how to plant, grow, and care for ‘prolific’ hardy kiwi vines

Fruits

How to Plant, Grow, and Care for ‘Prolific’ Hardy Kiwi Vines

With little care and attention, hardy kiwi vines produce hundreds of pounds of small, fuzzless kiwis each year. They thrive in climates too cold for fuzzy-skinned kiwi vines, and they’re an excellent fruiting vine for gardens. Read on with PNW....

gardener Jerad Bryant, and you’ll soon have unlimited supplies of fresh kiwi fruit!

One reason to love fruit is for nostalgia’s sake. As a kid, my mother would slice kiwi fruit with lunch. Whenever I bite into it, the tropical flavor catapults me back to those warm, fuzzy feelings I felt as a child.

Kiwis are available at most grocery stores. Why buy them when you can grow them for free? Growing them at home allows for unlimited fruit on a perennial vine. With a ‘Prolific’ hardy plant in the backyard, you’ll never have to spend money on kiwi fruit again.

When growing this vine, plan to prune, maintain, and limit its growth. Hardy kiwis are vigorous spreaders in the garden and benefit from maintenance similar to that of grapevines.
What Is It?
Hardy kiwi vines grow fruit with a similar flavor to those you find at the grocery store, although hardy kiwis are much smaller and fuzzless. They taste superb in fruit salads, smoothies, and preserves. They’re also the best kiwi for fresh eating with their edible skins.

All kiwi vines share the genus Actinidia, and the hardy kiwi’s scientific name is Actinidia arguta. ‘Prolific’ is a self-fertile hardy kiwi that grows more compact than other kiwi species. This type excels in home gardens, as it can squeeze into small spaces and climb trellises. It doesn’t need a male plant to pollinate itself.

Why are there male and female kiwi plants? Most kiwis are dioecious, meaning that each plant is entirely male or entirely female and that each produces flowers that match its sex.

‘Prolific’ stands out amongst other kiwis because it grows both male and female flowers. It pollinates other female varieties with its pollen. Rather than wasting space on a male pollinator kiwi that doesn’t produce fruit, plant a ‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi, and you’ll have garden space for other fruits and veggies.

Native Area
All kiwi species originate from eastern Asia and prefer growing in temperate and subtropical climates that match their home. In their native range, winters are cool, moist, and humid, while summers are warm, sunny, and humid.

In wild forests, hardy kiwis climb on trees with their reaching tendrils. They use other plants for support to launch themselves into the canopy. Wild vines reach anywhere from 40-100 feet tall! As they grow, they twine themselves around other plants and become woody over time. This creates a strong, wooden base for hardy kiwi plants so they can climb higher and higher each year.

Nowadays, hardy kiwi vines grow across the globe in temperate and subtropical zones. They require some chill hours in the winter and a long growing season, and they thrive throughout North America from New York to Oregon. Some species invade local forests on the East Coast where they escape cultivation. Avoid contributing to its invasive spread by harvesting all the fruit, and avoid planting this vine close to forests and natural areas.

Characteristics
‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi vines sprout climbing new growth that turns woody with age. Much like how grapevines grow, these fruiting plants rely on other woody shrubs and trees for structure. They can support themselves. However, their growth and fruit production won’t be as optimal as when they have support from other structures.

Hardy kiwi vines sprout round light-green leaves with whitish undersides. They create flowers that are creamy white, and they fade to a yellowish-brown color while the season progresses. ‘Prolific’ fruit is greenish-purplish and tastes like a mix of bananas, melons, and strawberries.

When growing ‘Prolific’ vines, consider that they spread less vigorously than other varieties. They climb at least six or seven feet, so plant it onto an arbor, trellis, or archway for best results.

Propagation
‘Prolific’ hardy kiwi is a specific variety, so propagate it with cuttings to retain the variety’s growing and fruiting characteristics. Growing hardy kiwi vines from seeds is a fun activity, but it leads to new plants that differ genetically from their ‘Prolific’ parent plant. Try sprouting seeds for a growing experiment, or take cuttings for reliable reproduction.

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