Kiwi Vines
Gardening Question from Debbie:
I am moving to the Temecula area and I have an orchard and vineyard area. 🙂 Well I want to purchase two kiwi trees to take and start over a structure of some sort. I heard that you need a male and a female, one each; is this true? How do they do in the Temecula area? What size and how old trees do I need to get? Which kiwi variety should I get for that area?
Photo by reverendlukewarm 
Answer from Pat:
Kiwi plants grow like vines. They are not trees and need support such as a pergola or fence on which to grow. Yes, unless you purchase a self-fruitful variety, you will need to plant one male vine in order to have fruit on your female vine. It may take 5 years before you get fruit. One male can pollinate up to seven female vines. ‘Hayward’ is a good variety of female to plant. The male plant you purchase can be any fuzzy type named male kiwi or it may be simply marked ‘male’ on the label. One gallon or five gallon plants are fine to plant.
I need to know why this male hardy kiwi vine has been staying the same size as two female kiwi vines keep growing . It just thickened up and started drying its leaves months ago but i still water it .
Your question is a bit vague. Do you mean that a male Kiwi vine has only grown 1 foot while the females have grown tall? If so the reason undoubtedly is that the male Kiwi vine is growing in a bad spot where the root zone is constricted.
A spot where nothing will grow is a common problem in Southern California. Sometimes it is caused by a large buried rock, sometimes even by builders having washed paint brushes or paint containers in that spot. Sometimes it was caused by builders washing containers of concrete, grout, or plaster in that spot. On one occasion I even heard of a home owner who dug down at such a spot and found a buried 6-pack off beer!
In my own garden there’re two spots where nothing will grow. One is about 8 or 10 feel in diameter and is a level area within a long, steep bank near my driveway. The reason for it is an old cast iron pipe no longer used by the city that crosses under my property and under my driveway down to the street at that spot. Nothing would ever grow there. Finally I planted succulents and they are surviving and have become a design feature. Another spot in my garden I have never been able to explain but in order to make use of it, I put a rose arbor over it—The climbing rose which is planted next to it and covers the arbor, flourishes. Then I placed a bench under the arbor that has a beautiful view of the garden and thus has been a joy for years. Behind the bench I have grown star jasmine on a support, so there is protection from wind.