Shrub · Actinidiaceae
Kiwi
Actinidia deliciosa
Under full sun on a strong frame, the twisting canes and broad leaves end the season hung with fuzzy brown fruit, provided a male vine grows close by.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 7–9
10–20 ft · 3–6 m
Overview
The kiwi is a big, fast woody vine from the hills of southern China, where it grew as the Chinese gooseberry long before New Zealand exported it. Left to run, it throws out long twisting canes and broad leaves that sprawl across a 200 square foot trellis in a thick, layered curtain of green. The fruit everyone knows hangs from the female vines, small ovals wrapped in a fuzzy brown skin over soft green flesh, ready only after a few patient years.
The plant's habit hides one detail new growers miss. Most kiwi are dioecious, carrying male and female flowers on separate vines, so a single plant covers itself in slightly fragrant, greenish-white flowers in late spring and still sets nothing. A male has to grow near the females, roughly one for several, for the bees to move pollen between the open blooms.
The fruit is slow to arrive, and the vine shows why in its bulk. A young plant spends its first 3 to 5 years thickening its woody framework before it fruits, and that heavy tangle of cane leans on a serious trellis to hold it up. Given sun, steady water, and yearly pruning, the vine keeps flowering and fruiting for decades.
Care
The short version: strong sun on the leafy canopy, deep open loam on the acid side, even water across the shallow roots, a stout frame under the heavy canes, and a male vine near the females before the fuzzy fruit shows up.
Light
Kiwi crops best in full sun, which ripens the fuzzy fruit and drives the vine's dense, leafy growth. It will take partial sun or light shade, but expect less fruit and softer, longer-stretched canes the more shade it sits in.
Water
The roots run shallow, so the vine needs steady, even moisture and feels a dry spell fast, the broad leaves being first to flag. Water deeply through fruit development and hot weather, and mulch to hold moisture, keeping the mulch pulled back off the trunk.
Soil
Plant in deep, fertile, well-drained loam rich in organic matter. Kiwi wants it on the acidic side, around a pH of 5.0 to 6.5, and it hates waterlogged ground as well as salty or alkaline soils.
Temperature
The vine handles a wide range, roughly 14°F to 95°F (-10°C to 35°C) through the year, but the soft, pale spring shoots are the weak point. A late frost after growth starts can blacken and wilt the new season's wood overnight.
Humidity
Average outdoor humidity, somewhere around 40% to 70%, suits kiwi fine. There is no number to chase outdoors, so watering and airflow around the dense canopy matter more.
Feeding
Feed a balanced or nitrogen-rich fertilizer around the root zone monthly through spring and midsummer while the vine is growing hard and greening up. Stop by late summer so the new growth firms up and hardens off before winter.
Pruning
Kiwi needs regular, confident pruning to keep its thick tangle of cane in bounds and fruiting. Cut female vines hard in winter while fully dormant, renewing the fruiting wood each year, since fruit forms on current-season shoots off one-year-old wood. Summer-prune the vigorous canes to let light into the canopy, prune males lightly after flowering, and train young vines to a single trunk up the trellis.
Repotting
Kiwi is a ground plant, not a container one, so repotting rarely comes up. If you do start a young vine in a pot, move it on before the roots circle, then set it into its permanent spot on a trellis.
Size & spacing
These vines grow huge, reaching 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) tall and spreading their woody canes 7 to 13 feet (2 to 4 m) wide. Give each one a strong, well-anchored trellis and plenty of room, because a mature plant can fill a 200 square foot frame and pull down anything flimsy.
When to plant
Kiwi runs on a long, slow calendar. Plant in spring once the last hard frost has passed, since the soft fresh shoots are badly frost-tender, then wait through several seasons of growth before the greenish-white late-spring flowers give way to fuzzy brown fruit picked in mid to late fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring after the last hard frost; new shoots are very frost-tender.
- Harvest: Slightly fragrant greenish-white flowers in late spring; fuzzy brown fruit harvested mid to late fall (about October to November).
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 7–9
Temperature: down to -18°C
Troubleshooting
Most kiwi problems trace to three things and show plainly on the plant: frost on the soft new shoots, a missing male vine behind unfruited flowers, or thirsty shallow roots behind browning leaves. Read those early signs on the shoots, flowers, and leaves and you can usually fix the cause before the season is lost.
Tender green shoots blackened and drooping after one cold snap
When the soft new shoots go slack and darken to brown or black, you are looking at frost damage on the tenderest growth the vine puts out. A single cold night after the vine breaks dormancy collapses that fresh flush, leaving it limp against the harder, unharmed older wood. Once new growth pushes again, cut the blackened shoots back to living wood, and lay frost cloth over the vine whenever a late frost is forecast.
