Author Topic: Growing Kiwis in South Florida  (Read 23806 times)

FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #25 on: May 04, 2015, 11:13:18 AM »
I just prepped some hardy kiwi seeds and will stratify them for a few months.  Regarding the chill hours, I note Bermuda has lots of wild peaches which get zero chill hours - we rarely ever see 55F - and yet still produce every year.  I will give the hardy kiwi a shot on this basis.  Curious if anyone has fruited it in a higher than zone 8.

another huge problem with kiwi in FL is fungal infections.

I've heard of them fruiting central FL, but they always seem to decline due to fungus.

one of my friends has fruited several types, but I think they were all they small, hardy types...and production has never been satisfactory.

(I have never heard of the common kiwi fruiting)
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LivingParadise

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #26 on: May 04, 2015, 03:22:58 PM »
As an update to my 3 kiwis a full year later - I made a mistake in bringing the indoor plants back outside. Since the outdoor one in a pot was doing well in the shade, and the 2 indoor pots were also happy, I decided they were all healthy enough to plant directly in the ground. They did alright, but then the extreme heat of the Summer wore on them. By September, all 3 had wilted and died, despite rather frequent attention. They were never flooded, but it's possible they also felt bombarded by the rain.

I would consider trying again in the future, but would probably keep them in pots so I could bring them in out of the worst of summer, and could bring them indoors to attempt to simulate some chill hours. Right now that is not a priority, as I have so many other varieties of fruits to attend to. Perhaps in another year I would try again, when I have more plants fruiting and all stable, so I have more free time to experiment. I really do like kiwi, and would love to be able to eat as many as I like without buying them. I suppose I could also try pruning and attempting to fruit kiwi vines entirely indoors... other fruit trees have successfully produced that way, so why not kiwi? I get plenty of direct sunlight in some indoor areas to make that possible - but kiwis are kind of a pain, given that they do not self-fertilize, and also need chill hours.

Here is an interesting article for those who want to grow kiwi:
http://tallcloverfarm.com/1059/fuzzy-kiwi-vigorous-vine-delicious-fruit

Really, kiwi is a temperate fruit, and perhaps this thread might better fit that forum. Such a shame, all those years I lived in a temperate climate and didn't know I could have been growing kiwi in my yard!

Galka

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #27 on: May 04, 2015, 06:52:25 PM »
I am trying to grow Kiwi plants. It is a pain to keep them alive. They all are in pots. Lost 4 of 6 this year. It's my fault, I over watered them as always.  :( Two are still doing good but no flowers yet. They are 4 y.o. Actinidia deliciosa. Another one is a year old golden kiwi from seed survived this winter in the greenhouse. And one of hardy kiwis Issai is still alive and doing ok. I'm going to propagate some cuttings this year in case it decides to die on me.

GrowInFlorida

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #28 on: April 06, 2017, 01:10:43 AM »
I am surprised that - considering all the above comments - kiwi plants are sold in all Walmart and Home Depot nurseries here in South Florida! I've had one regular kiwi (don't know the variety because I bought it in a big box store, where they sometimes label plants as "houseplant" so no chance to know what it is... so let's call it a "regular kiwi") for a while. The label said "full sun" and I was just learning about tropical fruit then (I'm a northern transplant) and didn't question the "full sun" advice. Bad decision. My kiwi almost died, thankfully I didn't transplant it into soil at that time. I moved it into shade and it grew many new leaves very quickly. I kinda neglected it for a full year after that and it wilted and got really bad during dry winter. I decided it would be too sad to see it die and gave it some love: covered with compost, gave it plenty bunny poop (my secret garden weapon) and covered with a thick layer of mulch. Within a week it dropped all its old wilted leaves and came up with brilliant new leaves, twice the size of the old ones. Great. At this point I just keep watering it regularly and mulch helps to keep it constantly moist. Even during this crazy dry winter/spring.
The second kiwi I bought already semi-consciously, and it was the hardy variety (also unknown breed). Also bought it in a big box store, in one of those trimmed down tubes with a rooted stick inside. I haven't transplanted it yet, but it already grew one strong branch. I read here that there might be higher success chance with the hardy kiwi in subtropical climate where I am so I will plant it by the side of the other one in the shade, give it some bunny love, mulch and see.

