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chitti_gw

Identifying the sex of a kiwi vine

chitti
17 years ago

I have two large kiwi vines in the backyard of my house that I bought last year. From the thickness of the trunks, the vines seem to be at least ten years old. One of them has a faded label that identifies it as a "Fuzzy Hayward" in a font that one done not see on nursery tags anymore. I assume the second vine is of the same variety, as the leaves look identical. Both bloomed last year but did not set fruit. A neighbour who has lived in the neighbourhood for the last thirty years says that he does not recall the vines setting fruit.

I suspect that both the vines are of the same gender. If that is the case how would I go about identifying the sex of the blossoms when the vines bloom again?

Links to photographs of "Fuzzy Hayward" (or a similar varieties') blossoms, with the sex identified would make things easy and would be much appreciated.

Comments (11)

  • sam_wa
    17 years ago

    Hayward is a female variety, you probably need to get a male established in order to get fruit..

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    17 years ago

    Examining the flowers of a kiwi are the only way to determine for sure if you have a male or female plant if unknown or incorrectly labeled. Check the attached link to WSU and go to the Kiwi section - the photo of both a male and female flower are very clear and you can easily distinguish the difference. (btw, foliage of most varieties of fuzzy kiwi will appear similar, so that's not gonna be a way to tell boys from girls or one cultivar from another). If both vines ARE Haywards or other females, you will need a male vine for fertilization and fruit set.

    Here is a link that might be useful: WSU - kiwi flowers

  • chitti
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks much, gardengal48. The photographs of the kiwi flowers on the WSU website were very helpful. Unfortunately I don't have a photographic memory and I will need to wait a few months before I will know for sure if I have "boys" or "girls". The pressing of a flower I did last year, did not turn out well and is not of much use for identification purposes.

    Anybody out there willing to let me collect some pollen so that I can hand pollinate, if my vines indeed turn out to be "girls"? If not, pointers to known public sources for collecting kiwi pollen would be helpful too.

    Are there any pollination charts that provide information on compatible varieties for the "Fuzzy Hayward" or for different kiwi varieties for that matter. I did do a google search and could not readily find any pollination charts for kiwis.

  • silver_creek
    17 years ago

    Any male fuzzy kiwi will do the job; in fact one male will provide pollen for up to 8 female vines. Rather than collecting pollen, however, if you find someone with a male vine who is willing, cut a bouquet of blossoming branches and put it in a vase under your female vines. The bees will do the work for you.

  • chitti
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    My wife thinks that we have two male vines based on her recollection of how the blossoms look like. If that is the case, can I graft a few different compatible female kiwi scions on to the male trunks? Do kiwi's take grafts? Does the sex of the graft matter? What is a good time to graft? Any good online sources for grafting information specific to kiwis? Did any of you have luck grafting onto an older kiwi vine?

    My only experience with grafting involves helping graft the scion of a "Blenheim Orange" apple (a great dessert apple) that I found at an apple tasting onto a semi-dwarf root stock. The tree in now four years old, has produced some wonderful tasting fruit and is doing well.

  • Embothrium
    17 years ago

    Replace one of the males with a female if there is no room to plant a female nearby. Consider doing this anyway, since you only need the one male and will get more fruit if you have as many females as possible (up to 8, I guess).

    Other than that, I'd just like to complain that this thread has "sex" in the title but when you open it all it talks about is some dam vines.

  • elenawa
    17 years ago

    I remember seen the info about kiwis in the Raintree Nursery Catalog; you can visit their site.

    Cheers,

    Elena

  • heatherisnotaweed
    17 years ago

    Consider doing this anyway, since you only need the one male and will get more fruit if you have as many females as possible (up to 8, I guess).

    Hey! That's just like with PEOPLE!

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  • Embothrium
    15 years ago

    But do they know anything about kiwi vines there?

  • Charlie
    12 years ago

    I suggest that you graft a male kiwi scion onto your female kiwi plants, thus eliminating the need for a male plant. It is easy to do and you can find the instructions on line.