wait can't you just BUY a kiwi and plant the seeds??

lol..that is a very differant type of kiwi. The ones in the stores are kiwi from the fruit tree, not the kiwi vine. And the fruit you get in the store will have sterile seed.

Fuzzy kiwi (the kiwi at the store) will not grow in zone 6. The OP will need to grow arctic beauty or issai, they are cold hardy kiwi varieties.

Thanks for the info. In that case does anyone have the variety arctic beauty or issai they'd be willing to share or trade for seeds? Thanks again

All kiwis grow on vines. The fuzzy ones that are usually seen in the grocery store are not cold hardy. Cold hardy kiwis produce smooth fruit about the size of a large grape. Kiwis can be grown from seed but they are dioecious (separate male and female plants) so you have to be sure to have plants of both sexes for fruit production. You also need to make sure that you have ample space and a strong support structure. By the time the vines are fruiting size, about 4 years, they can be quite large and very heavy. I had hardy kiwis growing for about 10 years but the vines just took over.

So this is a vine then??? Not all kiwi grow on vines sorry.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=kiwi+tree&view=detail&id=8373CF502865D4D092085C05C879E6FCA84D4573&first=1&FORM=IDFRIR

Believe it or not they really are vines. They get so big and the stems so thick that they can be trained to grow in a tree form, similar to a wisteria.

LOL..they are sold as trees. We can agree to disagree, but if you can show me something saying these trees are vines I would love to see it...always up for learning something new.

The kiwi of commerce in the US, is Actinidia deliciosa, which is grown on vines. They are grown commercially in my part of CA and there is a 40 acre planting of them less than 10 miles from my home. I have purchased vines of one male and 2 different females (including the most important US commercial variety , Hayward) and have planted them in my garden this year. Here is a good article on kiwifruit: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/kiwifruit.html

This article is from an excellent website produced by the California Rare Fruit Growers Association. They have excellent articles on a large number of different interesting temperate, tropical and subtropical rare fruits.

Thank you for that john great organization with tons of info.

I have several plants that self seeded available in chicago.

My Artic Kiwi is a vine, BUT, from the looks of it, you'd swear it was a shrub or small oddly shaped tree LOLOL

Not all grocery store kiwis have sterile seed. I've germinated seed from store bought fruit before.