Re: grapes/kiwi fruit

In a message dated 4/10/99 7:33:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time, rene1@ibm.net 
writes:

> Although not considered vegetables, per se, has anyone had experience in 
> growing kiwi fruit (hardy) and/or grapes?  I just had a trellis installed 
and 
> my plants are ready to be transplanted outside.

    How do you have plants?  Have you started them from seed?  The quality of 
seedling grapes or kiwi fruit is unlikely to be worth the years of growth and 
expense of trellising, etc. Both are normally grown as clones (grafts) to 
keep the desireable traits that you want in the fruit.

    Kiwi vines are male or female. You need one male for each four or five 
female plants for pollination. Commercial plantings use one variety of male 
and another variety of female vines, and seeds grown from these will be 
neither variety, but something altogether new.

    Since you have invested in trellis, why not invest a little more and get 
good nursery stock?

    Kiwifruit is difficult to pollinate, because it is not very attractive to 
bees, though they will work it, if there is a higly population of 
pollinators. This is how commercial growings get the job done. They place 
four or five hives per acre, to saturate the area with bees. Then they can be 
sure that some will go to the kiwifruit. If your bee populations are 
marginal, you will have to depend on hand pollination. The flower is large 
(and very attractive) so hand pollination is not difficult.

    Most grapes are self fertile, and many also self pollinate, with no aid 
from the bees. Muscadines and scuppernongs will give improved yields if they 
have good cross pollination.

Pollinator@aol.com     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page:    http://www.pollinator.com

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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