Kiwi: Male or female?

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tropicalaria Tri-Cities, WA(Zone 7b) Jun 20, 2005

How do I tell whether my kiwi is male or female? I had several, and only one survived the move during the winter, but I don't know whether it was male or female. I'd like to get another one so that I have a pollinator and one to set fruit, but I don't know which to get. Is it possible to tell before the flowers come out? If not, how can I tell from the blooms?

If it matters, my plant is either actinidia deliciosa or chinensis - I'll have to look up in my records to see if I can tell which one it was.

Thanks for any help you can give.

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bettydee La Grange, TX(Zone 8b) Jun 22, 2005

I looked at a large number of websites and couldn't find any mention of vegetative differences between the sexes in the kiwi you mentioned. I don't think you can tell until it produces either pollen or flowers. The enclosed link shows photos of the male and female flowers for Actinidia deliciosa. As you can see, they are very similar. You may want to buy one of each again and consider it great luck if your present plants happens to be female.

http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/catalog/photo_db/A.htm

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tropicalaria Tri-Cities, WA(Zone 7b) Jun 23, 2005

Wow - thank you. I looked around but hadn't been able to find examples of both flowers. From what I can tell deliciosa and chinensis are pollen-compatible, though I don't know if they're compatible with any of the hardy varieties.

Thanks for your help, and I'm impressed by the work you put into searching for this and the site that you did find.

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spectrum (Zone 2b) Jun 23, 2005

Here is a page with photos of male and female kiwi blossoms:

http://www.cornhillnursery.com/retail/fruit/kiwiflowers.html

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