Need Some Kiwi Love

March 17, 2008 11:24 AM

My females are lonely. Help me find a male kiwi plant.

I have two established female kiwis in my backyard that have been there since before we bought the house four years ago. Females need a male to pollinate them, but I can't find any plants for sale locally (Sacramento, Ca area). My local nurseries do not have any and I have been told by one that they can't get any this year for some reason. I found a few online, but what I need to know is will any variety pollinate my unknown variety? After looking online I see there are quite a few varieties out there. Does the male or the female describe the fruit characteristics?

posted by Big_B to home & garden (8 comments total)

Try Raintree Nursery. They seem to have lots of kiwi varieties available and some good-sounding information, and I bet they'd be willing to give you advice over the phone. I haven't ordered kiwis from them, but I ordered some fruit trees a couple of years ago and was happy.
posted by leahwrenn at 11:53 AM on March 17

I'm fairly certain that Ace Hardware in Davis had them earlier in the year. 530.758.8000.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:27 PM on March 17

Oh -- and yeah, any variety will pollinate the one you have, but you'll end up with a hybrid (which may be good or bad).
posted by mudpuppie at 12:28 PM on March 17

The question is less which variety of male you need and more when your females bloom. You need a male of a variety that blooms at the same time as your females to ensure that its pollen is available to them. Since you're not specific and are in sunny California, I'd assume you've got fuzzy kiwifruit and should get a fuzzy pollinator; if they're hardy you should go with a hardy male, however. Some are not cross-fertile in that way, and since you don't know what you've got... well, best to be safe. Actually, if you can, I'd bring photos and/or cuttings to a nursery where you might get expert advice. If someone can identify your plants for you, that would be for the best.

The characteristic of the fruit will be defined by your females... all that the male's pollen will do is to affect the genetics of the seeds inside the fruit, which, if you planted them, would produce a hybrid of some sort. Remember, the fruit is just the female's ovary, whose genetics are already defined before pollination causes it to swell. The "child" of the union is the seed.

If you're turning to the Internet, I am a fan of One Green World as a fruit/exotics nursery, by the way. They're local to me, but they do extensive mailorder sales.
posted by mumkin at 1:35 PM on March 17

After doing some other research you are right mumkin - I need to make sure they are blooming at the same time. Some of the varieties I read about are only fertile for three days! Ouch! I'll be watching for some blooms and keeping track.

I am fairly certain they are the fuzzy variety, which are grown in huge farms to the north of us about an hours drive.

Also there are usually kiwi folks at one fo the farmers markets we go to. I'll take a clipping down there and see if they can lend a hand.
posted by Big_B at 9:31 AM on March 18

Wow One Green World has a huge variety of plants!
posted by Big_B at 9:34 AM on March 18

Follow up - I recieved my male kiwi yesterday that I ordered from One Green World. They had very good customer service and seemed to be very knowledgeable, so hopefully we'll get some kiwis now!
posted by Big_B at 12:47 PM on March 27

Excellent! No need for this to be your final followup, of course. Now that AskMes are open for a full year before being auto-closed, you could conceivably followup with news and photos of successful flowering, fruitset, and eventual consumption of kiwis. That would be followup. (and I'm kinda interested to learn what kind of fruit your mystery vine produces)
posted by mumkin at 1:46 PM on March 27