I have 7 new kiwi plants from this and last year, which I am growing in pots for the moment.
I have mostly kept them inside since fall.
Because of a home renovation, I had no heating until half of november, so all plants properly lost their leaves.
However, because of the new heating (and most likely because of too much watering), the buds have bursted alread just now.
(for all plants: >1year olds, new seedlings, store bought kolomikta)
I have some fear they won’t survive until spring
Should I make sure they get artificial lighting (only 8hrs of cloudy natural light)?
Or should I instead get them to go dormant again?
The kolomikta already has flower buds (which I did not expect!). Would it need special care?
Apart from the timing, is it OK for such a small plant to care fruits? It is really like two twigs tall
How could I have prevented the budburst? Would it have been sufficient to water less?
(Now, when only the soil was really dry, I watered it, but with a regular amount)
I’ve been reading through the forum trying to figure out grow lights- sounds like you need them for the winter too. I don’t have the kiwi yet, so i don’t know if they can be sent into dormancy again. I plan on keeping anything of mine that wakes up in a mylar enclosure with lights.
You need to keep temperature at 50f (10c) or lower to keep them dormant. Now that they are growing don’t try to force them into dormancy. That will most likely kill them. They need time to form new buds. A bright window or artificial light would help them at this point.
They may not produce this year again. To prevent coming out of dormancy in the future I would keep them in the garage. Even then a lot of my plants came out of dormancy very early in the garage. I am talking around March or April when trees do not start to come out until about May around here outside. Growing inside pots is tricky because it can’t get too cold or too hot. Also after a few years roots tend to get root bound where you will need to up pot.
I accidently let my mulberries come out of dormancy too fast. I rooted them last spring, they rooted well and set leaves during the summer… this fall they went dormant. But i didnt put them in my basement to stay dormant. The little beasts broke bud early December and are setting fruit. So im stuck babying them for awhile.
So my only goal is to keep the roots happy by providing the leaves light and roots water until they drop leaves again.
Thanks for the advice everyone. After the feedback, I repotted them and will take care for them as if it were spring.
I also will buy some growing lights to lengthen the days. I want to take no risk as I have been growing them from seed.
Just now while writing this reply, I have noticed the kolomikta (only store bought plant) flowers have opened up today.
Exciting times and good to know it is a Male plant (which I was hoping for)
So I have my growing lights now for a few days.
4x40W red & blue spectrum which I leave on during day,
and 100W normal light which is on from dusk to 23pm when we go sleeping.
Hopefully it is sufficient.
(today is the first time we have any sun since at least 3 weeks)
