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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Hardy A. deliciosa?

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  • From: Dan Sorensen <dan.phantom@westpa.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Hardy A. deliciosa?
  • Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 23:38:46 -0400

Perhaps an equally important question is the length of growing season.  Generally A. deliciosa needs about 200 frost free days  to ripen the fruit.  A. arguta can manage with about half that and A kolomikta needs even less.  There used to be two A. deliciosa growing at Michigan State University beside the Botany building. They survived the winters, but never produced fruit.  A major addition to the building several years ago was their doom.

Here in northwest Pennsylvania it looks like I'll be getting a really good crop of A. arguta this year; the first since I started growing them over 20 years ago.  Past crops have usually been nipped by late spring frosts.  This year's cool late spring delayed the blooms until danger of frost was past.  When  I get fruit they are wonderful, but the wait teaches patience.

Dan Sorensen

At 02:24 PM 9/17/2003 -0500, you wrote:

A while back I came across a couple of web sites mentioning Actinidia
deliciosa cultivars, 'Summertime Boy' and 'Summertime Girl", which are
claimed to be quite cold hardy for the species. They seem to only be offered
locally at a few garden centers along the mid east coast. Here are excerpts.



>From The Behnke GardeNews, March 1998;



"Now, plants for your taste buds! Just in are the first kiwi plants that are
both proven cold hardy and every bit as big, juicy and tasty as the New
Zealand kiwis you buy at the grocery store. Ask for Actinidia 'Summertime
Boy' and 'Summertime Girl'."





>From Hampton Roads Gardening, May 2001;



"SUMMERTIME KIWI. Hardy to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the Summertime Boy
and Summertime Girl Kiwi produces fruit on fast-growing, deciduous vines
with egg size, very sweet fruit. The plants bear fruit in great profusion.
They are best planted in full sun to half shade for optimum fruit set.
Summertime Boy is the pollinator for Summertime Girl. Fruit ripens on the
vine early fall; harvest fruits before first heavy frost. Produced by Hines
Horticulture; available at McDonald Garden Center."





These seem quite interesting if the hardiness claims are true. Does anyone
know anything about the history of these cultivars or grown them? Are they
really this hardy?



Thanks,



Hal

zone 6b, TN


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______________________________________________________________________
Dan Sorensen                               Visit my Experimental Gardening Website at:
RD2 Box 57                                     http://phantomlake.net
Russell, PA 16345                          Northwestern Pennsylvania  USDA Zone 5
dan.phantom@westpa.net              Penn State Master Gardener & Ham Radio- WB8VEF
______________________________________________________________________



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