Issai Hardy Kiwi in Zone 8b? In pots?

Hello all. I purchased a self pollinating Issai kiwi plant, forgot about it for 2 weeks, found it grew over a foot despite no sunlight or water, and decided to buy another lol

So now I have 2 and Im trying to figure out what to do with them. I dont want to plant them in the ground because I rent so my plan is to buy them both a 20-30 gallon planter.

Any advise on what kind of trellis set up I can build that would also allow me to move them as needed would be greatly appreciated!

Not only am I in zone 8b, which means theyll need summer shade, but Im also in a hurricane prone area so I need to be able to move them to my shed as needed.

Krystal Smith wrote:Hello all. I purchased a self pollinating Issai kiwi plant, forgot about it for 2 weeks, found it grew over a foot despite no sunlight or water, and decided to buy another lol

So now I have 2 and Im trying to figure out what to do with them. I dont want to plant them in the ground because I rent so my plan is to buy them both a 20-30 gallon planter.

Any advise on what kind of trellis set up I can build that would also allow me to move them as needed would be greatly appreciated!

Not only am I in zone 8b, which means theyll need summer shade, but Im also in a hurricane prone area so I need to be able to move them to my shed as needed.

I had one of these in the PNW (8b) and it grew extremely quickly and was overall quite vigorous, however I had it for 5+ years and never once got a single kiwi off of it despite it throwing tons of blooms.  I've read that they claim to be self-fertile but having a second kiwi will dramatically increase fruit production, so you probably made a good choice.  I had it trellised on my 16' wide deck and it probably would have preferred more space.

I don't know anything about kiwis.

We just filled two 5 gallon buckets for tomato plants so I was wondering why 20-30 gallon planters?

A 10-gallon container weighs about 55 pounds so would you be able to easily move planters that weigh over a hundred pounds?

Krystal Smith wrote:Hello all. I purchased a self pollinating Issai kiwi plant, forgot about it for 2 weeks, found it grew over a foot despite no sunlight or water, and decided to buy another lol

So now I have 2 and Im trying to figure out what to do with them. I dont want to plant them in the ground because I rent so my plan is to buy them both a 20-30 gallon planter.

Any advise on what kind of trellis set up I can build that would also allow me to move them as needed would be greatly appreciated!

Not only am I in zone 8b, which means theyll need summer shade, but Im also in a hurricane prone area so I need to be able to move them to my shed as needed.

A point of interest here. I have done research with kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) and kiwiberry (Actinidia arguta), and all members of the genus are dioecious, meaning that male flowers and female flowers are bourne on different plants. 'Issai' is a name used for dozens of kiwiberry cultivars as it means 'early' in Japanese. There is only a single report of self-fruitful kiwiberry with the name 'Issai' -- a mutant heptaploid individual. Most plants with the name 'Issai' are female hexaploid or tetraploid plants. To get fruit, I would strongly recommend getting a male plant so you can get pollination, regardless of what the nurserymen who sold you the plant said.

Laurel Jones wrote:
I had one of these in the PNW (8b) and it grew extremely quickly and was overall quite vigorous, however I had it for 5+ years and never once got a single kiwi off of it despite it throwing tons of blooms.  I've read that they claim to be self-fertile but having a second kiwi will dramatically increase fruit production, so you probably made a good choice.  I had it trellised on my 16' wide deck and it probably would have preferred more space.

See my comments above regarding male and female plants! Many people make this mistake. I have seen kiwiberry grown as far north as the Puget Sound successfully, but you do need both sexes to get fruit.

Anne Miller wrote:I don't know anything about kiwis.

We just filled two 5 gallon buckets for tomato plants so I was wondering why 20-30 gallon planters?

A 10-gallon container weighs about 55 pounds so would you be able to easily move planters that weigh over a hundred pounds?

My husband actually brought this up and upon further thinking I decided to start them in smaller pots and work up. I have these neat black and red 50 gallon food grade barrels Im buying come April that Ill be cutting in two and I just really want to use them for something lol

M Broussard wrote:
A point of interest here. I have done research with kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) and kiwiberry (Actinidia arguta), and all members of the genus are dioecious, meaning that male flowers and female flowers are bourne on different plants. 'Issai' is a name used for dozens of kiwiberry cultivars as it means 'early' in Japanese. There is only a single report of self-fruitful kiwiberry with the name 'Issai' -- a mutant heptaploid individual. Most plants with the name 'Issai' are female hexaploid or tetraploid plants. To get fruit, I would strongly recommend getting a male plant so you can get pollination, regardless of what the nurserymen who sold you the plant said.

Thanks for your advise. Is there a variety you would suggest? Ill do some research tonight and see what I find.

M Broussard wrote:

Krystal Smith wrote:Hello all. I purchased a self pollinating Issai kiwi plant, forgot about it for 2 weeks, found it grew over a foot despite no sunlight or water, and decided to buy another lol

So now I have 2 and Im trying to figure out what to do with them. I dont want to plant them in the ground because I rent so my plan is to buy them both a 20-30 gallon planter.

Any advise on what kind of trellis set up I can build that would also allow me to move them as needed would be greatly appreciated!

Not only am I in zone 8b, which means theyll need summer shade, but Im also in a hurricane prone area so I need to be able to move them to my shed as needed.

A point of interest here. I have done research with kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) and kiwiberry (Actinidia arguta), and all members of the genus are dioecious, meaning that male flowers and female flowers are bourne on different plants. 'Issai' is a name used for dozens of kiwiberry cultivars as it means 'early' in Japanese. There is only a single report of self-fruitful kiwiberry with the name 'Issai' -- a mutant heptaploid individual. Most plants with the name 'Issai' are female hexaploid or tetraploid plants. To get fruit, I would strongly recommend getting a male plant so you can get pollination, regardless of what the nurserymen who sold you the plant said.

Laurel Jones wrote:
I had one of these in the PNW (8b) and it grew extremely quickly and was overall quite vigorous, however I had it for 5+ years and never once got a single kiwi off of it despite it throwing tons of blooms.  I've read that they claim to be self-fertile but having a second kiwi will dramatically increase fruit production, so you probably made a good choice.  I had it trellised on my 16' wide deck and it probably would have preferred more space.

See my comments above regarding male and female plants! Many people make this mistake. I have seen kiwiberry grown as far north as the Puget Sound successfully, but you do need both sexes to get fruit.

Hah!  Good to know.  I bought the plant because it was labelled as being self-fruitful, however my experience was obviously contrary to that.  I didn't have a ton of good places to nearby to trellis a male so I just enjoyed it as an ornamental til we sold the house and the new owners get to be outraged by it.  haha.

I have a 16' geodesic dome at our new place that I built specifically to use as a trellis for hardy kiwis.  I have a multi pack of 3 different female varieties that are going on the dome, and a male pollinator that's getting trellised on an adjacent fence.