I never got them to be consistently productive but didn’t love the fruit enough to give it my best try. To me they are nice to pick a bowl or two and eat for a few days but I just don’t find them highly appealing. This has been my experience with several unusual fruits including paw paws.
I wish I loved paw paws, because they are very productive for me and require less work in ratio to harvest than anything else I grow. I keep growing them because they are so visually amazing from flower to fruit and I have a couple friends and relatives that cherish the fruit.
Some assorted a kolomiktas topped with Michigan State arguta. Nice thing about these is that they can be picked early and will keep for awhile in the fridge and then can get brought to room temp to finish ripening, going from 6-8 brix when picked to 18-30 brix when ripened. No problem with swd that way.
i have a red beauty female and arctic male i planted last spring from hirts. didn’t put on much growth but what they did was healthy. they are in sun for 8hrs then afternoon shade protected from wind buy a hedgerow to the west and my shed to the north. have them well mulched with plenty of room to grow. will make my arbor for them next spring. hoping they do well there. too cold for A. arguta up here.
What is your lowest winter temperature? Some ‘extra hardy’ kiwi are rated to -35 F, Tatyana was one I tried in Durham that was quite good sized, early ripening and tasty. One Green World sells it and another couple kinds of that subgroup. I also like kolomiktas ‘September Sun,’ and ‘Krupnopladaya’ for fruit over the more common ‘Red Beauty’.
we get -30f at least a few days in a regular winter. seen the record broken in winter of 08’ when it hit -50f! but -30f is usually the coldest. where i have my kiwi, i have a large shed to the north and a hedge row of spruce / mt. ashes to the west so they’re protected well. i may add a few varieties as i have room to extended the bed. what protection did you give yours in the winter for the 1st few years?
Hello, I grew some like Alan for 10 yrs or more, I forget the name. Besides the freeze damage and vigorous growth, they only really ripened to the “tropical” yummyness twice, they need summer heat to ripen correctly, more than I have here in Vt.
i already have mulched heavily with sawdust. i blow my snow there with my tractor so they will be covered well til’ spring . hopefully thats enough to protect them.
Some of my 3rd year kolomiktas fruited this year, shown with ‘anna’ arguta at 2 o’clock for size contast…some are almost as big. The first few were softening and dropping, so I picked a bunch that will go in the frig to ripen.
I have a few 10+ year old vines. My biggest problem is I really have never gotten the hand of pruning these things well to produce. I also spend lot of time pruning them back off my garage and off the cable lines (in a week they can overtake 10 feet of cable line if the weather cooperates…).
This fall I am going to make an attempt to remove 10 years of covered vines off my arbor and try to maintain a better pruning schedule next spring/summer.
As I am quite a glutton for punishment here, I have also just this year added Actinidia polygama in a different area. These are supposed to be a very hardy type as well, with small spicy fruit (A. polygama “hot pepper”)
mine are very slow to establish here. my anna and male are at 2nd year and barely put on any growth. put in a september sun this spring and it hasnt done anything either. spot i have them in is 8hrs of sun in the morning then dappled shade in the afternoon. they’re mulched well and i water occasionally when its dry. gave them a rig of worm castings and powdered comfrey last spring under the mulch . the soil was amended w/ compost before i planted them there. i noticed my male doesnt have the colors my females do. no pink splashing. could it be its too young or maybe a different species? they’re growing at the same rate.
Anyone growing Chang Bai Giant Kiwi? According to Hartmanns "A new hardy arguta female kiwi selected from Korea. The vines have high vigor and very productive. Firm fruits are large nickel to quarter size and are heart-shaped to round. The plants are extremely hardy in cold climates. The flavor of the fruit is mostly sweet, with very little acidity. Male pollinator is Meader. Hardiness Zones 4-7.
Michigan also looks good
“The common name is MSU also known as Michigan. The plants are very productive with acceptable medium to large fruit size. The fruits have a good flavor mostly sweet with some acidity. The oblong fruits are firm and attractive ripening late with Anna kiwi.
USDA Zones 4-7.”
Hartman’s will be your best source for vines at a wholesale price. Their MSU has not been true to type, it is mislabeled Anna. They are working with UNH to get DNA verified material and so in a year or two should have things worked out. I have their Chang Bai, hasn’t fruited yet. I should have plenty of cuttings later if you want to try rooting your own, they are very easy.
