Content
- Male kiwis are responsible for fertilization
- Male and female kiwi plants
- Self-fertilizing kiwi plants
- Tips & Tricks
Male kiwis are responsible for fertilization
The kiwi plants are dioecious. The flowers of the female plants only develop fruit when a paser pollinator grows nearby. A male plant is able to fertilize six to nine female kiwis.
Male and female kiwi plants
The flowers of the male Kiwis have only yellow stamens in the middle. The female flowers also have a white stylus, around which also stamens are arranged. For fertilization, the planting distance between the male and female plants is important. To harvest fruits, the male kiwi plant should be planted at a distance of not more than four meters to one or more female kiwis. Between six and nine female plants can be fertilized at the same time.
Even under optimal conditions of site and fertilization, one can count on the first fruits on the finished kiwi plants in the 3-4 years. If you've grown your own kiwi plants from seed, it can take more than ten years to harvest.
In most regions of Germany, the so-called mini-kiwis are considered to be profitable. Its fruits are about the size of gooseberries and have a smooth, edible shell. In terms of taste, they are very similar to the big kiwifruit. The mini-kiwis, however, are more robust and more frost-resistant than the large-fruited kiwis.
Self-fertilizing kiwi plants
Also commercially available are the kiwi single-source varieties that have both male and female flowers on a plant. You do not need a pollinator and therefore can be planted individually. However, the practice shows that even with these varieties, the yields improve when a male pollinator grows nearby.
Tips & Tricks
The male plants of the amur-ray-stylus (also called flamingo-ray-pens) have very decorative-looking large leaves with white or pink leaf tips.