I live in Lafayette, CA - the east bay and have 2 large established kiwi vines. The female produced hundreds of kiwi's this year but they were completely unedible. They never got sweet. I waited and waited to pick them and kept trying and putting them in plastic bags to ripen but they never got sweet and I gave up when they started falling off the vine. Any help on what I can feed them? Or is it possiby just that it was not a warm enough summer?
Were the kiwis soft and normal sized when you tried them? I grow kiwis way north of you and have no trouble with a lack of sweetness, although they never get fully ripe on the vine. In California you should have no trouble getting them to ripen. If they stay small and don't develop lots of the characteristic black seeds, then they probably are not getting pollinated. If pollination is not the problem, perhaps your vine is bearing too large a crop for the available nutrients. This would show up as smaller than normal fruits that also ripen later than normal. Thinning the crop would solve that problem.
Hard to say? What variety are they? Also, what gives vegetables and fruits pleasing flavours is the minerals in the soil. Having the right amounts and combinations makes a difference. Have you ever had your soil tested? Did you put something in the soil that might change the flavour (i.e. raw manure?)? Still it's hard to believe they never sweetened enough to eat them...
After reading Vitog's reply i think he may have nailed the answer. Thinning. Grapes are similar. If you don't thin them and cut back the vines, you get smaller grapes that take forever to ripen, at least in a more northern climate...
Thanks for your replies. They had tons of seeds but I did not thin them and the vine was DRIPPING with kiwis and they were smaller than the ones you buy in the store for sure. I'm guessing that could have been part of the problem for sure. I did try and ripen them off the vine but that didn't work. Has anyone heard of feeding them epsom salts? Someone recommended this to me.
