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Looking for Male Kiwi bouquet
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jafar
764 Posts
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1
May 6, 2017 - 9:44 pm

I have 3 female hardy kiwi vines and one male.  The most mature female, Ken's Red, is going to bloom this spring but the male isn't.

Does anybody have a male they could spare some flowers from so I can get some pollen?   I haven't checked with the arboretum yet, but I know the hardy kiwis got cut way back to repair the trellis.

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sporty105
1 Posts
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2
May 9, 2017 - 1:49 pm

Hello there, I have hardy and fuzzy kiwi males about to bloom. I live in se Portland and would be happy to give you some blooms. 

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jafar
764 Posts
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3
May 10, 2017 - 5:33 pm

Thanks sporty105.  Do you know how far away they are from blooming?  On Sunday, individual flower buds were very tight.  I don't know if they will open in a few days or a couple of weeks.

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janet
9 Posts
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4
June 1, 2017 - 5:05 am

I have the same question - needing male hardy kiwi blossoms. My male isn't going to bloom this year.

sporty15 - do you still have male blossoms available? My females just started blooming.  

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jafar
764 Posts
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5
June 8, 2017 - 8:19 pm

 Well, its blooming now.  No male, and rainy weather.

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Dubyadee
Puyallup, Washington, USA
237 Posts
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6
June 21, 2017 - 9:05 pm

My hardy female (possibly Anna?), an Issai, and Matua fuzzy male are blooming this week.  Matua is blooming for first time this year.  The vines are planted a ways apart in the yard so I picked a male blossom each night for the last three nights and I am trying hand pollinizing the hardy and Issai.  I did this several years ago and had success but my friend who had the fuzzy male tore out his plants.  

I have Vincent, Kens Hardy Red, Prolific, hardy male, some store-bought fuzzy kiwifruit seedlings, and Saanichton also but they aren't as mature and have not bloomed yet.Kiwi-small.jpg
Large bloom in photo is Matua male blossom.  Small flowers are Anna hardy female.

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jafar
764 Posts
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7
June 22, 2017 - 11:45 am

Dubyadee, congrats.  Those look great.  Issai is purportedly self-fertile, so you should be in good shape.

I never got any male flowers to go with my blooming Ken's Red.  But the petals have fallen off and the ovaries remain.  I'm hoping that I'll get a few fruit again in spite of the fact that Ken's Red is supposed to not be self-fertile.

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Dubyadee
Puyallup, Washington, USA
237 Posts
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8
June 22, 2017 - 9:36 pm

I'm not too sure Issai is self fruitful. It is ten years old and I've gotten two fruits from it. It's been blooming for several years but always aborts the fruit. 

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John S
PDX OR
2800 Posts
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9
June 23, 2017 - 4:14 pm

I have read and heard that kiwi are the most sensitive plant to depth of planting.  I have had super productive kiwi vines, but at my new house, I'm not paying enough attention to them to make it productive. I think I'm hurting their feelings and they feel neglected.  I've got to prioritize whose feelings I'm massaging these days.

John S
PDX OR

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Dubyadee
Puyallup, Washington, USA
237 Posts
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10
July 4, 2017 - 6:57 pm

My hand pollenization seems to have been successful. Several berries have formed. 

 

FullSizeRender.jpg

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John S
PDX OR
2800 Posts
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11
July 4, 2017 - 7:26 pm

Nice job. That's  what I did when I was more focused on kiwi. Apparently, the flowers aren't very attractive to bees.   I like them, but then again, I don't think that I am a bee.

 

John S

PDX OR

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Dubyadee
Puyallup, Washington, USA
237 Posts
(Offline)
12
June 15, 2018 - 7:08 pm

My kiwis are in bloom this week.  I've been repeating my hand pollination of the females using male blossoms like paintbrushes on the female blossoms.  Tonight I came up with an idea of how to trick the bumblebees into doing some pollination for me.  I made a bee feeder that resembles a hummingbird feeder but with an open tray filled with rocks.  The bumblebees immediately took to feeding at the feeder. Then I moved the feeder in amongst the female vines and placed some male blooms in the feeder tray.  To further entice the bees to visit the flowers on both vines directly, I mixed up some sugar water and sprayed both male and female blossoms with sugar water mixture.

IMG_3704.JPGIMG_3733.JPGIMG_3708.JPGIMG_3720.JPGIMG_3728.JPG

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John S
PDX OR
2800 Posts
(Offline)
13
June 16, 2018 - 4:55 pm

Great idea!  I love simple, blue collar tricks that you can do at home easily.
JohN S
PDX OR

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