I have had a male and female kiwi vine for 7 years. The female plant has produced many many kiwi fruit, I was wondering is there anything I could feed the plant to make the fruit grow quicker because I live in a cold area and have never had the luxury of eating any of the kiwi fruit. Please help!! Thanks lucycop
Like grapes, you need to cut the plant back so the plant's energy is directed into growing the fruit. At least that is what I do... If the vines get too long, fruiting is delayed, which is ok in a warm climate, but obviously doesn't work in a cold climate.
Generally, the less fruit a plant is carrying, the faster the fruit ripens. It would help to thin the amount of fruit on the vine. If you keep the vine pruned back, you could try covering it with a sheet of plastic. That would heat it up and hasten ripening. As Ron B suggested, kiwi fruit will ripen indoors to some extent. I have a fuzzy kiwi vine, Actinidia deliciosa, from which I normally harvest the fruit just before the first killing frost arrives, typically in November. I store the fruit until it softens, at which point it is ripe and tasty. I suspect that you are growing A. arguta, or a similar hardy kiwi. I haven't tried storing the fruit from that species, since it ripens in October here; but it might work.
