Kiwi Trees

[Wizzy Lizzie]

Some friends and I have just started out growing our own and have a fab fertile patch but it's pretty exposed and coastal (Cornish north coast).

Recently, a local lady kindly donated a kiwi tree to us. It hasn't been trained to a t-bar trellis, is in a large pot and seems totally out of control! As we've had other priorities ie turning a bit of field in to a workable and rabbit free plot, we've just put it in the greenhouse and left it (watering regularly). I feel sad when I see it as it looks neglected but it's also taking up a lot of space and getting tangled!
Getting to my question...can it been pruned right back and trained up a t-bar trellis or will heavily pruning it ultimately kill it?

Any kiwi advise will be gratefully received! Thank you

[1810ss]

Yes, you can prune it hard (when it is dormant in winter)- if you need to cut it back now, I'd be gentler. The vines are incredibly vigorous, so make sure you plant it somewhere it will have room to grow. Note that Kiwi's are usually seperate sex plants so you'll need a male and female- one male will fertilise several females. There are, however, a few modern varieties that bear flowers of both sexes. The sexes are easy to tell apart as the females have a small embryonic fruit beind the flower, whereas the males just have a thin stem with no swelling. If you know the variety name I can tell you if it is a 'single' or 'both' sex one.
One of the best books on fruit is still Harry Baker's RHS softback fruit growing handbook- I'd recommend this to anyone, as it lists all sorts of fruit and how to grow it in detail.

I hope this helps,

Greg

[Ellendra]

From what I've read, kiwis can take a lot of pruning. Try and keep the strongest branches though, it gives the kiwi a good head start when its replanted. Its better to prune when the plant is dormant, but if its taking over any pruning is better than none.

I planted 3 kiwis this spring, I'm just hoping the deer aren't "pruning" them for me!