permaculture

[YankeePerm@aol.com]

> Why on earth would you bother to grow just a female kiwi anyway?

Because the 3 different male kiwis I have bought in the last 3 years
have not had enough vigor to make it thru a wisconsin winter.  Just read
in Pilarski's kiwi journal that the Northwoods guy claims to have
collected some male kiwis, in russia I believe, which & extremely
vigorous & bloom by the 2nd year.  Sounds like a lead to me.

thanks for the answer, is there also a possibility that even tho the
fruit has set, it will slowly drop off before it matures?


miekal<<

Yes, it is possible.  However it may well stay on, even if not polinated.  A
number of fruit species are parthenocarpic when not pollinated, including
mulberries, persimmons, etc. 

Strangely, cold tolerance is sometimes correlated with heat tolerance.  For
example, A. arguta is reported to do better here in FL than A. deliciosa.  We
have a fairly feeble male--thought it was dead but it returned.  (Seems we
keep harping back to the religious themes with kiwi :-)  )  I think I'll try
Northwoods also.  Maybe you want to post their current address for other
folks.  A vigorous male is hard to find, at least in kiwis, it appears.  We
are down to two females, as we lost the third to record flooding this winter
(our "dry season").  We have the interesting situation of severe drought with
flooding--our sandy soil has little capilary action so while most of our place
is under water we are constantly watering the rest to keep things alive.  Of
course, once we have everything established, I expect that their roots will
find the water table readily enough.

Meanwhile, any nominations for a replacement for the third kiwi are welcome.
I'd like to have at least three to test the claim that they do well here.
Mainly, the sure-fire fruits for us are fig, persimmon and jujube.
Blueberries, too.  Everything else is either frost sensitive, requires too
much chill factor (more than 300 hours net), or does not like heat.  The ideal
crop is perennial (preferably a tree), drought tolerant, flood tolerant, hardy
to 15 F, indifferent to WHEN it rains, low-chill, and readily propagated.
(That is jujubes and nothing else I know of.)  Any nominations are welcome.
I'm happy to get written suggestions or plants in the mail.  We are doing
trials of hundreds of varieties and species to get a fairly extensive list for
this region.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 1982),
Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence
courses via email.  Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.

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