Jenny fuzzy kiwi success in zone 6b/7a?

Yup, they are self fertile. It’s been so dry here the fruit is tiny, but they are there.

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In a video I watched about Jenny the fruit was noticeably smaller than grocery store versions. If they are big enough to taste give me a reply when you do.

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Are they smaller because they weren’t cross pollinated?

The first video shows some guy picking and eating Jenny fur and all. You can see they are not much bigger than hardy kiwi. The second video is actually Seattle Fig Girls video. Small fruit there as well.

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@annet Did you get any fruit this year?

Yes, I’ve got a lot of fruit and it’s the first year, it’s fruited in its third year. I’ve already tried some. Since I couldn’t find anybody who grows this variety in my area, zone 5B. I came across this site and was wondering if the fruit actually gets ripe before cold weather comes and what’s the best time to harvest it in my area. We have big drops in temperature during the nights and already had one night of frost. it did not harm the fruit at all. I’ve picked some kiwi, they were hard almost like a stone and I put them on the countertop for up to a week. They’ve very tasty and much sweeter than its bigger sister you can find in a store. Today is October 26tha and we should have another two or so weeks of good weather between +10+26 C during the day and not less than 0C at night. I’m going to harvest it and store it in a cool place and bring home only the ones I want to get ready to eat. I read it can be stored until february but i dont think it’s for my zone. I think it’s for those who can harvest in December or January when it’s usually snowing in my area. This was the first fuzzy kiwi I planted and I’m glad I gave it a try. I’ve purchased around 10 hard kiwis and planted them on the south of my property line. They have 8+hrs a day of sun exposure. Hopefully they fruit in a year or so

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@annet Very cool! I’ll definitely have to look into them. Thanks for the update!

This is the picture I took for you today, to see the size and the abundance. i definitely worth to have

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Picked these today. I think this is the 2nd year? Maybe 3rd. Grows incredibly vigorously.

Tried one, super acidic but tastes like a kiwi. I’ll let them soften up before I try anymore. Pretty big core, too.

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Probably not, but I wonder if they will fatten any when your male starts flowering? I’m sure they will taste better after some counter time. Good to finally hear some kiwi talk on the forum. I’m in the process of expanding my kiwi collection.

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@annet are you in Canada by any chance? I’m looking for someone who might be willing to send me some scionwood for ‘Jenny’ this spring or next. It looks fantastic.

no Im in CT, USA

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How hard was it to peel those? About half the size of grocery store? Putting in an order for a couple and just wanted to get in a few last questions.

Good to hear some success. I have one going into its second winter now. It’s still rather small, but in the lee of a rose-of-sharon, so will have lots to climb on and lots of sun as it grows up. I have hardy and arctic varieties in the yard, but nothing with a direct pollination path, so it’ll be its own little island in my yard. 6B/7A with this spot likely a fairly solid 7.

I didn’t try to peel. I’ll either wash them and eat the fuzz or scoop with a spoon. I’m hoping we won’t be in a drought next year and they will size up a little more.

Update for somebody who is interested. We had several nights with -2C in the first week of November, zone 5b and almost all leaves fell off from the kiwi wine. I decided to harvest kiwi as i dont know what is the lowest temperature it could withstand without fruit damage. However I left a couple of fruit bundles here and there to experiment and will write an update. It was my first harvest and the wine is about 3 years old. I must say it’s a lot of fruit for such young


plant


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Hi Robert,
It wasn’t hard at all to peel. There are three ways to do it. When they rape enough you may squeeze them into the mouth by cutting the but and sqeeze. You’ll end up with a peel in your hand only. Another way to do it is with a small spoon, and the last one with a knife. I did both of them.
I don’t have a male kiwi flower yet, Jeny doesn’t need it to produce fruit. The one I planted is far away from her, so I dont there will be cross pollinating because they are located too far from each other.
Another thing, they can be harvested in the middle of November or even later, zone 5B. I experimented this year leaving several fruit on the vine and -6C didn’t kill the fruit, they were good to eat

Interesting that the Jenny fruit survives the cold. The plant itself seems to be pretty cold hardy as well judging by everyone else’s experiences. You must not be in the US. I had to convert the -6c.

I never ended up getting the Jenny. When I went to buy it I found a sweet deal on Saanichton that was way cheaper. I already had Saanichton, but it was so cheap and has much bigger fruit. I’ll probably pick up a Jenny later as I’m having problems keeping males alive through the winter.

Hi Robert, Im live in Connecticut but originaly from Ukraine and moved to USA almost 20 years ago and still use C not F. I believe -6C is 21F

Jenny survived -23C or -9F the first winter I planted it, so it’s a really hardy fuzzi one, lol. As for the fruit then -6C /21F won’t damage them. Im at more than 1000ft elevation and it’s very windy here but it seems like it doesnt bother Jenny at all. I’ll update how its doing next year

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