Attention KE : Kiwi help | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

Still a classic! On now to the good stuff...

Since this was my first year with the kiwis in place I am not 100% how to judge how successful it was. From what I have heard we were probably on the low end of what is possible in terms of growth. At the end of the season there was close to three feet of growth on them, but the vines that grew were close to the base so the overall effect is not as dramatic. The soil where they are is pretty bad in terms of nutrients and compaction.

Here are a couple close in shots of them, you can see the new growth walking up the strings we have in place to the trellis.

The pink colouration on the leaves denotes the sex of the vine, I just can't remember which is which. So if you see that on your no need to panic.

And a couple farther back shots so you can see the corner they will live in.

On a side note, dat earth!

If I had the space I would go with a trellis exactly as in the original post, however since we are low on space I want a more vertical trellis. We will also be keep ours reasonably small so things don't get out of hand. Using your fence should work as well. I really do not think they are very fussy.

Someone cautioned me about having it so close to the house as the root systems can be crazy. In hind site I would have moved it out farther, however by keeping them smaller I hope to avoid any issues with the roots making nice with the house.

In a recent Lawton video he showed a decades old hardy kiwi with a main vine as thick as his leg, so really the sky is the limit with these things. If you are abiding by the good soil/sun/water regiment and give them something to climb/run along you'll be good. Northern plants cannot afford to be too fussy about things!