Hi
I've just been a bought a self pollinating kiwi...I now need some advice on where the best place to plant it would be and what conditions it likes. Any advice would be welcome
thanks
KIWI BOUGHT ON A WHIM....NOW WHAT?
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
I got one a few months ago. 'Jenny@ in a very tall pot. While I was thinking about it,it got very sad so I have repotted it in a sandy compost in a clay pot with some feed and it has new leaves now. Jenny isn't as hardy as the non self pollinating ones. It has a very vigorous habit but the root needs protection from winter frost.I have been woundering about building a lean-to structure on a West facing wall. Meanwhile I shall keep it in my greenhouse with frost protection.
This is what Reg Moule says.
Richard Barton from Southampton asks:
I cant get my eight year old kiwi (Jenny) to bear fruit. It flowers every year and I hand pollinate but no fruit. Help!
Reg answers:
Hi Richard,
I'm sorry to read about the trouble that you have been having trying to get a crop on your Kiwi fruit "Jenny". This is a self fertile variety of Actinidia deliciosa so it bears the usual slightly hairy fruits, rather than the slightly more rounded and hairless ones carried on the main self-fertile variety "Issai". The latter is of a different species, being a self fertile variety of Actinidia arguta. Usually Jenny plants are capable of coming into fruit after they reach the age of 3 years but they do need as sunny a position as possible, preferably against a south or west facing wall. Now although it is quite possible for them to fruit in our climate the
conditions have to be right, and that means a decent, long, warm summer as Kiwi's neeed a long growing season to crop well. In fact if you wanted to be certain to get a good crop every year you would be well advised to grow them under glass, where they enjoy similar conditions to tomatoes. Certainly hand pollination is a good idea, but if subsequent conditions are not favourable then fruit will not develop. When a crop is produced they will not usually be ready for harvest until October. So really my advice is to make sure that the plant is in a sunny, sheltered position, keep up the hand pollination, make sure that the roots do not become
too dry, and hope for a good summer.
If you are getting the flowers, then you must be pruning correctly, or at least not doing anything too wrong, so it must be down to subsequent conditions. You should always try to erect some sort of protection shelter over the plant to help to provide the longer growing season that it craves.
With Best Wishes,
Reg.
This is what Reg Moule says.
Richard Barton from Southampton asks:
I cant get my eight year old kiwi (Jenny) to bear fruit. It flowers every year and I hand pollinate but no fruit. Help!
Reg answers:
Hi Richard,
I'm sorry to read about the trouble that you have been having trying to get a crop on your Kiwi fruit "Jenny". This is a self fertile variety of Actinidia deliciosa so it bears the usual slightly hairy fruits, rather than the slightly more rounded and hairless ones carried on the main self-fertile variety "Issai". The latter is of a different species, being a self fertile variety of Actinidia arguta. Usually Jenny plants are capable of coming into fruit after they reach the age of 3 years but they do need as sunny a position as possible, preferably against a south or west facing wall. Now although it is quite possible for them to fruit in our climate the
conditions have to be right, and that means a decent, long, warm summer as Kiwi's neeed a long growing season to crop well. In fact if you wanted to be certain to get a good crop every year you would be well advised to grow them under glass, where they enjoy similar conditions to tomatoes. Certainly hand pollination is a good idea, but if subsequent conditions are not favourable then fruit will not develop. When a crop is produced they will not usually be ready for harvest until October. So really my advice is to make sure that the plant is in a sunny, sheltered position, keep up the hand pollination, make sure that the roots do not become
too dry, and hope for a good summer.
If you are getting the flowers, then you must be pruning correctly, or at least not doing anything too wrong, so it must be down to subsequent conditions. You should always try to erect some sort of protection shelter over the plant to help to provide the longer growing season that it craves.
With Best Wishes,
Reg.
either build it its own greenhouse or the compost heap 
my father had several , not self fertile ones , which took over a green house flowered well and never produced a fruit. not something i would spend time on.
my father had several , not self fertile ones , which took over a green house flowered well and never produced a fruit. not something i would spend time on.
Hi Sussexfleur
We hear quite frequently of people growing Kiwi Fruit
but have yet to hear from anybody that gets a satisfactory crop in UK. As to the hardiness I am none too sure in UK but when I was in France many years back there was a grove of them but not the self fertile variety and they were grown three females to one male and they fruited exceedingly well. This was in North Tarn and at quite an altitude and the winters there are harsher than they are here. I do not know the variety but they certainly grew and fruited out in the open in and orchard alongside apples.
Personally if you have to grow one then treat it as an ornamental then anything else is a bonus.
JB.
We hear quite frequently of people growing Kiwi Fruit
but have yet to hear from anybody that gets a satisfactory crop in UK. As to the hardiness I am none too sure in UK but when I was in France many years back there was a grove of them but not the self fertile variety and they were grown three females to one male and they fruited exceedingly well. This was in North Tarn and at quite an altitude and the winters there are harsher than they are here. I do not know the variety but they certainly grew and fruited out in the open in and orchard alongside apples.
Personally if you have to grow one then treat it as an ornamental then anything else is a bonus.
JB.
Hi Sussexfleur
I have been growing and training Kiwi 'Jenny' in a clients garden in South Devon. It is been pruned 'by the book' and has taken 4 years to produce flowers but still not set fruit. As described by the others it will need sunshine and shelter and once framework is established, to be pruned regularly when in growth, like a dessert grapevine - don't leave it to it's own devices or it will grow all over the place and rarely flower. Like any woody climber, it can get behind downpipes and between roof tiles and create havoc if not spotted for a couple of seasons.
As Johnboy says , it will make a good ornamental - lovely fuzzy shoots with large unusual leaves.
Regarding fruiting kiwis. Locally there is a garden where I once worked where the owners planted 2 kiwis back in the late 80's. They were left to get on with it near some trees. In a good year in winter, I have seen literally hundreds of kiwi fruit hanging like christmas tree baubles 20 feet up over holly and birch trees. I have tasted them after a frost and found them fine to eat. I believe the female cv. is 'Hayward'
I have been growing and training Kiwi 'Jenny' in a clients garden in South Devon. It is been pruned 'by the book' and has taken 4 years to produce flowers but still not set fruit. As described by the others it will need sunshine and shelter and once framework is established, to be pruned regularly when in growth, like a dessert grapevine - don't leave it to it's own devices or it will grow all over the place and rarely flower. Like any woody climber, it can get behind downpipes and between roof tiles and create havoc if not spotted for a couple of seasons.
As Johnboy says , it will make a good ornamental - lovely fuzzy shoots with large unusual leaves.
Regarding fruiting kiwis. Locally there is a garden where I once worked where the owners planted 2 kiwis back in the late 80's. They were left to get on with it near some trees. In a good year in winter, I have seen literally hundreds of kiwi fruit hanging like christmas tree baubles 20 feet up over holly and birch trees. I have tasted them after a frost and found them fine to eat. I believe the female cv. is 'Hayward'
Hi Mole,
I'm so glad to hear that down in sunny Devon after 20 odd years you have seen some decent fruit even if they are not yours.
As for Sussexfleur who lives in not so sunny but actually bloody cold Yorkshire what chances do you give her self fertile tree?
If it takes 20 odd years to fruit I don't think I will bother 'cos I will be long gone or if not past caring.
JB.
I'm so glad to hear that down in sunny Devon after 20 odd years you have seen some decent fruit even if they are not yours.
As for Sussexfleur who lives in not so sunny but actually bloody cold Yorkshire what chances do you give her self fertile tree?
If it takes 20 odd years to fruit I don't think I will bother 'cos I will be long gone or if not past caring.
JB.
It seems to me that there may be a parallel with the fig problem, they have to have the root restrained to bring them into fruiting. It might be worth a try rather than wait all those years and get nothing. I would like to hear what the Gardeners Questiontime team make of this one. Jenny is widely on sale now and it seems a pity if llots of gardeners without even the expertise of our circle could be buying it and getting nothing.
I will do what I can to find an answer if there is one. For a start I might try RHS, I send them lots of money each year and get next to nothing back, certainly as regards edibles.
On a similar topic I am working at getting Passiflora fruits. I managed to get a ripe fruit of P. edulis from an excellent greengrocers at Kington then followed the instructions in J Vanderplanck's excellent book and sowed them in my propogator together with the pulp, the result is that they are now coming through like mustard and cress, if I can get them through the winter alive there may well be a polytunnel full before too long. Meanwhile the destined polytunnel has got P.incarta growing like a weed so that will have to be eliminated before P.edulis can be housed.
Further thoughts on kiwi.
If it were any other fruit such as apple, one would feed with a low nitrogen high potash feed, restrict or trim the roots, maybe hand pollinate, even a bit of summer pruning and lasat but not least no 'muck' when planting. If one were to do all that as well as what Reg Moule suggested then surely one would get results
I will do what I can to find an answer if there is one. For a start I might try RHS, I send them lots of money each year and get next to nothing back, certainly as regards edibles.
On a similar topic I am working at getting Passiflora fruits. I managed to get a ripe fruit of P. edulis from an excellent greengrocers at Kington then followed the instructions in J Vanderplanck's excellent book and sowed them in my propogator together with the pulp, the result is that they are now coming through like mustard and cress, if I can get them through the winter alive there may well be a polytunnel full before too long. Meanwhile the destined polytunnel has got P.incarta growing like a weed so that will have to be eliminated before P.edulis can be housed.
Further thoughts on kiwi.
If it were any other fruit such as apple, one would feed with a low nitrogen high potash feed, restrict or trim the roots, maybe hand pollinate, even a bit of summer pruning and lasat but not least no 'muck' when planting. If one were to do all that as well as what Reg Moule suggested then surely one would get results
Last edited by Allan on Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Hi Sussexfleur,
I am not an experienced gardener, but I have some experience with kiwi's however, I am in the Tarn area, of France, where I have three female plants and one male, the kiwi's remind me of 'the day of the triffids' when they start growing. I think it was Bob Flowerdew who said they can be trained as Espaliers. The Rhs recommends they are given a general fertiliser or mulch with well rotted manure or compost in April. Summer prune in July pinch out the tips of young side shoots 6/7 leaves beyond the last fruits. Harvest in Ocotber gather the fruit in and spread in trays under cover to finish ripening for 4/6 weeks. Winter prune by January further shorten side shoots to two buds beyond the stalks of the last fruit. This is advice is for England, I just add four weeks on for my plants, and it seems to work, the problem I have is getting rid of all the kiwi's, I throw wheel barrow loads into the compost after letting neighbours, passer-by's, friends and family take what they can. Wish I could share with you. Good luck with your kiwi, I cannot help wondering if perhaps Jenny would like a companion, even though she is self fertile, to keep her happy!
I am not an experienced gardener, but I have some experience with kiwi's however, I am in the Tarn area, of France, where I have three female plants and one male, the kiwi's remind me of 'the day of the triffids' when they start growing. I think it was Bob Flowerdew who said they can be trained as Espaliers. The Rhs recommends they are given a general fertiliser or mulch with well rotted manure or compost in April. Summer prune in July pinch out the tips of young side shoots 6/7 leaves beyond the last fruits. Harvest in Ocotber gather the fruit in and spread in trays under cover to finish ripening for 4/6 weeks. Winter prune by January further shorten side shoots to two buds beyond the stalks of the last fruit. This is advice is for England, I just add four weeks on for my plants, and it seems to work, the problem I have is getting rid of all the kiwi's, I throw wheel barrow loads into the compost after letting neighbours, passer-by's, friends and family take what they can. Wish I could share with you. Good luck with your kiwi, I cannot help wondering if perhaps Jenny would like a companion, even though she is self fertile, to keep her happy!
I didn't notice the Yorkshire part Johnboy. I was thinking Sussex... Without protection, unless planning for climate change in 20 years time, I wouldn't bother trying for fruit. With protection/favourable microclimate it would be worth a go.
Also have to agree with Longpod regarding 'self-fertility'. Most self-fertile varieties of fruit trees tend to fruit even better when other pollen is available.
Mole
Also have to agree with Longpod regarding 'self-fertility'. Most self-fertile varieties of fruit trees tend to fruit even better when other pollen is available.
Mole
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carlseawolf
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Longpod, you have a point about Jenny welcoming a male. Jenny is till described as A.Deliciosa 'Jenny' on the label that I got with the plant. I cannot see many KG'ers finding room for 3 plus 1 plants. "It is not unusual for a healthy vine to cover an area 10 to 15 feet wide, 18 to 24 feet long and 9 to 12 feet high." The mind boggles at using anything like that space here, let alone 4 times as much! Perhaps Kew or Eden Project or the Garden of Wales could lend us a corner of their largest structure.
I am very unsure about the idea of using too much nitrogen on any plant that I wanted to fruit, my instinct in the case of a sick plant would be to go for a foliar feed such as a seaweed-based feeed which by my experience is capable of remarkable efficacy.
I see a parallel betweeen all fruiting climbers such as kiwi,grapes and passionfruit.
Allan
I am very unsure about the idea of using too much nitrogen on any plant that I wanted to fruit, my instinct in the case of a sick plant would be to go for a foliar feed such as a seaweed-based feeed which by my experience is capable of remarkable efficacy.
I see a parallel betweeen all fruiting climbers such as kiwi,grapes and passionfruit.
Allan
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Sussexfleur
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Have just read latest posts...and tho' i'm a sussexlass thru and thru i find myself defending Yorkshire and its' weather!!!
Yorkshire has had as much sun and warm weather as the south over the last few years with the added bonus of rain...and the winter? Last year was deffo cooler in the south!! My family are still in sussex and when we compare weather(how sad is that lol)I notice that my mum doesnt refer to yorkshire as the frozen north quite as much as she used to!!
have a good day wherever you all are...
Cathy
Yorkshire has had as much sun and warm weather as the south over the last few years with the added bonus of rain...and the winter? Last year was deffo cooler in the south!! My family are still in sussex and when we compare weather(how sad is that lol)I notice that my mum doesnt refer to yorkshire as the frozen north quite as much as she used to!!
have a good day wherever you all are...
Cathy
Hi Sussexfleur,
I was comparing Yorkshire with Devon and you will never ever convince me that however much you shout that Yorkshire has wonderful weather by comparison with Devonshire. As you will note I live in NW Herefordshire and the difference within the county of Hereford is quite dramatic. I live 25 miles north of Hereford but we are about 3 weeks behind them in Spring and about the same short in the autumn so my growing season is considerably shorter just over that 25 miles. Now compare Yorkshire and Devonshire and you will be able to see what I am getting at.
JB.
I was comparing Yorkshire with Devon and you will never ever convince me that however much you shout that Yorkshire has wonderful weather by comparison with Devonshire. As you will note I live in NW Herefordshire and the difference within the county of Hereford is quite dramatic. I live 25 miles north of Hereford but we are about 3 weeks behind them in Spring and about the same short in the autumn so my growing season is considerably shorter just over that 25 miles. Now compare Yorkshire and Devonshire and you will be able to see what I am getting at.
JB.
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carlseawolf
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i live in devon , been here 14 years only seen it snow four times and the deepest was only 2" and lasted for a day.
as a boy i lived in south humberside and every winter it snowed , and i remember it use to last weeks but down here we have not even had the first frost yet due to been on the coast ( just had two weeks of rain instead ) looking at a gardening book i have got, there is a diffrence of about a month in frost times between cornwall and scotland and even that can change in the south west due to the effect of the gulf stream ( south is slightly colder and the scilly iles has nearly no frost at all ) where 50 miles down the coast from me is exmoor and that has realy heavy snow each year.
so i think you would be very hard pushed to put devon and yorkshire in the same weather bracket as within 100 miles of me we can have so many diffrent types of winters.
as a boy i lived in south humberside and every winter it snowed , and i remember it use to last weeks but down here we have not even had the first frost yet due to been on the coast ( just had two weeks of rain instead ) looking at a gardening book i have got, there is a diffrence of about a month in frost times between cornwall and scotland and even that can change in the south west due to the effect of the gulf stream ( south is slightly colder and the scilly iles has nearly no frost at all ) where 50 miles down the coast from me is exmoor and that has realy heavy snow each year.
so i think you would be very hard pushed to put devon and yorkshire in the same weather bracket as within 100 miles of me we can have so many diffrent types of winters.
A seed planted today will make a meal tomorrow
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