kiwis getting a trim

[majorcatfish]

been meaning to do this for a few years....got to love procrastination.
started trimming out all the dead vines and pruning back as well still need to work on the upper portion but with the gray sky could not tell what needed to be done and it started to rain...
once done going to tighten up the trellis wires...

before...

after....

will get back at it tomorrow...

 

[thistlebloom]

Major, do they fruit on old wood?

 

[majorcatfish]

Major, do they fruit on old wood?

no. i am dealing with 4 years of productive overgrowth and lack of proper pruning.. did some serious reading on pruning them last night<yes become a expert on pruning them overnight> it was very informative reading .....
either it's going to help them or kill them. the kiwis have always been like a redheaded stepchild from ne indiana .....
after doing all that reading and pruning think they are on their way out due to
"phytophthora or crown rot".

 

[thistlebloom]

Phytophthora is pretty nasty. Looks to me, (rank amateur) like you can remove quite a bit more material.
They don't have a very long bearing life do they?
Sometimes the best thing to do when you've got a diseased plant is to just yank it out and cut your losses.

 

[majorcatfish]

tomorrow will get some photos to post .....

 

[majorcatfish]

leaning to rot as my problem with a possibility of gall in the 3rd photo. think i will prune out the 2 left canes.
other than those it has sent out 2 new canes , so yes i may have over reacted on my problem.

female crown.

male crown..
so far it's just on one cane.. other wise the male is looking healthy

what has been pruned out so far.... after all that reading have quite a bit more to take out...

did a quick raking from underneath

you can see where 3 kiwi grew last year and to the left is where they will grow next year..

after all that info highly surprised that they even live where i planted them... so going to do all the pruning they say i need to do and will go from there. really not doing anything to them since planting 12+years ago guess i should happy...

 

[thistlebloom]

If they look that good after 12 years I'd say you're doing well.

I have no experience with kiwi, other than one plant a client has just as an ornamental. I don't have any idea what kind it is, but that thing can put out a vine lightening quick. I pruned it hard last year because it's growing against the side of the garage and the siding got restained. It was in the painters way so got a little mangled. I cleaned it up and took it way back to the main trunk and it responded well with brand new canes.

I have to keep it in check because it's purpose is just to provide some green on that side of the building, but it seems to be okay with the constant clipping and fidgeting I give it.

 

[Nyboy]

Major didn't you get a good harvest this fall?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

you might want to take some cuttings & plant them just in case you loose the vines.

 

[majorcatfish]

Major didn't you get a good harvest this fall?

they did good about 41 pounds, which is quite a few kiwis.... in a perfect world and well pruned
a mature kiwi can produce 75-100 pounds....