I’m not a big kiwi fan, but the deer love them, right down to the ground.
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They were definitely ripe. It is more a comparison with other yellow flesh kiwis which are very yellow and the El Dorado is barely yellow in comparison.
I thought I saw some signs of a hybrid on the bark but it could just be the variety.
Re: deer, my deer have so many other tasty things that they don’t do much damage to the kiwis. Some years they figure out the fruit is tasty and eat most of it but other years they miss them.
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Do Kiwis require shade? I planted one pair in the bright sun (ZONE 7A, Maryland) and the leaves are 50% brown. That is the 2nd photo…and the damage has increased the last three weeks. I planted a 2nd pair in the partial shade of an apple tree, and it looks very healthy. That is the first photo and the vines have grown completely over the trellis over the past four weeks. I see from this post that we have to wait at least 4 years for fruit. That’s ok. My fruit trees have taken from 5-8 years to produce. As long as everything stays healthy
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Kolomikta fruit the year after planting, arguta take 3-6 years (Or more!) depending on site and training
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Yes, arguta kiwis will suffer in hot afternoon sun.
The fuzzy kiwis seem to thrive in sun, atleast in the PNW.
I haven’t noticed any issues on that front. I mulched and watered them early on and by now (a decade later), they have massive roots and can take care of themselves. The bigger issue I have that they want to take over the world. Or at least any plant or structure in their general vicinity.
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Your vines probably have not had a chance to grow a good, deep root system yet, so can get dehydrated in hot, dry sunny weather. The tips of the leaves get injured first, so that’s why the tips turned brown. If you see the leaves getting very wilted in the heat of the day, give them a good drink. Once they get older, they should be less prone to drying out. They will do best with some afternoon shade in hotter climates.
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Regarding ‘Cordifolia’, mine is in a large pot still and I haven’t given it a support so it’s just a tangle that’s all flopped over. It was pretty tiny when I got it a few years ago, but flowered fine this spring. No fruit set because I lost my male, but it DID flower. Before losing my male a previous year it had done the same; it was flopped over in a small pot and it flowered, but stopped flowering the following years before it died as it was being trained to grow up a support.
My working theory with these hardy kiwis taking forever to mature to the flowering stage is that they get “trained” too well up supports which keeps them in grow mode. I really think they need to be allowed to run out of climbing space and flop over to induce faster maturity and induction of flowering.
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My Hardy kiwi male and cordifolia were purchased at the same time. No flowers on either despite a lot of growth.
Thankfully I have a wonderful male Chinensis (bliss yellow) that blooms at an overlapping time with the Hardy kiwis and does a great job with pollination.
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deep mulch is great for them esp. once it gets hot.
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There is a lot of kiwi expertise here so hopefully someone see this post. Reading up on kiwi’s has been a bit confusing. I am in Texas 8A and the impression I get is none of the kiwis will grow and fruit here. If I am wrong could you experts guide me to what might work? I never got my hands on the AU kiwis, and from what I read by the pros here is they had issues getting it to grow in Texas. The issues here are hot summers often 100F for 2-3 months, winters that are erratic with sudden spring like weather followed by freezes as well as late freezes on average March 18 where I live. Will any kiwis work here? They would ideally be in ground. I have read of some doing Issai’s in pots which is not ideal but I could do it if nothing else would work. Am I right this is not an environment any of these will work or is there hope?
I’m in Texas 8A with about the same frost date and I’m trying them. Just have the baby plants in the ground. Not sure how to handle all that you explained but trying to handle it for a bunch of other fruit too. Biggest expense was the trellis so I’m going to try it. I’ve got the fuzzy kiwis and I’ve picked out the most cold hardy varieties.
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The deer find them tasty, the whole plant, but birds and squirrels haven’t paid any attention to them so far. Nor any insect issues.
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Had a few fruit from my September Sun aka Sentyabarskaya. Very pleased with the fruit quality. I would rate this kolomikta higher than my arguta Ken’s Red, which is also very good.
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how do you know they are ripe? mine look similar.
Michael Dolan from Burntridge Nursery once told me that when you start seeing ripe fruit fall to the ground, the rest are ready to be picked and ripened on the counter. Or refrigerated and then ripened. @JesseinMaine when do you harvest yours?
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Kolomikta kiwi September Sun is usually ready by late July early August. So this seems somewhat late.
Yes, they drop to the ground when ripe.
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Kolo come in in mid August, arguta a month or so later
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Maybe it’ll produce earlier once it is more established. Or perhaps it was mislabeled when I bought it.