It must be an annual thing- I get done with enough other stuff to take a look at the kiwi and say “my god- they are trying to take over the world and I better do something.”
I was thinking about posting, but searched first and found my post from last July. Things are the same now but worse. I spent over an hour of cutting to just free a peach tree. I’m actually surprised that it looks as good as it does after being entombed in kiwi for months. No peaches left on it…In fact, I think that’s what triggered me to cut the kiwi back- wondering if there were any Gold Dust peaches ready.
Before:
After (from the same angle and position):
I feel like I need to cut about 95% of the kiwi vine off, to get them back to a manageable size. I was planning to do it in late winter, but I missed the window again and they were “bleeding” badly as soon as I cut them, so I stopped. Maybe I should do it in January instead, just to make sure I actually get done.
One of the problems is knowing what to cut back to. Only the outer layer is actually alive and growing, with a large dead area in the middle of the vine. Maybe I should prune in the fall, after harvest, but when I can still tell what is alive.
One good thing is I found some buried treasure- a white current (Primus) bush which was hidden from both me and the birds. It seems that growing in almost total shade didn’t make them any worse than normal. Though “treasure” may be going a bit far- as they are somewhere between bland and sour. The best use I’ve found for them is adding pectin when mixed with other fruit for jam/jelly.
Note the kiwi above the Issai kiwi above the currant.
