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  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT earthlink.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Re:kiwi growing
  • Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 19:38:04 -0400

Fred wrote about hardy kiwis:
My major work is PRUNING..

If you have deer, you don't have to prune much -- they do it for you! ;-)

> I made the mistake of growing on a pergola,

I don't regret having them on a pergola -- it's a pretty structure and you can train them to a central trunk with side branches every 18 inches or so. If you take the deer netting off the branches, the deer prune the new growth just fine.

>The fruit is sweeter than tropical kiwi, and might have some market potential but only easily keeps for 10-14 days, is somewhat "dirty" in that the blossom end can be obvious, and is fragile enough that tediously cutting the stems works better than picking (which rips out the stem, reducing shelf life).

At last year's Food & Farming Conference in DE, someone brought a central PA grower's hardy kiwi fruit complete with market packaging (jay gee would have been so proud of them!). Anyway, this farm is selling the fruit as "kiwi berries." If you call them "berries," then you can get away with placing cut stems with kiwis attached in the clam shell (thus extending shelf life and making harvesting a whole lot easier). The top of the clam shell had a drawing of a hardy kiwi vine growing up a trellis with an explanation of what a hardy kiwi was, that one ate the "berries" skin and all and how vitamin-packed the whole thing was.

The farmer also sells chocolate dipped kiwi berries, which I thought were vile, but everyone else at the conference was scarfing down like there was no tomorrow. . .

(I can't believe how many folks have joined this list in the last few days! [!!!!!] I'm starting to think there's a future in this sustainable agriculture thing after all -- or maybe there are more deluded people out there than any of us realized! ;-D)




Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460






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