[ConfusedGardener]

We will be putting up a 24ft wide poly tunnel very soon, and would like to grow kiwis. I've bought some Actinidia Chinensis seeds which I will start as soon as I get.

I'm just wondering how exactly to go about making sure I get a male and a female. The plan so far is to start about ten seeds indoors, and plant perhaps 3-4 in each corner at the north end of the tunnel. Hopefully we can later thin them down to one male and one female in each corner. I'm guessing the male can be kept small (pruned hard) as he just produces pollen?

Does this sound like a good plan? Any suggestions that might work better would be very welcome!

[gobs]

A question of luck really since till flowering time you won't be able to sex them, methinks.

I do not know, what size they are at first flowering. You will need to leave them some room.

[ConfusedGardener]

Thanks for the reply gobs.

Surely they would be significantly smaller when they first flower than a fully grown plant? If not then I guess it would become a bit unmanageable in there!

I've contacted the seller to make sure they are not self-fertile (apparently some varieties are), but if they are not, then I'm guessing planting them about 3 feet apart (gives me room for 6 plants total - hopefully one should be male out of 6?), and then training them away from nearby plants (till they are sexed/removed) but towards the kiwis on the other side of the poly door.

I'm thinking about using the crop bars/wire and have them trained to form a tunnel over the entrance to the poly, so the fruits are hanging above head height as you enter the poly.

The Kiwis are marked "K" on the plan I've attached. I also want a fig in there too (marked "F"). Each "pixel" in my diagram represents 6x6 inches.

[gobs]

I do not know, how much you looked into this, but sounds like as if you were thinking, they'll be romping away this year.

Germination is sporadic and slow. Unless the seeds were treated they need refrigerating for weeks-months.

They can take years to flower from seed, so it would seem.

http://junglegarden.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/actinidia-chinensis.html#.UzaMqvl_trA

The plan looks neat and nice. Good luck!

[ConfusedGardener]

Thanks again gobs.

I'm aware that this will take a few years at least. From what I've read it sounds like between 3-5 years for the first flowers. Likewise for germination - I'm trying to germinate some passion flowers at the moment, and they can take a couple of months... not for the faint hearted!

[gobs]

Oh, good! I was wondering, how much I would disappoint.


I'd sow more than 6 seeds...

[ConfusedGardener]

I was thinking of sowing at least ten, in case some do not germinate, but planting more than 6 in the poly tunnel beds seems like a bad idea from an overcrowding point of view. If possible I want to keep the kiwis confined to the north end of the poly (right on my diagram) so as not to shade out everything else in that area. I wonder if I could keep 2-3 more in 42l tubs till they mature and then transplant into the poly bed if needed?

Or, it would make life a bit easier if they could be cut back hard and then retrained so that they can cover the north end wall of the poly. Not sure if they'd take very well to that, but as far as I know most vines don't mind being heavily pruned.

I keep forgetting that I also want to squeeze in at least 2 grape vines, and a few passion fruit... I'm not sure exactly where at this stage, but the poly is 72 ft long so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to find a spot, although my original plan was to try and keep everything that's likely to get tall and start shading other things out at the north end. Then there's cucumbers, cucamelons, and that's just the vines (that I can think of right now). 72 feet is already starting to feel inadequate!   

[gobs]

I'd think, you can do either: tubs or cut back or both.

That's a lot of space. It fills up fast, I know.

[ConfusedGardener]

Well that's a plan then. Thanks for helping me think this through gobs!

[gobs]

Not at all. I'm interested.

[ConfusedGardener]

I had a reply from the seller, who said that they are not self-fertile and that "males/females are naturally occurring in a ratio of 2:3". That makes me think that 6 plants should be more than enough to make sure I get both males as well as females, so that makes things a bit simpler.