Propagating kiwis from softwood cuttings
Our hardy
kiwi plants sulked
for the first two years, but as we begin their third summer, they're
suddenly acting like vines. Each plant has put up multiple stems,
the longest of which has twined for five feet along its trellis
wire. At this stage, I want the kiwis to focus their energy on
one main trunk, so I clipped off the extra shoots springing up from
each rootstock. Time to propagate!
Hardy kiwis are best
grown from softwood cuttings, which means cuttings taken from new
growth during the summer. (In contrast, grapes
are best grown from hardwood cuttings, which are the dormant,
woody stems pruned out in the winter.) I clipped the excess kiwi
stems into six inch lengths, cut off the growing tips, and then clipped
each leaf in half. Although people who want 100% success often
root softwood cuttings under misters using rooting hormone and applying
bottom heat, I prefer a simpler method with a lower success rate ---
put an inch of water in a jar, drop in the cuttings, and ignore for
three weeks.
And
now, look --- little roots all over the ends of the cuttings!
Once the roots expand enough to feed the cuttings, I'll put my new
kiwis in the ground in a permanent location. My original kiwis
arrived in late July two years ago, so I assume the nursery used the
exact same tricks I did, and that these new cuttings will really take
off in the summer of 2012.
Getting started with
perennials is always pricey --- our three hardy kiwis came to nearly
fifty bucks. But if you're in it for the long haul, you can turn
that initial investment into a large orchard. I'll bet at this
time next year, I'll be giving baby kiwi plants away to everyone who
can fit one in their garden.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I just bought two from a garden center but I want to give some to my parents and inlaws. I'm so happy you can grow in water from the soft wood cuttings....I'll try a lot of them for a better success rate.
Thank you!
My baby kiwi plant is three years old, i have many many kiwi growing this year but have brown sticky bugs on the stems, have sprayed them with household bug spray today - am i doing the right thing, there are far too many to remove. Will they eat the fruit or are they attacking the stems? I am in London, UK. Would appreciate your help, if possible to my email address.
Many thanks, gailgordon41@hotmail.com
Unfortunately, I don't know any specifics about UK bugs. However, I do have general pest control strategies that should work most places.
I've found in my own garden that when there's an infestation of bad insects, it means I've done something wrong to get the ecosystem out of whack. For example, the only time I've ever had an aphid infestation was when I overfertilized plants --- cut back the compost so that the plants have just enough and the problem goes away. Often, if you wait (no spraying!), then natural predators of your bad bugs will show up and save the day.
Rose --- There are several kiwi species. We're growing hardy kiwis, which are supposed to be winter hardy here in zone 6, fuzzy kiwis aren't as hardy, and then there's another species that's even more hardy. However, our hardy kiwis keep getting nipped back from spring freezes, so I'm withholding judgment until I get some fruit...
Good luck with all your cuttings!