Saw a video of someone in Germany growing fuzzy kiwis who uses the self-fertile cultivars Jenny and Solo as pollinators (no males) for the female plants. (you can turn on auto-translate if you’d like to watch but don’t speak German)
In this case they are grown in a greenhouse and bumble bees are brought in (poor bumbles!) for pollination. He gets 50-60kg per plant.
Naturally went down a plant research rabbit hole and found that Renact is an even better self-fertile option, as it produces bigger fruit as a Hayward chance seedling.
Renact is sold as Solisimo in Europe and Sweet’n Solo in North America.
Does anyone here have this cultivar or this kind of set-up of circumventing males by using self-fertile Actinidae for pollination? Any experience with Renact as a stand-alone? I wonder if Issai or Prolific could be used the same way for male-less Actinidia Arguta cultivation.
Issai and Prolific cannot be used as a pollinizer, as they are female and only produce non-viable pollen. They can set fruit parthenocarpically but are not really self-fertile, just self-fruitful.
Jenny is actually genetically male and does produce viable pollen. It has been described as an “inconstant male”, producing fruit with fewer carpels and smaller size. Jenny does have the Friendly Boy gene that is absolutely required for viable pollen production (and absent in Issai). See the post linked below for the technical paper.
I’m not familiar with Renact/Sweet’n Solo. Here is what I found on Monrovia’s page for Sweet’n Solo.
“This Kiwi cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program under the direction of Jean Renault, at a commercial nursery in Gorron France. The new cultivar was discovered as a seedling in 1995, the result of open pollination of the seed parent variety Actinidia deliciosa ‘Hayward’ unpatented. The pollen parent is unknown. The new variety was observed for several years, and first propagated by semi-hardwood cuttings in 2005, at a commercial nursery in Gorron, France. Subsequent evaluations of the variety have shown the characteristics to be true to type. Sold under the trade name Solissimo® in the U.K., this cultivar was was granted U.S. Plant Patent #23,457 in March, 2013. By comparison, the new cultivar is similar to the commercial variety Actinidia deliciosa ‘Solo’, with the following differences: fruit of RENACT’ produces larger fruit that is significantly less pubescent and nearly cylindrical with blunt ends, as opposed to elliptical in shape.”
I noticed that, also no price on Monrovia’s website, but the prices are all over the place elsewhere. Victory Nursery has them available for $120 . Cornell Farms for $75 and out of stock, or if you live within driving distance of a Grange Co-op, $25.
My Blake died as well, due to neglect on my part. Could not decide where to plant it and left it in an inadequate pot for way too long.
Wow that’s great to know! And here I changed my plans to get Jenny as I didn’t think it was proven that it could pollinate the females. Boring male is being shipped. Maybe I’ll graft it to Jenny.
Same, I’m now thinking of getting a Jenny if I can’t source the Sweet’n Solo for a reasonable price.
The Sweet’n Solo has larger fruit, 70% of the Hayward size, and produces male and female flowers per their patent.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Nearly all commercial fruit producing Actinidia varieties require a separate male pollinator plant in order to produce fruit of a useful size. ‘Renact’ was selected for its ability to self-fertilize, with the resulting fruit of a significant size, approximately 70% of the size of ‘Hayward’ the most commonly grown commercial variety.
The cultivar ‘RENACT’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, day length, and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘RENACT’ These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘RENACT’ as a new and distinct Actinidia deliciosa cultivar:
1. Flowers having both complete male and female parts.
2. Self fertilization.
3. Fruits of a good commercial size.
COMPARISON VARIETIES
Plants of the new cultivar ‘RENACT’ are similar to plants of the seed parent, Actinidia deliciosa ‘Hayward’ in most horticultural characteristics, however, plants of the new cultivar ‘RENACT’ produce fruit that is approximately 70% of the size of ‘Hayward.’ Additionally, the new variety is self-fertile whereas ‘Hayward’ requires a pollinator plant to produce fruit at all, or fruit of any useful size.
When I looked at Sweet 'n Solo on the Monrovia page yesterday, it had a price of $75 and was shown as available, but online only. This morning there is only an option to add it to a wishlist and no price. Maybe they sold out or it isn’t actually available yet.
Everything I read about Blake says it is a female and requires pollination.
Strange, I looked at the Monrovia page before posting this topic, and it was not available online for me even then, nor was there a price. I guess they detected my region and they have different growers of it in different parts of the country, maybe.
Think I would verify that before I got rid of a male. Not much information on how well it works or anyone saying they have that setup. Also, does it flower with the females you have. I’ve debated getting Jenny several times myself. From others growing it, seems to be one of the more cold hardy varieties. When you look at pics of how small the fruit is though, it really doesn’t seem worth it.
. Cornell Farms for $75 and out of stock, or if you live within driving distance of a Grange Co-op, $25.