Actinidia arguta

Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi) is a perennial vine native to Korea, Northern China, and Russian Siberia, producing a small fruit resembling the kiwi.

Hardy kiwifruit (also known as kiwi berry, baby kiwi, dessert kiwi or cocktail kiwi) is an edible, berry or grape-sized fruit that is similar to kiwifruit in taste and appearance, but is green or purple with smooth skin.

Often sweeter than the kiwifruit, hardy kiwifruit can be eaten whole and need not be peeled. Thin-walled, its exterior is smooth and leathery, providing a deceiving contrast to the fuzzy, brown exterior of its larger sibling fruits.

Cultivation

The fast-growing, climbing vine is very hardy (hence the name hardy kiwi), and is capable of surviving slow temperature drops to -34°C (-30°F), although young shoots can be vulnerable to frost in the spring.

The vines need a frost-free growing season of about 150 days, but are not damaged by late freezes, provided that temperature changes are sufficiently gradual to allow plants to acclimate. Indeed, a period of winter chill is necessary for successful cultivation. However, rapid freezes will kill off buds and split vines. The vines can also be grown in low-chill areas.

While hardy kiwi may be grown directly from seeds (germination time is approximately one month), it is also possible to propagate from cuttings. Hardy kiwi cuttings may be grafted directly onto established kiwifruit rootstock, or rooted themselves. In natural conditions, vines will climb trees to reach heights of up to 100 feet.

In domestic cultivation, a trellis may be used to encourage horizontal growth for easy maintenance and harvesting; however, vines grow extremely quickly and require a strong trellis for support.

Each vine can grow up to 20 feet in a single season, given ideal growing conditions. For commercial planting, placement is important: plants can tolerate partial shade but yields will be optimized with full sunlight. Hardy kiwi vines consume large volumes of water; therefore, they are usually grown in well-drained acidic soils to prevent root rot.

For vines to bear fruit, both male and female plants must be present to enable pollination. A male pollinator can enable six female producers to fruit. Flowering typically occurs in May (in the Northern Hemisphere) starting in the third year of growth.If flowers become frost-burned, however, no fruit production will occur during the remainder of the year.

An autumn harvest is standard among all varieties; within this, actual harvest times are highly dependent on local climate and the specific cultivar grown.Each individual vine can produce up to 100 pounds of fruit per year, but average annual yield is approximately 50 pounds per vine. Both fruit size and total yield are highly cultivar-dependent. Fruits left to ripen on the vine contain a 18 to 25 percent sugar content at time of harvest.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardy_Kiwi


See Also: bunga, toko bunga, bunga papan