Temperate Fruit & Orchards > Temperate Fruit Discussion

Keeping Kiwi small?

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Moomin:
I wonder if it is possible to keep a normal kiwi or a hardy kiwi berry plant small, like in a bush form. I would very much like to plant some as I love the taste of kiwi, but I have no nice big south facing wall. There is only a mostly shadowy side of a shed at the border to my neighbours that would be big enough to set up a decent size trellis, but as I mentioned there is almost no direct sun. I don't have an option to set up a big structure anywhere else. So I'd like to experiment with keeping them in pots, maybe with some kind of grid to support them, but nothing too big.
Has anyone tried heavy pruning them to keep them small but still big enough for them to fruit? I'm not looking for tons of fruit, just a few nice ones to pick and eat fresh. Is there maybe even a technique, similar to what you'd do with grapes for wine production?
Also it should be possible to graft a male vine to a female, right? In order to minimize the amount of necessary plants...

Tropicaltoba:
I grew hardy kiwi early in my fruit growing days and found it very hard to keep contained along the top of a fence, but didn’t know as much as I know now (grape and passion fruit trellises). Also I think they need full sun. They can grow very long, is there a way to start it in the ground somewhere in the shade and then have it grow into the sun?

Perhaps take some pics of your layout, that may help people come up with ideas outside the box.

drymifolia:
I've seen examples of fuzzy kiwi grown in "tree form" where it is trained up a single tall post and then allowed to hang down, similar to the way dragonfruit is usually grown commercially. I'd guess it requires a fairly diligent pruning regimen.

I don't think it'll do well in pots or kept short, but a single tall pole is a pretty small footprint compared to a whole trellis.

Moomin:
Sorry for the extremely late reply, I was quite busy...

Anyway, I found out that my "not very sunny" wall actually does get a fair amount of afternoon/evening sun from spring to autumn. Only during wintertime it is completely shaded because of the lower angle of the sun. Also, that wall is pretty ugly, so it would definitely be nice to have something growing there to cover it up. So I thougt to myself "if you don't try, you won't know". I bought two Arguta actinidia females and one male and set up a metal trellis for them. I'll have to keep them in check with pruning, but they should definitely have enough space to set some fruit, fingers crossed.
Also, I have a few self grown seedling kiwi that I'm going to abuse to find out how well they can be kept small. I'll update you guys from time to time.  ;D

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