North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mauch1@aol.com]

>Is the vine a rooted cutting or is it grafted?
>If it is grafted, how far from the soil is the graft?
>At your site, do you normally receive enough snow to completely cover 
>the graft union?

One of the vine is from RainTree nursery (around 3 or 4 years ago - 
its been "warehoused" in my nursery bed until I got the trellis built).
The other two vines are ones I started from cuttings from vines I had
purchased (and planted at my old home) about 10-12 years ago.

>How is the vine trellised - Fence, T-bar, etc. -  or what are you plans 
>to trellis and prune the vine?

The trellis is sort of a cross between a T-bar and a pergola (two posts
one at each end).  The cross beams are 8 ft and the two posts are 4 
feet apart.  Effectively it is a T-bar.  Vines are planted 25 feet 
apart (Les Beachy felt I should go 30 w/ 10 ft cross beams, but I 
resisted going that large).  I planned on having 3 vines (only two 
currently planted out). Using 5 wires over the 8 ft width.

>When they are young, the original vine will normally wrap around the =
>stake used for support.  This usually looks something like a piggy tail. =
> We unwrap this growth and fasten it to the bamboo with a max tapener.  =
>We maintain this growth only to provide photosynthesis to the roots from =
>its existing leaf structure.  Once the roots have established =
>themselves, you will generally have several new shoots that will be a =
>good diameter in size and easily shoot up to a five to six foot height.  =
>You want to choose the largest of these shoots for the permanent single =
>stalk of the vine.  When the shoot is at a height that you want your =
>canopy, we suggest six and a half feet, cut it off at the top and it =
>will automatically create a "Y"  for the left and right cordons.  At =
>this point, all of the rest of the old material of the vine is cut off.  =
>On occasion, we will use the original vine if it is unwrapped before =
>becoming too "corkscrewed".
I've been unwrapping the two vines on a regular basis, They're not 
perfectly straight, but not too bad.  

>At fifteen foot spacing between plants, we allow our cordons to grow to =
>six feet on either side of the main trunk.  These cordons will produce =
>your annual fruiting laterals. To maintain a manageable structure, we =
>suggest six laterals per each of the four quadrants.
It sounds like you're placing the laterals yearly. You're not going to 
sub-laterals (as some of the description I've seen)?  From your description
you have laterals at 1 ft spacing on each side of the cordon.  How often
(if ever?) do you replace cordons?

>If you allow two trunks, both will be smaller in diameter, and each will =
>provide you with multi-cordons producing a management nightmare. The =
>canopy should be light enough to allow airflow and light for fruit =
>health, it is conducive to air flow pollination, and spray applications. =
> Yes, sprays, here in central PA we have found Western Flower Thrips =
>attacking Annas around petal drop, and sooty smudge and flyspeck on =
>Michigan, and Red Princess. As we are organically certified, we are =
>making use of acceptable materials to try to combat theses problems.
Well, I was going to keep each trunk to one cordon (each in opposite
direcions).  

What do the Western Flower Thrips do?  I'd be interested in hearing what
you are spraying.  I'm not overly concerned re: sooty smudge or flyspeck, 
but would like to hear what you're using for control.

>We have tried female vines with two trunks and have ended up cutting =
>each trunk down to one cordon each.  Our test trials show production =
>rates are better, and faster on vines with only one trunk.=20
I was leaning toward two trunks because 1) I was somewhat concerned about
winter damage, and 2) I had read that kiwi were susceptible to crown
rot (and I've had plenty of that on apples) I was worried w/ my clay soil
that I might get an infection that I could save the vine by having a 2nd 
trunk.  Although I think these are going to produce more than I need, 
I am interested that you also said production would be earlier w/ two 
trunks.

>Sometimes recessive or slow growing males, i.e.: 74-46's and 74-32's, =
>are maintained on two trunks whereas the Cornell and Meader males are =
>grown with one trunk.=20
Recessive?  I'm not sure what that means (same as slow growing?).  I 
don't know the name of my male vine.  It originally came from Edible 
Landscaping ~10 years ago.

Thanks for the information!!

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6