Kiwi trellis is up, plants in the ground. (pictures)

[Teddy12b]

The trellis isn't 100% complete, but all I have left to do is put some kind of a pallet looking roof on it to match the walls and I should be all set. My goals in this project were to build a trellis that's strong enough to support the weight of mature Kiwi plants and also something that would house some of the other outdoor stuff I keep out there for the winter.

These pallets were freebies from work. They're 6' wide and 10' long. I dug a hole and dropped a 4x4x8' in the hole just to stiffen up the corners. Then I nailed the pallets to the posts. It's not the worlds greatest or strongest construction project by any means, but for a trellis, it'll work just fine but I think there's some room for improvement for sure.

This is my first attemp at getting Kiwi's in the ground. I'm nervous that I planted them way too late in the year, but I'm hopeful that they'll make it to next year and start to grow. I dug holes, and then filled them with potting soil & seed starting soils that I had left over from earlier in the year. Before putting the starts in the ground I tried to mix the fresh soils I put in with some of the dirt I just took out to make the hole. Once I had about a 50/50 mix I planted the sampling Kiwi's and put a layer of mulch over the top. I gave them a little bit of water and wished them the best of luck.

Here's some pictures and if you see anywhere that I could make some improvements please speak up.
























I don't know if I'm doing it right or sentencing these Kiwi's to a winters death, but from what I've read online I think I've given these guys a decent chance of survival and hopefully they make it. If anyone has got some suggestions I'd love to read them. I'm in North East Indiana and the soil in this particular area is a little on the sandy side.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I'm in North East Indiana and the soil in this particular area is a little on the sandy side.

I'm a little more at ease reading this last sentence. The sand may help you. Enriching the planting hole is not a good idea, especially in heavy soils. It creates a barrier of sorts. Would you leave a candy store, for the Broccoli vendor outside. Wait! I may do that if it has cheese on it. Anywho it's better to plant into native soil and fertilize / compost on top. If you insist on incorporating the soil, do a large area.

The trellis looks great and I like the reuse idea.

Eric

[Teddy12b]

I wasn't really sure what to do with the potting soil and seed starting soil that we had left over from spring and I wanted to use it up. I just figured that it couldn't hurt and I wanted to mix in the regular soil so that they'd get a good start on roots and ease into their suuroundings. Do you think I may have screwed up the kiwi's? I'm hoping I didn't, but I'm a rookie on this.

[Teddy12b]

Just in case anyone was following this, I don't think the kiwi's survived the winter. This is going to become a grape vine trellis now.

[rainbowgardener]

too bad, but it was a pretty fierce winter. I'm in zone 6, but I definitely had a zone 5 winter this year.

[!potatoes!]

these are hardy kiwis? consider giving them a chance to come back from the roots. the stems are a little more susceptible to cold winds when they're young, but if they were in the ground and mulched, they're probably still alive down there. a good year of growth, maybe a little wind protection next winter, they'll probably be fine.

[rainbowgardener]

potatoes is right, doesn't hurt to give them a little more time to see if they can come back; it is early yet. Depends on how the trellis is situated (sun exposure, wind protection, etc) as well as the kiwi variety. I have seen places where the hardy kiwi is rated hardy clear down to zone 3, in which case you should be fine, and I have seen places where it is only rated hardy to zone 7, in which case it would be a goner.

But you did put it in the ground quite late in the year. It would have had a better shot at survival if it had been planted in spring and had the season to get rooted deeply, etc.

[Teddy12b]

Late last fall before winter really hit these plants were pretty much dead or dying. I had hopes for them and I may still try some more at some point in the future, but for now I'm pretty confident that these didn't make it.

I didn't get them in the ground in early spring like I should have. Last year most of my free time was taken up with planting a lot of trees and the trellis wasn't built until late. The kiwi's were Hirt's hardy kiwi's and they're supposed to be good into zone 5, but that's if the conditions are right. I don't think I gave the plants good start, but that's why there's a new season every year.

Just out of curiosity, what's the recommended spacing for grape vines? I've got a half dozen of them now and I'm going to have to add to the trellis.

[Teddy12b]

This was a project I started years ago. Despite my best efforts, the kiwi's didn't survive. The following spring I planted grapes hoping they'd do better, and they didn't. This spring, I made some improvements to the structure with latices, and stumbled across some incredible examples of both concord grapes, and hardy kiwi's. I'm feeling good about the odds of survival for all of these. Instead of all grapes, or all kiwi's like I've done in the past, I've got one side as Kiwi's and one side as grapes.

Two Kiwi's:


Three Concord Grapes: