Kiwi fruits

Kiwi fruits were originally known as Chinese gooseberries. They are deciduous trailing climbers that will grow up to 9 m in length. The kiwi fruits are large berries with hairy, brown skin and green pulp containing small, black seeds.

For a proper developing of this plant in the open choose a sunny, sheltered place with well-aerated, deep and rich in organic matter soil with a pH of 6-7. During the growing season they need warm, moist conditions with temperatures between 5-27 Celsius degrees (41-77 F) but over the dormant period they will tolerate several degrees of frost and require chilling for at least 400 hours below 7 Celsius degrees (45 F) to encourage good flower production.

To ensure adequate fertilization of kiwi plants you will need one male plant to 8-9 female plants as kiwi are dioecious - plants are bearing either male or female flowers.

Plant rooted cuttings or grafted plants at 4-5 m apart in rows 4-6 m apart, staking the vines on the wire supports until they are tall enough. Keep the rows weed-free, water regularly specially in long dry periods and apply a general-purpose fertiliser rich in phosphate and potassium. Mulch the kiwi plants heavily to maintain moisture.

To protect the plants from heavy wind you can use a light plastic screening material. Rarely practicable, kiwi can be grown under cover, usually in walk-in polytunnels and the growing conditions are the same as for the ones that are grown in the open.

Fruits will be produced on one-year-old wood only, so you will need to cut back to 2-4 buds all the fruited sideshoots in the dormant period. Kiwi plants will start to bear fruits 3-4 years after planting. Harvest them as they soften and keep in cool place. For longer preservation you can wrap the fruits in plastic film and store them for several months at 0 Celsius degree (32 F).

You can propagate kiwi plants by soft and hardwood cuttings. Take softwood cuttings in spring, 10-15 cm long and insert them in cutting compost. Take hardwood cuttings in late summer, 20-30 cm long and insert them in sandy compost. Selected cultivars may also be grafted onto vigorous seedling stocks, T-budding and whip-and-tongue grafting are the most common methods used for this.