Listing all golden yellow kiwi cultivars / types / sorts

[Rikiki]

Is the following list of gold / yellow kiwi (actinidia) complete ? Any doubles or errors ?
(Please comment)

A-19 or Enza Gold. most similar to the green kiwifruit (acidity & appearance)
Hort16A or Zespri Gold, the first variety of yellow kiwi (Zespri)
JB Gold or Kiwi Kiss, highly productive and large
Jintao or Jin Gold, highly productive, smaller than Hort16A (China)
Soreli, highly productive (Italy)
SunGold (NZ) a relative of Zespri Gold developed by Zespri;
SunGold Jumbo G3 zespri (NZ)
Belle de Chine (France) (Actinidia chinensis Chinabelle + Pollichina)
Hong Yang (China)
Auburn golden dragon. Jinnong. diploid
AU Golden Tiger.
AU Gulf Coast Gold
Golden delight (???)
Arnold (???)
Minkigold (???)
Apple shaped kiwi (Japan ?)
Tokyo Gold (Japan ?)
Bliss Yellow (?)
Golden Sunshine. Jinyang (?)

Hi, I’d like to start breeding kiwi actinidia chinensis on a large scale (to create my own super yellow kiwi) using various gold cultivars and also adding wild seeds (like Zespri did).

I would like to buy female seedlings of all the kinds currently in existence and also of wild yellow chinese actinidia plants (if they exist). And then to start breeding. Any clue about finding seedlings from China or other places ? Are all golden kiwi plants compatible for breeding ?

[Richard]

Here are names catalogued by USDA over the years

Search Accessions GRIN-Global.xlsx (131.7 KB)

[scottfsmith]

All the ones I know of are on there. Note Bliss Yellow is not a ?, I had it and grew it. The ripening was too late though so I took it out last winter. @kiwinut may know some more varieties.

The USDA collection used to use chinensis for kiwis now called deliciosa so the historical selections there are not accurate. I think all the currently available ones there have the correct species listed.

[kiwinut]

I’m not sure where you are located, but only a few of these are available in the USA. The main issue with breeding A. chinensis is chromosome numbers. There are diploid and tetraploid varieties, and deliciosa is usually hexaploid. All of them will easily cross if the bloom periods overlap.

Many of these cultivars we’re selected directly from the wild, so I’m not sure what you are going for with more wild material. The typical wild vines are very inferior to the elite selections, so not sure what they will offer that’s not in the other available cultivars.

If interploid crosses are made, lots of unexpected things can turn up, so it’s important to keep things sorted early on unless you want to spend $ on ploidy testing.

Diploids are typically earlier ripening but also bloom early, so spring frosts can be a significant problem. Tets tend to leaf out and bloom later, but also ripen later. Golden Sunshine is an exception, with later budbreak, but early ripening.

Bliss Yellow has been shown to be pentaploid and a chinensis/deliciosa cross. It’s still completely fertile, just late to ripen. AU Golden Tiger is also a pentaploid chinensis/deliciosa cross, but also produces highly fertile pollen, so ploidy may not matter. It is less hardy than other chinensis I have grown.

There are also no good tet males available, other than Bliss male. It hasn’t worked well with arguta females for creating hybrids, so there is some effort now to grow out seedlings to find more tet males. I have some Sungold seedlings that are 4x, so I should get a blooming male soon.

The diploid male that is available for Golden Dragon, Hongyang and other diploid females is CK3. Hort16A and SunGold are restricted to licensed growers, so you will not get those (legally). The Auburn varieties are patented, but should be available as tissue culture plants in the near future.

I have some seeds from Gulf Coast Gold x with Bliss male, and Golden Sunshine x Bliss male, that I can share if you want to start some 4x seedlings. Store bought fruit are mostly tet females, with 2x, 4x or 6x pollen parents, so it can be a crap shoot for getting 4x seedlings.

[Rikiki]

Thanks for the info, Kiwinut. I need to study more to up my game, technically.
I lost my entire first batch of (20) seedlings obtained from Zespri Gold seeds 8 years ago partly due to slugs and other mysterious reasons, once they have been transfered to a garden.
I have a new batch of 30 seedlings from SunGold that are 2 years old. For testing or to b used as rootstock.

I’d like to know how Zespri did it to get the Gold and SunGold, back in the day. Their process. I’ve read they tried 50 000 specimens and spent millions of dollars doing it until they could select the champion…

My idea was to inject more wild genetic russian roulette and leave it to chance with lots of kiwi plants, hundreds of plants (my dad being a bee keeper)

and resowing various generations of seeds each year and see what comes out with a lot of different M&F plants. Including by using known cultivars as a basis to be further improved.

I would keep each kiwi plant like a tiny vine.

Thanks for the offer of seeds.

Besides the experimentation, I’ll also grow a few plants of all the various gold kiwi I can buy here (with the recommended male). I’m in France. The gold kiwi plants I’ve listed as available here often have obscure / vague names…

[Rikiki]

Hi. Let me know how we can arrange a seed shipping. I’ll paypal you.

nb: as regards kiwi growing, my ultimate goal is to create a new cultivar of gold kiwi. My own precious delicious that I can cultivate and spread and sell and promote without anyone breathing down my neck and intervening!

[Seattlefigs]

im curious about kiwi grown from seeds. i see tradewindsfruits website sells seeds and other similar ebay or etsy websites. what do people actually get from growing these seedlings?

