We have an aggressive kiwi vine which is started to run out of control. We are located in Nottingham UK and the vine is about 17 years old. Quite a lot of fruit this year although we lost about 50% which started to form and then dropped off. Currently it is ripening well. Our problem is that it is growing too fast and producing long thick branches which are waving around looking for anchors and starting to climb up the side of the house towards the roof. What is the best way to prune and control the plant? Any particular time? We are currently pulling the long branches down and forming a thick canopy which we can walk under. Is there any problem with kiwi roots? Do they penetrate deeply or remain near the surface? Ours appear to be a mass near the surface. Any advice welcome.
I think that kiwi vines are always rampant growers and need to be pruned frequently to keep them under control. I prune mine every few weeks all through the growing season. I remove any branches that are not bearing fruit and are not useful for next year's crop. The retained branches also need to be pruned to keep them in bounds. My kiwis, which are growing in well-drained, sandy soil, have both surface and deeper roots. Pruning out some of the surface roots doesn't seem to hurt the plants.
vitog. Thanks for your reply. We haven't pruned the vines at all as we were worried about the bleeding that we had in the past but that was early in the season. So will give it a good prune in the next week or two and make it a bit more manageable.
