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Advise on my kiwi plant
lizkel31
Posts: 6
in Fruit & veg
I bought my husband a kiwi plant about 6 years ago I was told it was a self fertiles plants so didn't need 2 plants . As you can see its growing well but it's never had any flowers on it we were told it would flower in 3-4 years and that's all we were told. Anybody help please we live in Liverpool
Sorry Don't know if I've done this right don't know if the pictures have shown in my post
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Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
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Last edited: 10 July 2017 08:09:58
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Managed it here's my kiwi hope someone can help me
Can somebody just let me know if the pictures are showing please
No pictures, sorry
sometimes the forum has a qlich on the photos so try again.
if reducing the size of the photo doesn't work you can put the pics on a photo hosting site and post the link.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Here they are at last now can anybody help me it's never flowed but was told I didn't need another plant to get fruit
Hi there. Pictures showing well. I have the same problem exactly and am fed up with the stupid and expensive plant!
mine is tied in as a vine and espaliered. I did think I saw some tiny white buds form this spring but then we got severe frost and the whole huge plant went black. It has since recovered and is looking good but of course no fruit.
I think it is now a pruning problem and got this advice from rhs "The flowers are produced on the last years growth, which would explain why it is mentioned on the label that it should be fruiting in the first year. However, the plants needs to be a little mature to start producing flowering wood and espalier training can delay the flower development further. In other words, I would not expect flowers in the second year after planting. However, if pruned correctly, after five years it should start producing flowers on new growth from the older arms of the espalier.
The problem could be the pruning regime. You may prune the last year's growth too much in winter, removing the potentially flowering wood. The buds are formed largely at base of last year's growth. Summer pruning of the non fruiting shoots also encourages production of the flower buds. You could also try feeding with high potassium fertilizer to encourage fruit bud production. In soil grown try sulphate of potash in spring or use tomato fertiliser in container grown.
If the suggested pruning regime will not encourage flower production after the second winter you may reconsider if it is worth keeping the plant.
Winterpruning
Cut existing laterals back to three or four buds beyond the last fruited stems
Each year cut back about one-quarter to one-third of the oldest laterals to a bud around 5cm (2in) from the main stem. New growth will be produced from this stub in the growing season
Summer pruning
Summer pruning is important to keep these vigorous plants in check
Once the fruit has set, pinch back the side shoots leaving four or five leaves beyond the maturing fruit.
Any non-fruiting laterals can be cut back to five leaves from June onward. These short shoots will produce fruit in the following season
Pinch out/remove surplus shoots that have developed from the main horizontal arms and shoots arising from the main stem.
I hope this information is helpful"
well this is what they said so I haven't touched it as hardly know where to begin
Thank you green mum so what's the name of the plant is it espalier not to sure haha will have to Google it I think but need the proper name of the plant .thank you for your reply
Hi Liz. The plant is Actinidia arguta Issai. it is a self-fertile cultivar of A Arguta. I am sure yours is the same but your cultivar could be Karawaja which is also self fertile. The way I have trained it is called espalier as I have left a main stem to grow upwards and then allowed some laterals to grow sideways along wires. I have two tiers of horizontal wires. All the other laterals I cut off close to the trunk unless I want them to form a fan shape and then allow more side shoots to grow. This means that in confined space my plant is sort of 2D and hopefully when the fruit (what fruit?) comes it will lay along the branches easy to pluck off!