By Hoya105
Devon, United Kingdom
I planted a Kiwi 'Jenny' about 5 years ago. It has grown well, on a 'tunnel trellis' in a sheltered SW facing garden. (in Devon, UK)It has flowered well and last year I got the paintbrush out to help it pollinate - loads of flowers, I did this 3 times over several weeks. But still no fruit! It is in good soil, looks very healthy, has no wind/sun/cold damage.
What can I do to make ANY fruit set???
- 20 Feb, 2016
Answers
Possibly it was a bit dry at the root when fruit initiation should have taken place? - if that happens, fertilised flowers will abort.
20 Feb, 2016
Thank you both - I replied to this the other day, but it doesn't seem to have been listed!
I had given it a spadeful of garden compost as well as a good scattering of potash. So it may of been too much I guess. Also it could of been dry - it is in a slightly raised border with a path below. We did have quite dry, cold weather last spring. But we are situated in the bottom of a river valley, so it shouldn't really dry out.
I will try giving it just the potash this spring and make sure it doesn't dry out (no chance of that this year!) and I will pick up a Solissimo when I see one.
It had lots of flowers - so I will try hand pollinating again too.
All the other fruit did really well, raspberries, blueberries, goosegogs etc... Even had a first crop of quince.
22 Feb, 2016
Its quite amazing how quickly soil dries out, even if its waterlogged in early spring. As its nearly always windy now, that dries things out quite a lot, and once there's a bit of sun on the area too, within a couple of weeks, it won't be wet, and possibly not even damp, any more...
22 Feb, 2016
Hoya, you just reminded me..I had a 'Jenny' once. It grew like stink but never any fruit, so after about five years I decided to cut it down. Blow me down if there weren't fruit right at the top when I pulled it down off my wall! So check up high!
27 Feb, 2016
Oh, I will! It reminds me of my Mulberry tree, looked at it for years thinking 'No fruit yet'. Then when I was weeding underneath I looked up and the whole tree was full of fruit - they just don't show at all from the outside!
29 Feb, 2016
:) mulberry tree...i've only ever seen one in Chelsea Physic garden...beautiful!
29 Feb, 2016
It is gorgeous - as is the mulberry vodka that I make from it!
29 Feb, 2016
Oh, now you're talking!...but I do prefer Gin tbh. ;)
29 Feb, 2016
Yes, Jenny is a self-fertile variety and I would say that your hand-pollinating should help. Do you feed it too much? If this the case, I would only feed a potash fertiliser as it might be putting on leafy growth at expense of fruit. If no one can come up with an answer, I would suggest buying another plant, 'Solissimo' which is an improvement on Jenny if you are still keen.
20 Feb, 2016