Kiwifruit

Kiwifruit grows best in full sun in deep, well-drained soil with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5, enriched with organic matter such as peat moss or composted manure; raised beds can help where drainage is poor. The site deserves careful thought before planting, since kiwifruit resents having its roots disturbed once established, and thorough weed control ahead of planting is worthwhile since the vine will occupy the ground for years. Wind protection matters too, as strong winds can damage the plant and reduce fruiting.

Kiwifruit is a vigorous woody vine that needs a sturdy trellis, arbor, wall, or fence to climb, with young vines trained to a single straight trunk and one leader running along each side of the support. Established plants are pruned in both summer and winter to keep growth in check and encourage fruiting, and vines commonly take three to four years before they begin to bear.

Because kiwifruit is dioecious, a male plant must grow near a female plant of the same species for fruit to set, and bees rather than wind are needed to carry pollen between them. The crop also needs a long frost-free season of roughly 225 to 240 days to mature its fruit, along with several hundred hours of winter chilling below 45°F to break dormancy properly.

Kiwifruit is not troubled by many insect pests or diseases, though the fine hairs covering the fruit can irritate the throat, and the fruit's own actinidin enzyme can cause similar irritation if handled or eaten in quantity.

Cold is the more serious hazard: young spring shoots are very frost tender and a late frost can damage or kill them, while an early frost in autumn or winter can spoil fruit still left on the vine. Sustained temperatures below 10°F can kill young vines outright and damage even mature bearing plants, and specific cold snaps in spring or in mid-autumn can kill emerging shoots or injure the trunks of young vines.

Kiwifruit is picked while still firm, at a physiologically ripe stage, rather than left to ripen on the vine, since the fruit rarely softens fully outdoors except during long, hot summers; harvested fruit is brought indoors to finish ripening. Hard, unripened fruit tastes very acidic and is not palatable, so growers wait for the correct stage before picking, typically in autumn.

Freshly picked fruit will soften within a few days if placed in a plastic bag with apples or bananas and kept at a warm room temperature, and fruit that has spent four or more weeks in cold storage will likewise soften once brought out to a temperature above 60°F. Properly stored, kiwifruit can keep for four to six months, which lets different growing regions supply fresh fruit across overlapping parts of the year.

Culinary: Kiwifruit is grown chiefly for fresh eating, sliced or halved and eaten raw or added to salads; only a small share of the crop is turned into jam, juice, wine, or frozen product. The fruit's actinidin enzyme is also used commercially, and in home kitchens, as a meat tenderizer.

Historical: In China, where the vine originated, its fruit was long regarded as a nutritious and medicinal delicacy before it became known abroad.

Kiwifruit descends from a wild vine native to the temperate Yangtze Valley of China, where it was known as Yang Tao and eaten as a local delicacy for centuries; the earliest written description dates to the 12th century, during the Song dynasty. Seeds were carried from China to New Zealand in 1904, and the vine was gradually developed there from a garden curiosity into an export crop, with the first dedicated commercial plantings established around 1940. Kiwifruit is notable as one of the few temperate fruit crops domesticated only in the twentieth century, and cultivation later spread to other countries including the United States, Italy, and Japan.