I think you should try watering them more, since they are a tropical plant they are most likely to benifit from lots of water and sunlight. also you should look up what kind of fertilzer they like

First off, congratulations on your discovery - you lucky ducks! All I found growing on our fences left by the prior homeowners was japanese honeysuckle. Nice for bringing back memories of childhood, but not very filling and it's being overrun by grapevine anyway.

Just googling information on hardy kiwi, looks like even though it's hardy to the north it still can take a long time to get into the mass production groove - like maybe 10 years - and a late spring frost or pruning at the wrong time in spring can do damage to the fall crop.

One site (link below) is a Cleveland gardener's experience and says the vines can get as big around as one's arm, and that a fully producing female can put out 250 pounds of the kiwis in a season (so I hope whatever yours are growing on is *really* strong). That might give you a measure by which you can guess how old yours is.

Maybe you don't need to do much to it at all, maybe it's just young yet. Or maybe the male is too far away from the female(s)... that is suggested on plantfiles.

Lots to learn! Before your post, I never knew it existed. I just might have to find myself a pair... :-) I see it propagates by softwood cuttings... now that you know what you have, you could try to root some and see what happens. Wouldn't that be a bonus! Best wishes :-)

Terri

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardy kiwi hardly producing

I have a pair that's 3 years old and hasn't produced any fruit yet. The vines are pretty, especially the male plant with it's pink and white variegated foliage. I'll keep them around even if they never produce fruit, though I'd really like some.
Karyn

Hello, Everyone,

Thank you so much, first of all.

He actually bought the house nine or ten years ago so they are at least that old. The property had been allowed to overgrow for at least a year or two before he bought it so a number of plants were choked off and he saved what he could, I think there may have been more of them originally. They are in rows with grapes and apricots, I don't know if that makes a difference.

We know we need to build better supports for them, the ones they are on have definitely seen better days and the coating on the wires has cracked and seems to be "burning" the branches where rust touches them.

My previous experiment with propagating was with roses so as you can imagine I'm a little gun shy. :)

BIG question though - variegated foliage on the male plant? All of mine look identical, definitely no variegated foliage - is it possible I only have females? Wouldn't that be a hoot...I'll have to dig into that. It would certainly explain a lot.

And we got a nasty snowstorm in April this year, we had a couple of weeks in the 60s and 70s and then got 10 inches of snow. I'm sure that didn't help either.

If it works, below is another link to information I found about the hardy kiwi, including a short comment on how to propagate with softwood cuttings as well as info on when to prune (paghat says winter is best) and how much. Couldn't hurt next year to save seeds from a fruit and try to grow them!

You must have a male in there somewhere or I don't think you would have gotten any fruit at all. I think Karyn has Kolomikta variety from what I'm reading. The other varieties don't mention variegation in their descriptions but that one specifically mentions pink/white variegation being very prominent in the male.

Teresa, if you remember what your kiwifruit looked like, you might try looking here to see if you can tell what variety you might have.

Hope this helped.
Terri :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Nother link about hardy kiwi

There are a number of different kinds of kiwi, including 2 described as "hardy". The Argunta varieties do not have the variegated foliage, but they supposedly produce a larger and better fruit.

These plants have been discussed at length in the fruit and orchard forum. As with grapes, proper pruning will increase both the quantity and quality of fruit produced.

Thus far I only have 2 males blooming (and none of my 6 females) so I have not yet gotten fruit.

Its possible that you could even have a "self-fertile" variety (as there are a couple).

~Chills

I have a question about Hardy Kiwi. I put a male, and a female in about 4 years ago, She who must not be named hit the male with a weed wacker, and would not allow me to get another one. For years the female (dumbarton oaks) grew vigorously, this year it finally put out flowers, and it looks as if all of them were pollinated. to the best of my knowledge there is not a male in fruiting age in the vicinity, and I am wondering how it got fully pollinated, outside of God's help. Could it have gone hermaphrodite?

Dan, I have the similar question, except my male plant was eaten by a rabbit down to the ground two years ago. The female plant bloomed about a week to 10 days ago, still waiting to see if all the fruit is going to hang on or drop off because I'm not aware of anyone having a male Hardy Kiwi nearby.

Dan, at least 1/2 to 2/3 of the fruit have dropped from my Kiwi but remaining fruit appears to be getting larger, so looks like there may be some hope for mature fruits.