KIWI

A couple of years ago I purchased online 2 kiwi plants; one male and one female. They were just few inches tall at the time. I planted them in small pots. They barely survived the winter. They did take off nicely though in the following spring.

I decided to keep the male kiwi in the big pot and plant the female in the ground. I thought that it would be fun to build a focal point arbor that would serve as a support for the kiwi girl… I named her Betty. The male was named Phil. Yes, I know it’s silly to name your plants...
 

Kiwi vine in her 2nd year.

The kiwi arbor project took 4 weekends. It turned out well. I actually like it more then I thought I would. It’s placed well and makes a good statement as one drives up to the house. There are about 2000 lb of native rocks that mom and I dug up from around the house and stacked carefully on the slope... It was a back breaking job, but the result was worth it.

Betty surely appreciated our efforts to accommodate her; she grew two, luscious and healthy 8ft vines in the first year and several more in her second year. There may be several more years before she will produce fruit, but in the meantime she is a great ornamental focal point that we all enjoy.

The male kiwi is still in the pot, but I will probably plant it in the ground next spring. We’ll see.

AFTER THE STORM

Burning debris and cleaning after the wind storm sounds like a chore... until you look up. The sun and the smoke gave us a nice light show.

GROWING FRUIT TREES FROM SEEDS




2 yr old Apricot tree
grown from the seed.

Two years ago I decided to grow fruit trees from the seeds. I have 2 pears and 2 apricots that are about 4 ft tall now. One apricot tree had few flowers in her second year. It was exciting. Maybe next year we will have the first fruit. It would be very early for a tree to bear fruit in its 3rd year, so I don't hold my breath, but... who knows.

Commercially grown trees are mostly grafted to enhance their qualities. I did experience though buying trees before from a nursery and later watching them dye or not bear fruit at 7 yrs old... I'm aware that fruit trees grown from the seeds may not bear fruit or may regress to their lesser category/kind. I still want to try though. 




This is how it started.

Last fall I collected many different seeds. This year in early spring I planted about 50 seeds of different fruit trees. All germinated, but about 36 are now looking happy. They are mostly apple trees but also pears, apricots, plums and cherries. They are 6-18 inches tall and looking good. Winter is around the corner, so they stopped growing and are losing foliage. I'll keep them indoors through the first winter; a cold basement room with a big window worked well before. Next winter they should be strong enough to stay outside.



The tips on growing trees from the seeds:

 

Apple trees grown from seeds,
6-7 months old.

1. If you use the seeds from the store bought fruits that were stored over the winter in cool environment, you can plant the seeds immediately. They were already weatherized while stored along with the fruit.

2. Use seeds from local growers. Organic fruits are the best source of seeds. The fruits imported from other countries, even organic fruits, may be treated, what may affect the germination of the seeds, so shop local.



GROWING FRUIT TREES IN CONTAINERS

For many years I was thinking of growing my own food. Fourteen years ago I planted my first fruit trees bought at the local nursery: apple, plum and Asian pear. Only the apple is still around. What I learned in those past years is that it takes some knowledge and care to make the orchard a success. I'm still learning, but with what I learned so far, my trees have a better chance of growing and producing a crop.

Today I have eight fruit bearing trees including apples, pears, cherries and a plum. One of the apple trees is actually growing in a container. I noticed that apple trees in comparison to other trees have the root ball significantly smaller. I decided to try to grow one in the container, just in case I will move to a different place; I could then take it with me. Last year the apple tree in the container (golden delicious) had few delicious fruits. This year I wanted the tree to put the energy to growing good structure, so I didn’t pollinate it (I hand pollinate my trees… more about that soon). It still decided to give us three apples: I thinned the two smallest and left the biggest one, just to see the quality of the fruit it can produce. The apple is still on the tree in November.

I transplanted the tree to a 24” diameter container. I thought in case of the tree that has smaller root ball, it may be easier to control the soil fertility while growing the tree in the container. So far the experiment seems to be a success.