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Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:59 pm
by Nomada
Hi, does anyone here grow kiwi fruit? Do you grow it inside or outside a greenhouse? I'm just wondering what do do with this young plant I've got.It's shot right up in my kitchen but I'm relectant to put it in the greenhouse as it's not the largest, maybe 8 by 4ft and I know kiwis can be quite vigorous. Ideally I'd like to train it over the shed (south facing side) but I don't know how well it would fare in UK winters in the North West. Would it fruit ok, or die with the frost? What do you think?
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:01 pm
by Nomada
BTW, it's a Jenny, self fertile one.
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:04 pm
by clanpowell
We've got the same type. We bought it last year. It was outside all through the winter, which was so cold here that the condensation pipe from our boiler froze over. In fact I was only looking at it today thinking "Are you alive or dead?" It appears to have some buds on it but I can't tell if they're going to burst into life or not, also the ends of the "branches" look a bit sorry for themselves. If it does something this year I'll let you know. If it doesn't, looks like I've learned the answer to your question the hard way!
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:18 pm
by little blue duck
mine died outside, two winters ago in the February snow
but it was a tiny little stick of a thing, which probably didnt help!
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:27 pm
by oldjerry
Grows well and fruits regularly in West Cornwall.(never tried it in England though).
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:06 pm
by clanpowell
There IS greenery appearing from the buds. So it looks as if it has survived. It is against a south facing, reletively sheltered wall, on two sides infact as in a corner, so that might be the trick. The fruit expert book says you can grow them outside in the south but you might get frost damage on the ends of the shoots.
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:46 pm
by crowsashes
kiwis generally grow in a similar climate to ours... 'jenny' is supposed to be the right variety for the uk so you may be in luck .
Re: Kiwi fruit, inside or out?
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:39 pm
by Nomada
Thanks for the replies! I think it's dying, my flat is really warm as we have heating pipes that run under the floors so it's hot even when we don't want it to be. It seems to be frazzled and going dark brown at the tips of the leaves.
I think I'll take it the allotment and put it in the greenhouse where it's cool.