Only one species of kiwi - the arctic kiwi, Actinidia kolomitka - will produce the variegated foliage and that tends to be most pronounced on the male plants. Females will also produce variegation but perhaps not as strongly. They are also not quite as common in commerce. It is usually reported that the variegation does not appear until the vine is quite well established, although I have seen it on 1 gallon nursery stock. Is this the type you have? Other kiwis, which tend to be the ones most often planted for fruit production, have plain ole green foliage regardless of the gender of the plant.

Yes, I do have the Actinidia Kolomitka and it is 5 years old so maybe there is hope for some color. I am not sure what gender I have. Does fertilizer help with the color development??

Hi jbgriffingate

I just finished talking with the local garden shop because I will be trading kiwis with someone that has a colder climate then I do. Anyway to make a long story short, Actinidia kolomitka are asexual(they do not need a male and a female to produce fruit). Depending of where your plant is located and how old it is may depend on how soon it produces the varigated leaves and fruit. A. kolomitka start producing between five to seven years old. The Chinese(New Zealand) types don't start until they are seven to ten years old. I hope this helps

Nickie

I'm not sure where exactly this information is coming from, but it's not correct. With the exception of one or two self-fertile selections of hardy kiwi (i.e., Actinidia arguta 'Issai') ALL kiwis need both male and female plants to fruit and even self-fertile ones will produce better crops with cross pollination. Kiwis are rather unique in that they are often polygamodioecious, producing either male or female as well as bisexual flowers on the same vine, but are functionally dioecious - male flowers produce pollen but have ineffective female parts; female flowers will sometimes produce fruit but will abort if not graced by male pollen. To complicate matters, even with both gender plants present pollination is iffy as female flowers do not attract pollinators (bees) because they produce neither nectar or pollen to draw them. Commercial production relies on what they call saturation pollination with multiple hives hosting thousands of bees. Homeowners may be best served to take the bees tasks upon themselves and hand pollinate.

Regardless of pollination requirements, there is no relationship between the development of the variegation on A. kolomitka and the production of flowers or fruit. It just simply needs time to establish inground before the variegation becomes distinct.

Hey gardengal, I have a male A. kolomitka. I know this because it was beautifully variegated when I bought it. This was last Spring (2007). This year it is thriving, but no variegation. Will it take until its "leap" year to variegate?

I'm hoping to revive this thread after a few months.

To Tishfromwis: My male acrtic kiwi took about ten years to show variegation! It started to color up once I began feeding it with ProGro (an organic fertilizer, but I'm sure any fertilizer would work.)
My guess is that your kiwi had color when you bought it because it was given fertilizer at the nursery.

I would like to know if there's anyone out there in a Zone 4 climate who has experience with growing and fruiting arctic kiwi, Actinidia kolomitka (or is it kolomikta?) or hardy kiwi (A. arguta) .
I planted a 'September Sun' female arctic kiwi in 2007, to take advantage of my male Actic Beauty, now that it is finally flowering. The female nearly died this spring, I think due to too much sun ( I gave it a southern exposure, next to the male kiwi.) Giving it shade cloth seemed to help it recover, which seems consistent with what I have read about the sun-sensitivity of young kiwi vines (am I right?) I am wondering how many years it might take to become fruitful.

Spiral