By Adeleb
I have a self fertile kiwi plant thats seven years old...very prolific climber...always has masses of flowers but never any fruit..what am i doing wrong.....
- 2 Nov, 2015
Answers
I'll have to do some research. The last I knew, all Kiwi vines were either male or female. Males, of course have no chance of bearing fruit, while a "self fertile" female would have to be parthenocarpic--not impossible, but improbable.
3 Nov, 2015
Hi, welcome to GoY, although there ae self fertile cultivars of Actinidia, {or kiwi fruit} most are seperate male and female plants, and I would think that your plant has been mislabelled, and is not 1 of the self fertile cultivars, given the right conditions, they should start to produce fruit after 3 to 4 years, there are about 40 species of Actinidia, varying from frost hardy to fully hardy, and the true 'kiwi' plant is A deliciosa is only frost hardy, unless we have had a good summer, and the wood has been well ripened before any frost, should be grown in a south or south westerly position, and protected from winds, in fertile well drained soil, A deliciosa 'Blake is a self fertile female cultivar, Derek.
3 Nov, 2015
Well, research still in progress, but I have discovered that the self-fertile varieties are apparently hermaphroditic--i.e., each flower contains both white, threadlike stigmas (female parts), surrounded by powdery yellow stamens (male parts). As such, they may be hard to tell from the flowers of the normal female plant, which has stigmas surrounded by brownish or greenish, NOT powdery, sterile stamens. Normal male flowers have nothing but powdery stamens. So it may be possible to tell if it was mislabelled the next time it blooms. Otherwise, I have no idea. :/
4 Nov, 2015
Previous question
« We've been growing purple sprouting successfully for many years in various locations...
Next question
No idea without more information - for starters, where are you in the world, is the plant in the ground or in a pot, in full sun or in shade? What's its varietal name?
2 Nov, 2015