hiya. well i have had great fun growing kiwi the last couple of years. i live in shropshire in the uk and it can get very cold. -12c last winter.

i grow my kiwi (one male and one female) up a south facing brick wall to get some residual warmth from the bricks. you can get a self fertile kiwi, thus eliminating the pair!! last winter it got very cold as i said above. all the leaves fell off my kiwi and the main stem seemed to die and go rigid and woody. I cut the female down to the ground but left the male. Thats all i did. no mulching or plastic sheeting or similar.

Come spring, the male started to sprout new leaves from the old "dead" stem and the female started to sprout new growth and leaders from the stem at the ground.

After further research at my local garden centre, they inform me that kiwi's only fruit on stems over a year old (like grapes) and that i will need to prune back leaders once i have the shape i want as they may get to over 100ft long!!!

The female plant hasn't developed as well as the male plant this year and i think that this is my fault for hacking her to the ground. This year i will leave well alone, and hopefully get some nice fruit next year when the female is mature. The male is currently trying to flower so i should get some fruit if the two plants get their timing right!!

The trick is going to be setting and ripening the fruit in our short summers...............