LivingParadise

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #29 on: April 06, 2017, 09:43:47 PM »
I am surprised that - considering all the above comments - kiwi plants are sold in all Walmart and Home Depot nurseries here in South Florida!

Are you really surprised? They are national chains and could not care less about their customers, what grows where, or what is invasive and even illegal to sell where. Not to mention, most big box stores including Kmart and Home Depot as well as Lowes continue to use chemicals that are known to kill honeybees, such that when you plant a plant from them it remains in the cells of the plant and kills bees that frequent them later for pollination, even if you grow in an organic yard.

But, it is cool to hear about your experience, and I hope you'll keep updating us! I am in an 11A zone, which may now have switched with recent climate maps to 11B (I haven't looked yet), so I am guessing I don't have much chance. But you never know if one particular plant will show properties that work well in SFL conditions. It may be about experimenting with varieties, and then finding an individual plant within the closest variety that happens to do exceptionally well. After all, that's how new cultivars are born!

I would agree though, in FL kiwi DEFINITELY does much better in the shade! Mine was full shade and was quite happy that way. I have a number of plants that are noted as full sun plants that fruit in shade down here, so I would think it won't prevent fruiting altogether. The sun in FL is very bright, so no place in the yard is usually that dark, if not very densely overgrown.

GrowInFlorida

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #30 on: April 07, 2017, 09:31:18 PM »
LivingParadise, i know it's not good to buy plants in big box stores... my neighbor has a beehive and I have a beesnest in a big tree in my backyard - i love my bees and myself... but, let's admit, it's SUPER HARD to find organically grown plants of any kind here in FL... and local nurseries? god knows what kind of pesticides and fertilizers they put into their plants... just this weekend I was in a nice nursery with the best selection and a worker guy was walking around with a sprayer tank on his back spraying weeds in pavement cracks...in a nursery full of customers! Weird place, weird people...

LivingParadise

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #31 on: April 08, 2017, 06:49:09 PM »
LivingParadise, i know it's not good to buy plants in big box stores... my neighbor has a beehive and I have a beesnest in a big tree in my backyard - i love my bees and myself... but, let's admit, it's SUPER HARD to find organically grown plants of any kind here in FL... and local nurseries? god knows what kind of pesticides and fertilizers they put into their plants... just this weekend I was in a nice nursery with the best selection and a worker guy was walking around with a sprayer tank on his back spraying weeds in pavement cracks...in a nursery full of customers! Weird place, weird people...

So true...

But point being, don't assume that anything you find in a big box store will grow locally, or is technically legal to plant. Look it up first. Citrus, for instance, are notoriously hard to keep alive in SFL, because of the poor soil, and the greening and other diseases. But they sell by huge loads from these type of stores, often in large trees or cocktails or something else with a huge price tag. They feel no obligation to tell the customer it will probably be dead in a year or three. Same is true of a bunch of other things they sell there. So, sometimes they will have a great deal or an unusual plant they somehow picked up from a local grower... but it's best not to assume you'll find anything worthwhile there.

Note that Miami, and especially Homestead, have a number of good tropical fruit nurseries, as well as Native plant nurseries. Yes, most of them spray poison all over the place. But they are less likely to have GMO plants than the big boxes, which in the case of Round-up plants have cancer-causing chemicals bred directly into the cells. And at least, you're frequenting a smaller business, and probably getting a more interesting and unusual plant.

Where possible, I order organic plants, or better yet organic seeds and grow from that so I can try to keep costs down. Or, I plant seeds from organic fruits and vegetables, which is even better because then I get to try them first! :)

AlwaysHotinFL

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Re: Growing Kiwis in South Florida
« Reply #32 on: April 09, 2017, 06:48:52 AM »
Agreed with all the talk on big box stores.

I too investigated kiwis for FL but everything I saw said you could grow then, but they wouldn't fruit bc we just don't have the required amount of chill hours. So, I'm growing dragonfruit instead- tropical plant, many varieties of which taste similar to Kiwi, plus it does amazing in FL (central and south), and looks very exotic and beautiful.

Anyway, hope it works out!
-Casey