I think the name cultivar from TC would be a better qaulity kiwi than seedlings.

also, i did NOT have a good experience with this seller but has anyone bought and grown golden kiwi from him? beside golden kiwi he tells us it not allow to make copies so i dont know what strain of golden kiwi. Golden KiWi FRUIT – CH Fruit Tree Nursery

[kiwinut]

Not familiar with this seller, but I’m highly suspicious about what he is really selling. Unless you sign a non-propagation agreement, there is nothing stopping propagation, unless patented. SunGold was stolen in China, so if that is what these are, then definitely steer clear. It would never be released to non-licensed non-commercial growers. Some of his pictures of fruit also look a bit weird shaped. Seems pretty risky considering the price $$$.

I would never trust seeds from anywhere without some good feedback regarding the pollen parent. However, I have had good luck growing seeds from store bought fruit, and had males bloom in just 18 months from Hort16A fruit several years ago. Different pollen sources may be used in different regions, so if you go that route, best to have some of the seedlings ploidy tested before you devote lots of time and resources into them. I do have SunGold seedlings growing now that were confirmed as tetraploid. The fruit was grown in Italy.

Deliciosa pollen is sometimes used, or diploid chinensis pollen. 5X seedlings are usually fully fertile, but triploids are probably not worth the trouble. I do have a nice hybrid from a triploid male pollen parent, but I may have just been lucky. Most of the offspring were aneuploid and crappy.

[Seattlefigs]

thank you so much for your knowledge! Im currently growing hardy and green fuzzy kiwi. i love golden kiwi but i will wait until it is offered from more reliable nurseries.

i do think that seller got from china and is selling in CA many CA locals have bought from him. he claims on his fb he grown from many seeds and selected that particular golden kiwi and he patent or something.

[Rikiki]

I’m adding this yellow (fuzzy) kiwi to the list. (I can’t update the original post ).

Dori AC 1536 (Italy). https://www.dorikiwi.com

And an interesting read for kiwi growing / rootstock / grafting / frost protection: Actinidia chinensis, Golden Kiwifruit – Texas Opportunity or Headache? | Dave Creech

[PhilaGardener]

@Rikiki

I would keep each kiwi plant like a tiny vine.

Glad to hear more on this topic My grow outs seem bent on garden dominion!

[swincher]

This thread (and how delicious they are) inspired me to germinate some Zespri SunGold seeds just for fun about a month or two ago, and it was really easy. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them because I don’t really have a good place to plant them, but I’ll separate them and pot them up at some point. Getting their first true leaves now:

Hopefully Zespri doesn’t specifically pick male pollenizers that produce worse-quality seedlings? If my wall of dragonfruit doesn’t do well in my only slightly heated greenhouse, I may convert it into a wall of kiwi eventually.

[ramv]

In new zealand, they rarely grow male kiwis as they take up space. Orchards typically buy pollen.

Commercially available pollen is all deliciosa. Not chinensis. Your odds of getting a decent next generation went down significantly if you are growing those seeds.

[swincher]

Good to know! I’ll probably grow them anyhow just to see, but in light of that fact I won’t be giving them any valuable greenhouse real estate until I see fruit!

[ramv]

@swincher, I will likely have high quality seeds from fruit that does well in our area. I will contact you around November.

[kiwinut]

SunGold seedlings from fruit grown in Italy that I have growing now, were determined to be tetraploid. In New Zealand the pollen source can vary depending on the grower, so it can be hit or miss. Even if you get pentaploid seedlings from deliciosa pollen, they still may be perfectly fine, except they may be later to ripen or a bit less hardy than pure chinensis. Fertility issues in these 5x vines seem to be a non-issue, at least with these closely related species. The ‘AU Golden Tiger’ male used as a pollinator is 5x, as is ‘Bliss Yellow’ female. Seedlings with a fuzzy parent will probably eventually be fuzzier, but it can be hard to see any differences in immature plants. Pure chinensis seedlings tend to get less fuzzy as they mature, while hybrids tend to get fuzzier.

[ramv]

I have a couple of fruits of Golden dragon (Jinnong) and several of Hongyang (red fleshed yellow). Both are diploid. They were both pollinated by Ck3 (meteor) also a diploid.

The Jinnong is already softening on the vine. That makes it earlier than many Hardy kiwis. Hongyang will ripen also on the vine.

For heat challenged areas like PNW, I think these will make good parents for a next generation of super early kiwis.

[kiwinut]

The diploid chinensis fruit easily ripen for me, but we lose the whole crop more often than not due to the really early budbreak. That should not be an issue in the PNW. For me, Golden Sunshine is preferred for breeding. It has a later budbreak, but ripens at least as early as any diploid. So far, it does not want to accept arguta pollen, but I will have F1 hybrid males I can try on it once they start blooming. Hopefully that will be next spring.

[Seattlefigs]

all golden kiwi growers. i got an email from Fruitwood Nursery regarding scions of their golden kiwi. thought i might share. it will be a few years before i have a greenhouse set up to grow it.

Thank you for your patience.

Our Yellow Bliss Golden Kiwi Scion or Cutting Wood is now in stock and can be purchased by following this link:

Yellow Bliss Golden Kiwi Scion or Cutting Wood

[Moose]

I saw this kiwi at the store and it was really good- probably the best kiwi I have ever tasted. It’s pretty much a yellow kiwi with a hint of red in the middle. The skin seems a little thinner and less fuzzy than a traditional kiwi. I think the taste was better than the Zespri Sungold.