Kiwi fruit will grow in temperate conditions

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33874, 20 June 1975, Page 15

Kiwi fruit will grow in temperate conditions

Not everyone has accepted with equanimity the change of name of Chinese gooseberry to Kiwi fruit, and those of us who find it obnoxious, if not a little absurd, still prefer the original one. Actually, the change was brought about out of a necessity to gain entry into fhe lucrative American •narket with the fruit. The •tringent American quaran!me regulations forbid the mponation of any fruit r.hich grows on or near the ground. Proof had to be given that Chinese gooseberries grew on vines and the problem was finally overcome by the name change. Greater availability, sales publicity and an awakening to the fact that tropical conditions are not necessary to obtain at least reasonable trops of fruit, have all contributed to an increasing popularity of Chinese gooseberries growing in home gardens.

This fruit, which has a< • higher Vitamin C content than most citrus fruits, hasj a multiplicity of uses includ-i ■ing such purposes as dessert, I j preserving, jam, juice and I wine-making. 2000 HOURS SUN It has obeen found to! \ require a minimum of 20001 hours of sunshine and a* mean annual temperature off about 12 deg. for high level! where such con-1 I ditions cannot be met results!

tare likely to be variable and would generally account at I least, in part, for both variation in quality and quantity [experienced. i Although plants have successfully survived hard frosts the damage is less [likely to harm the plant than [the blossoms or young fruit: [in the springtime frosts can ■severely limit, if not comjpletely eliminate, the forthcoming fruiting season by i injuring the blossom, and [similarly, cold weather dur-

ing flowering can result in [poor pollination: autumnal [frosts can damage developing fruit. Another influence on crop-j I ping is the need to provide I [a pollinator because the I [Chinese gooseberry is dioe-1 cious, which simply means [ [that male and female flowers [ are carried on different [ [plants. I ft is imperative to grow I [ both a male and a female [ [plant in close proximity or, I [alternatively, plant a grafted I [dual - sexed specimen. It' ishould be noted that only! [female flowers can develop' [into fruit and that the male [ [blossoms are there only to [ [provide the pollen to achieve [ [this purpose.

RAMPANT GROWER Yet another important | point to realise is that the I i Chinese gooseberry is an i | exceedingly rampant grower) I which can give in excess of) three metres of growth in al season.

If fully adequate, training of some. sort or another is not provided, a completely unmanageable tangle of vines will develop within three to four years. After initial training to establish a permanent framework (which incidentally does not carry any fruit), part of which can be renewed from time to time, regular pruning must be regarded as essential not only to the plant at a fully controlled level but also to encourage fruiting, ripening and quality. Fruit is produced only on the first three to five buds of the current season’s growth and normally only on wood growing from spur buds developed in the previous year: it rarely, if ever, develops on growth induced by pruning back into older wood.