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Thread: Harvested Kiwi Yesterday

  1. #1

    Default Harvested Kiwi Yesterday

    This is definitely a problem plant for where I live in zone 5 Michigan.

    Last year I got no fruit because a late freeze zapped all the fruiting buds.

    This year no late freeze, but such cold, cloudy, horrible weather in late summer and early fall delayed fruit ripening. Leaves were changing and falling and the fruit wasn't ripe yet. I just harvested it yesterday, and a lot of it still wasn't ripe. Good thing too, because I didn't watch the news and as I look out my window now we had a hard freeze last night. Around October 1st we almost had one, escaped by a couple degrees.

    I didn't harvest all of it yet, so I hope the freeze didn't do to the fruit what it did to the leaves. I did harvest about 9 pounds, and estimate that to be roughly 60% of what was out there. 2 years ago, the first year I got fruit, it was 7 pounds.

    I like this plant but it seems to require a growing season longer than what Michigan typically provides - though I know there is a variety out there called "Michigan State" that was hybridized at MSU about a mile from my house, so if you want to grow this plant and live in zone 5 I would seek out that variety.


  2. #2
    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
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    you growing them out or in a greenhouse?

    how was your fruit-set? if they won't ripen fully in your growing season it might help to thin the set out so there's less to ripen for a given vegetative mass. seems to work with tomatoes and tree fruit.
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  3. #3
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    What did you do with 7 pounds of the fruit? I know some went into jelly but was wondering what you did with the rest.
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  4. #4

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    eat out of hand, and jam.

  5. #5

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    was making jam today, bought two bags of frozen strawberries and was having them thaw in the pot... burnt them to the bottom, and had already added the kiwi, now the whole pot has a burnt flavor despite me cleaning out the burned bits and switching the pot. haven't added sugar yet but this whole batch might be a bust, unfortunately.

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    Senior Member Winnie's Avatar
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    That's bad luck about the jam Chris.
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  7. #7

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    Dried kiwi is good too.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Sparky93's Avatar
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    I didn't know you could grow kiwi that far north, to be honest I do not know what climate they grow in at all. What climate do the originate from?
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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    So, we are talking about the fruit, not the people, right?
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  10. #10
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Oh, shoot. I thought we were talkin' birds.

    Actually, the largest producer is Italy follow by New Zealand and South America but it's also grown in Europe and the U.S.
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  11. #11
    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Oh, shoot. I thought we were talkin' birds.

    Actually, the largest producer is Italy follow by New Zealand and South America but it's also grown in Europe and the U.S.
    The fruit, not the people...right? Because, ya know, New Zealand can really produce those Kiwis, (the people, not the fruit).

    (Sorry, it's been awhile since I have seen a Danish joke on this forum (the pastry, not the people)).
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  12. #12

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    turns out the hard freeze didn't damage the fruit. I was pulling it off the vine and eating it out of hand in november as I put the garden away.

    The burnt jam turned out fine after I cleaned out all the burnt bits.

  13. #13
    Senior Member Stairman's Avatar
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    Id love to grow kiwi since I eat 1 or 2 per day. May look into it a little more and it may do quite well here.

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