cocktail kiwi (Issai) leaf curl and brown spots

REMF33

Hello

I fairly recently bought a cocktail kiwi plant and it went in the ground about two weeks ago. I just noticed that its upper leaves are curling and there are some little holes and brown pigmentation on other leaves. Any suggestions? I didn't plant it out as quickly as would have been ideal. It was planted with a few handfuls of fresh potting compost. 

BobTheGardener

Hail damage?

REMF33

I don't think so. But lots or rain and wind in south London this week.

REMF33

It looks even worse a couple of months on I fear it's dying.

BobTheGardener

Any chance of a photo as it is now?  If more damage, it may now be more evident as to the cause.  Looking back at the originals, there may be leaf miners or other small pests.  I also recently discovered that some Actinidia species are attractive to cats (in the same way catnip is) so if the damage looks physical (like leaves being bitten or clawed), that is another possibility:https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/cat-tastic-kiwi/

neilbradburn

Hi REMF33,
I too am trying to get this vine established. I have 2 - 1 in my allotment and 1 in my front garden. Both of them are looking quite ragged, with the one in my front garden having brown-edged leaves. I'm thinking this is likely due to me not watering enough as the plant is establishing and that it will eventually find its feet as we go into Autumn. It's been very hot, dry and windy here of late so I think it's had its work cut out :-) I gather other vines - eg. passiflora - can look a bit ragged until they get going.  Please keep us updated and I will do the same.

REMF33

Sorry I did not check this thread earlier. I have given up on it rather. It's nto really done much since August other than lose some more leaves and the fruit, which didn't really ripen. It's not dead though. I guess just wait and see what happens next year. It's not in the sunniest spot. It's next to red and blackcurrant bushes that do ok (ish).
The leaf lower down may even be realtively new growth?
I have no unshacked it from its plastic tags.

Fairygirl

I don't know anything about them, but I don't think being trussed up tightly to a cane will be doing it any good. All those little bits of plastic should have been removed on planting. If they need support, you need several canes, or a proper support, and then tie each stem in as they grow - just like peas or similar. 

REMF33

It wasn't tight, Fairygirl. One could get a couple of fingers in the space between the tape and the stems. Besides, it started wilting as soon as I put it in. I don't think the tape is the issue, but in case it is, as I said (or would have, were it not for the typo and the missing 'w' ), it's been removed now
If it survives, it can have the run of a 30ft long fence with trellising.
It could just be yet another Suttons exotic that just doesn't really work in the UK outdoors. Still waiting for fruit (that ripens before dropping off) on my Chillean Guava plants some years on...

REMF33

Sorry to be a cocktail kiwi bore but... I was delighted to see, earlier this week, that my cocktail kiwi, which I thought might have died, had lots of new green leaf growth on it. But I just looked now, and all the leaves have curled up and died. What's going on?! Something to do with the soil? It's just normal London clay. Something it's next to? (Red currant.)
Or could an air frost have done this? (Lost all the leaves on my fig tree two years ago due to this, and come to think of it not had any figs since ) I have no idea if we have had one or not.
V disappointed.

BobTheGardener

Hi @REMF33 Kiwi leaves are easily damaged by air-frosts and my 'normal' kiwi (grown outdoors) are only budding at the moment.  The new leaves usually get hit by frost at some point but always go on to grow new leaves.  They need to be grown against a south-facing wall (which will retain heat) to do well in the UK, in my experience.