I see many places selling seeds from "Actinidia melandra", and they all seem to be just passing on the same wrong information. The species is Actinidia melanandra, and it is not self-fertile (there are NO self-fertile Actinidia species-they are all dioecious). It is hardy to about -20F and the fruit is round and typically .5-1 inch in diameter. There is a selection (1064-79) that was once suspected of being self-fertile, but that was found not to be the case. That misinformation is still being spread around. I have it, but it has not bloomed yet, but I know others who have confirmed it is not self-fertile.

This species is closely related to A. arguta, and most arguta males can pollinate it. 'Kens Red' is a hybrid of A. arguta x A. melanandra, and I would be willing to bet that what you have are in fact 'Kens Red' seeds, as KR does have 1.5 inch long fruits. You will eventually get both male and female plants, which will probably be very similar to A. arguta. They may take 3-5 years or longer to bloom, and considering the lack of credibility regarding the origin of these seeds, you are likely much better off just buying plants of named varieties.

~kiwinut

I guess this is another example of "if it seems too good to be true, it is."

I had read that there were no self-fertile kiwis, but thought I had found some kiwi/grape cross or something. oh, darn.

I've got ten seeds started, so I'll see how they do as fence cover, if not as fruit.

Thanks for the expert information!

j.

Your seedlings may still turn out to be something nice, just not likely to be self-fertile. If one turns out really nice, you can name it.

There are self-fertile kiwi, just not whole species that are self-fertile. Breeders in New Zealand found a self-fertile fuzzy kiwi a few years ago in a batch of 'Hayward' seedlings, and have used it to breed a large number of self-fertile kiwis, although none have been good enough to release so far. These do turn up very rarely, and some day, most cultivated kiwis may be self-fertile. Keep in mind that all wild grapes are also dioecious, with only male and female vines, but nearly all modern cultivars are now self-fertile.

Kiwinut is right. There are self-fertile kiwis. And to tell you from my own observations: There is an A. melandra growing in the botanical garden in Bonn which bears fruits every year without any other Actinidia being close to it. I searched very well. I know that there is also one A. arguata variety that is self-fertile. Its name is Issai.

According to the sources I have seen A. melandra is only hardy to -15ð C. But I don't know if that is true. Maybe somebody else has more information on that.

Can someone get me some purple kiwi seeds? Ty

I believe that the proprietor of One Green World said in a talk last month that they no longer tout Issai as self fertile because it bears so little fruit without a pollenizer that it isn't worth mentioning.

There's such a thing as parthenocarpy, it's the process where a plant will sometimes set fruit without pollination. These fruits will be seedless and very small. One variety of grape (Corinth) is parthenocarpic but almost all seedless grapes are stenospermocarpic - that is the get pollinated but the seed is aborted before it develops.

There's no such thing as a kiwi / grape hybrid, likely you just got a arguta or kolomitka kiwi. Majority of kiwi species have fruits the size of grapes or plums.

Parthenocarpy might appear in kiwis eventually, probably already exists in the partially self fertile Isaai variety (apparently). It usually develops in unfavourable climates for pollination. Only way you can breed it is by planting a load of diverse seeds, letting varieties and species cross and selecting any that pop up (if they do).

Kiwis haven't been as heavily selected as grapes yet so it hasn't had time to appear.

Hermaphrodite (self fertile) vines in grapes are actually thought to have developed from chance *male* plants that had mutated flowers.