I find the zone 4 wildly optimistic...to the point of being fraud. There is the "arctic" kiwi which is indeed hardy to zone 4...but not the type you have, which is "in-between" in terms of cold hardiness, between the "arctic" ( size of a pea) and the commercial, fuzzy kiwi. The species you have, the dwarf Japanese cultivar known as Issai, is hardy to somewhere between 0-10 degrees...zone 7. I have one myself, and the fruit is surprisingly good, about the size of a grape.....and smooth, with no fuzz. My regular kiwi, variety Heyward, has seen fit to grow about 75 feet but NOT FLOWER YET, and it is about 4 years old.

Just curious Wilmington, does your kiwi send out suckers? I was thinking about planting one until I saw on the internet that they do. I'm in the Dallas area.

Thanks Wilmington Islander, I think I may need to protect it we have a colder than average winter though.
~WeatherGuy

Wilmington did you prune your kiwi vine every winter. I heard that pruning severely is the only way you can get it to blossom when young.

Neither variety has ever sent out suckers....and in my extremely rich, but loose, sandy soil, most anything that can, would sucker if given half an opportunity. As to pruning it, No I have not. I have the male running straight up a 50 foot tall sand live oak, so pruning it would be imopossible....the female however, could be pruned...and it will be severely pruned this year..or maybe even removed. Its a beautiful vine, and God knows I am a bit of a "vine" person" ( lots of passies, moonflowers, and jasmines in my yard) this baby takes up A LOT OF SPACE for what I have seen so far...another p. edulis or two may be better suited for that spot. After all, one can never have too many passionfruits...only too many passionfruit daiquiris! :) Cheers!

Weatherguy, I've got Kiwi growiing in my back yard..it's about 5 yrs old now, and growing along the fence..Be sure you get both a male and female plant..I ordered 2 femails and one male just to be on the safe side..no kiwi's yet, but I've yet to feed it..that's next on the agenda..Toni

Wilm are you sure you shouldn't just prune it severely this winter and see if the female blooms next spring and if it doesn't than give up on it? Eh that's probably what you were planning on doing anyways...lol. I agree with your passionfruit philosophy!

HopeFulauthor:
I think it will still produce fruit, but it will not have seeds in it. My neighbor said this. I hope this is true...

The regular kiwi has a very narrow range of climactic zones that it can be successfully grown in....int he US, that is basically zone 8A to 9A, with a cooler zone 8b or 9a the best...no wonder they are only commercially grown in California, Huh?

Hey Wilm I recently read that in South Carolina a co-op of growers is trying to start big time kiwi cultivation there. Good for them! I hope they make it!

I remember seeing Kiwi 'farms' in South Carolina on the way to Hilton Head. Looked pretty commercial to me.

Hi Dave, do you remember where, or on what road? I live very close to HH and could go by there..I find that interesting. I knew of some "commercial" farms in both SW and SE GA, but from a truly "commercial" standpoint, they were disappointments...not enough yield. But I have no doubt a "cottage" industry in zone 8b SC is happening..and I would like to go and support them.

Yeah I would really like to support them too. I hope one day to be able to buy SC or GA kiwis in the grocery store rather than kiwis from far off places like Greece, New Zealand, and California.

Weather, I don't know if you get Jung's or Henry's catalogs, but the info about male and female plants was in one of these catalogs..
In fact, one or the other sell a collection including 2 femails and 1 male..My vines are huge, but no fruit..then again I've never fertilized..Wonder which food is best..do you know? Toni

I use regular Water Soluble Miracle Gro...The vines are growing fast.

Weatherguy I always used to use that a lot but I really like the new miracle gro slow release granules. You don't have to feed again for 3 months and it's environmental.

Kiwifruit can take up to 7 years to produce fruit.
If you have the male flowering first [and it can happen], save the flowers in a container and freeze, then hand pollinate the female flowers.
Vines can grow rapidly and need heavy pruning to keep them in check. Support is the main thing.

Sorry Kameha if you don't like genuine kiwifruit from New Zealand [even if we did pinch them off the chinese ;-) ].

Cath

Texkiwi I never said I didn't like kiwifruit from New Zealand! I just prefer supporting local fruit growers more.

Kameha, didn't you see the winky?

The Southern Hemisphere growers [i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Chile etc] supply the Northern Hemisphere's market during the latter's winter months.

Same as the likes of Californian grapes and Washington apples are imported into New Zealand during their winter [which is now].

Cath

I had a most beautiful kiwi when I lived in Norway, Maine. It grew to about 50 feet. It was about 10 years old. I started out with 3 and only one lived. It never put out any baby plants. It flowered beautiful white flowers the smelled wonderful but never produced fruit as I only had one. It had dark green leaves with dark red veins and stems. It would grow shouts off the main stock about 6 feet long and I would wrap it around the 6 foot fence I built to support it. I really did cry when I had to move and leave it.
I WISH I could have the same variety again but I have no clue what it was....

Leasa
Eastport, Maine

LOL of course I saw the winky Cath! Whenever I put in exclamation points...that never means I'm yelling, I know I should specify that more often lol.

Yeah that's really neat how the whole hemisphere growing season thing works out for everyone. I personally love chilean grapes more than Cali grapes.

Leasa I wish I could help you with that. What do the flowers smell like, just curious?

A sweet delicate smell, and the white flowers were very pretty.

Ah sounds great Leasa.

Hey guys! I'm on Vancouver Island in BC Canada-I think we're in zone 7. I have an Issai Kiwi I just got this summer. It is in a big pot until I create the raised garden for it. It bloomed already and I got a handful of the tastiest fruit I've grown. I do hope I can nurse it through the winter. This thread has been informative and is the reason I found this great forum.

Pete

Issai kiwi is always sold as 'self pollinating', so you don't need a male female thing to get fruit. Stark brothers nursery has them for sale too. I thought about getting another one..I accidentally killed mine a few years ago, didn't pot it then forgot to water it.

Hi there,

Thanks, Lounge trekker, for the encouraging posting on Issai kiwis. I'm interested to know if there is anyone out there with experience in getting arctic or hardy kiwis (like Issai) to fruit in a Zone 4 climate.
I have a ten-year old male Arctic Beauty that is finally flowering, now that I have started fertilizing it. The females I planted with it all died. Any suggestions for a good female kiwi for Zone 4? Will my male pollinate the delicious-sounding Issai (for increased yields) or other Actinidia arguta kiwis?

Spiral

Bought "Anna" hardy, a male too, in spring of 2007 from Lowe's. They looked to be 2-3 years old and heavily pruned(6" long stubs). "Anna" had some die back winter 2008 and only a small 2' long 1/4" trunk remained. Summer 2008 "Anna" bloomed and fruited on small ground hugging branches that I had left on it from summer 2007. I had about 2 dozen blooms. The male has not yet bloomed. They were seedless of course without a male, but they tasted OK. I think I left them too long on the vine and they were quite mushy when I picked them.

Actinindia arguta from Direct Gardening is called a cold hardy stain of kiwi with smooth grape like fruit. Grows in zones 4-10. Beautiful vines,but no fruit or flower in third year. Pruned lightly, so far. Bought and planted more this year in CT. Winter had cold spells, but not brutal. Low snowfall was harder on plants, I think. Climbing big trellis nicely. I want fruit, but really like vines.Will prune more next year, once the new plants are soaring.

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone had any arctic hardy kiwi varieties that I could procure some cuttings from. I wanted a very cold hardy cultivar to make it through any tough winters in our future.

I have a male pollinator of the "Ken's Red" variety. Does anyone know if that male will pollinate a female arctic? I could pay for postage, obviously, and your troubles. Thanks!