Yes you can propagate kiwi grocery store fruit, but the results will disappoint most growers. The seeds sprout fine and grow into healthy vines. The problem comes years later when you find out your plant makes poor fruit or no fruit at all. Store bought seeds are a gamble that takes years to lose.
Starting kiwi from seed sounds simple but hides a big catch. Seeds do not copy the parent plant like cuttings do. Your new plant may be male with no fruit ever. It may be female with small sour fruit. You can not tell which until it flowers and that takes 7-9 years from seed in most cases.
I tried growing kiwi from seed when I first got into fruit gardening. My plant grew well for six years with strong vines and healthy leaves. Then it finally flowered and I saw nothing but yellow pollen producing male blooms. All that time and care went into a plant that would never make a single fruit for me to eat.
The technical reason for this problem comes down to how kiwi pass on their genes. Seeds mix traits from both parents in random ways. A Hayward fruit may have been crossed with an unknown male nearby. Your seedling gets a shuffle of those genes that rarely matches the tasty fruit you bought at the store.
Problems with Seed Grown Kiwi
- Long wait time: You spend 7-9 years growing a mystery plant before it reveals if it makes fruit or just pollen.
- Random results: Seeds mix genes from two parents so your plant may taste nothing like the fruit you ate.
- Unknown sex: About half of seedlings end up male which means zero fruit no matter how long you wait.
Better Ways to Get Kiwi Plants
- Buy named types: Nursery plants come from cuttings of known vines so you get exact copies with known fruit and sex.
- Take cuttings: If you have access to a good vine you can root 6 inch cuttings in spring for free new plants.
- Graft onto roots: Serious growers graft named types onto hardy rootstock for the best of both parent plants.
If You Still Want to Try Seeds
- Start many: Plant at least 20-30 seeds since many will be male and you need females for fruit production.
- Cold treat first: Seeds need 4-8 weeks in your fridge wrapped in damp paper before they will sprout.
- Wait and hope: Grow your seedlings for years knowing you may end up with all males or poor tasting females.
If you want to grow kiwi from fruit you find at the store treat it as a fun project rather than a path to your own harvest. Enjoy watching the seeds sprout and the vines grow. Just do not count on eating the results. Buy a few named plants from a nursery if you want kiwi fruit in your future.
Cuttings give you plants that match their parent one for one. A cutting from a Hayward female grows into a Hayward female. A cutting from a Tomuri male becomes a Tomuri male. This copy method skips all the waiting and guessing that makes seed grown plants such a gamble.
Most garden centers sell named kiwi types that fruit in 3-4 years instead of the 7-9 years for seeds. The cost may seem higher up front but you save years of care and get known results. Your time has value too and named plants put fruit in your hands years sooner than any seed ever will.
Read the full article: Growing Kiwi: Expert Plan for Home Gardeners
