On a recent visit to New Zealand I had the good fortune to be able to taste the new baby Kiwi that was mentioned in our last issue. It’s like a large gooseberry and you eat it skin and all. Very nice but the Horticultural Research Station where they are conducting trials tell me it needs 500 hours of – 7 degrees to set a good crop. They have a product over there called “Hicane” (Hydrogen Cyanamide) which promotes increased bud burst in kiwifruit in areas which have insufficient winter chill and is applied 3-5 weeks before natural bud break. Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
Plant labels I’ve seen don’t mention the fact that they require a cooler site with some winter chill and need this chill factor to set fruit. Kiwifruit will bear in a cooler, elevated location like Toowoomba, Mt Tamborine etc. They will not fruit on the coast.