Issai is a little later to break bud for me, which is a really good thing, as most kiwi are way too early. Mine is just barely pushing a tiny bit of green right now, while my pure argutas have (had) several inches of new growth already. I say had, as we had a freeze (29F) Monday morning, and quite a bit got zapped. Issai is supposedly not as hardy as most argutas, probably not reliably hardy much below -10F to -15F. Were your potted Issais outside? Didn't it get really cold up that way this winter? Roots are less hardy than wood, so hopefully, the roots are not dead. I have seen less hardy kiwi left outside in pots start to grow in spring, then die later because the roots were dead.

Our kiwis would take over the entire house if we let them. They are vigorous growers here. Dotty, I've been thinking about when to harvest my kiwis as well. I've listened to Brian Minter talk on the topic a few times and he advises waiting until quite late in the year after a light frost or two for sweeter tasting fruit. I waited too long last year - several frosts - and they were mushy, so I will be more careful this time and pick them after the first light frost.

I may have to try another Kiwi. My first attempt was a failure. I didn't know enough about Aeoniums and I potted in 50/50 perlite/cactus soil (which I now know doesn't work for me). It was too hot, the soil didn't dry out in the humid rainy summer and the poor thing's leaves turned black and dropped off. I was surprised that the roots were still good. It died a slow death. I'm a little smarter now. I bring Aeoniums inside early in June. Nice plants Dave! I'm jealous!

I had a hard time getting this information, so I thought I would post it as a reference for others were looking. Not sure why, but the majority of the flowers on my gold female appear to be drying up and falling off, while quite a few look like they're turning into fruit. I plucked some male flowers off and manually crossed pollinated as many as I could, because the bloom times appeared to barely overlap. I'm going to guess the drying up ones didn't get crossed pollinated specifically because of this time gap. It's funny, the plant vigor and size of the flowers appears to be directly negatively proportional to the desirability of the fruit. Male green fuzzy: Male gold: The female gold apple kiwi has got the best spot in the plot, and is mopeing a bit mysteriously dropping minor Stems and slow growth, but looks like it is in as good shape as it can be. ..