Fix:
- Prune out killed shoots back to healthy wood once growth resumes
- Cover vines with frost cloth when frost is forecast
Plenty of flowers but no fruit forming
A vine hung with greenish-white blooms that never swell into fuzzy fruit is showing the mark of a dioecious plant, its male and female flowers borne on separate vines, so a lone female flowers and sets nothing. Youth is the other cause, since a vine often takes 3 to 5 years before it fruits at all. Grow at least one male within range of the females, and let the bees work the open flowers.
Fix:
- Plant at least one male kiwi within pollinating range of the females
- Encourage bee activity at bloom time
Leaf margins burning brown and the canopy sagging in afternoon heat
The broad leaves crisp brown along their edges and sag at midday, the plain signature of scorched leaf margins over kiwi's shallow roots when the soil dries out. Hot, dry wind curls and browns the leaf rims faster still. Water deeply through the dry stretch and spread a thick organic mulch across the root zone, held back from the trunk, to keep the soil evenly damp.
Fix:
- Water deeply and regularly during dry spells
- Apply organic mulch over the root zone
Toxicity
Good news for pet owners: the kiwi vine is safe all round. The fuzzy fruit is an everyday food, and nothing in the broad leaves or woody stems is poisonous to cats, dogs, or livestock. Cats may take a strong liking to the canes the way they do to catnip, which is harmless attraction rather than a hazard.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Kiwi is safe for cats, though many are strongly drawn to the woody canes the way they are to catnip, since the genus includes silver vine. A cat winding itself around the twisting stems is only following that harmless pull, nothing to worry about.
Dogs None
Dogs are safe around the vine and its fuzzy fruit. One that bolts down a lot of the brown, hairy skin or a mouthful of unripe fruit may get a brief stomach ache, but that is overeating rather than poisoning.
Horses Safe
Nothing in the broad leaves, woody stems, or fruit endangers horses. Grazing beside a kiwi vine carries no toxic risk.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can nibble the leaves safely, and a small piece of the soft green flesh makes a fine occasional treat. There is no toxin in any part of the plant to worry about.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep take no poisoning from the leaves or fruit. The plant is simply not toxic to grazing animals.
Birds Safe
Birds can peck through the fuzzy brown skin to the flesh without harm, and wild birds will pick over fallen fruit. No part of the plant is toxic to them.
People Safe
The ripe fruit, fuzzy and brown outside with soft green flesh within, is a healthy everyday food and safe to eat. The only note is that some people are allergic to it, which is separate from any toxicity.
Fruit and foliage are harmless if nibbled. Note that cats are often strongly drawn to Actinidia vines because the genus includes silver vine (Actinidia polygama), a catnip-like attractant; this is attraction, not poisoning.
Varieties
Kiwi varieties fall into fruiting females and the males that pollinate them, so you choose them as a pair. These are the ones worth knowing.
Hayward
The dominant commercial female, prized for its large, well-flavored fruit that stores well into winter.
Tomuri
A late-flowering male pollinizer chosen because its bloom overlaps Hayward's, though it carries no fruit of its own.
Blake
A more self-fertile female bearing smaller, earlier fruit, handy where there is no room for a separate male.
Companions
Kiwi keeps its own company more than most plants, since the one partner it truly needs is a male vine of its own kind to set fruit.
Plant near
Male kiwi (pollinizer cultivar such as Tomuri): Required near female vines for pollination; one male can pollinate several females.
How to propagate
You can multiply kiwi several ways, but only the vegetative methods keep a cultivar and its sex true, which matters when you are matching males to females.
GraftingDemanding
Late winter to early spring · 1 to 2 growing seasons
Named cultivars are usually grafted or budded onto seedling rootstock in late winter to early spring, which locks in both the cultivar and its sex. A grafted vine takes one to two growing seasons to settle in. This is the most demanding route in kiwi propagation, and the one nurseries rely on.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Softwood/semi-hardwood in summer; hardwood in winter · Several weeks to a few months to root
Softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings taken in summer, or hardwood cuttings in winter, come true to the parent. Under mist or in a humid frame they root fairly readily, over a few weeks to a few months. It is a solid middle ground when grafting feels like too much.
LayeringEasy
Spring to summer · One season
Layering is the easiest method by far. A low cane pinned against moist soil in spring or summer roots where it touches the ground over a single season. Once rooted, it is severed from the parent and the new vine moved.
SeedModerate
Spring after cold stratification · 3 to 5 years to first flowering
Seed works, but it is a gamble. After cold stratification the seed is sown in spring, and the seedlings come up variable, not true to type, their sex hidden until they finally flower 3 to 5 years on. For a known cultivar, grafting or cuttings are the surer route.
Myths
Kiwi vines are poisonous to cats.
The fruit and the whole plant are non-toxic. Cats make for the woody Actinidia canes because the genus includes silver vine, a catnip-like attractant, so what looks like trouble is just a cat enjoying the stems. Attraction is not poisoning.
A solitary kiwi vine will still load its canes with fruit.
Most kiwifruit are dioecious, so a female vine can flower for years, its greenish-white blooms opening season after season, and still set nothing without a male nearby. You need both a male and a female plant for pollination and a crop.