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Unexpected kiwi plant

prsjerseyprsjersey Posts: 4
in Plants
My neighbour has a kiwi plant growing over an arbor that runs parallel to our dividing fence. About a month ago I noticed several small kiwi plants growing up in my lawn about twenty feet from his plant. I can only assume the plant has underground runners? I have no idea how to grow kiwi. I would like to try to grow one of these but it is in totally the wrong place. I live on the south coast on England and the neighbours kiwi seem to do well. We have heavy clay soil. Any suggestions on what to do next?

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  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    Try digging one out - you will soon see if it is attached to an underground runner and if it has any of its own roots.  As long as it does have some small roots attached, you can just pot it up and grow it on for a year before planting somewhere suitable (south or west-facing, ideally against a wall as they aren't fully hardy in the UK.)
    Do you know if your neighbour's plant produces fruit, or is it purely ornamental?
    I have several grown from seeds of supermarket fruit which are extremely vigorous with large leaves (25x15cm.)  Those never even flower here, so I grow them purely as ornamentals, but they are capable of sending an underground runner that far.
    However, the self-pollinating varieties sold for growing kiwi fruit at home have smaller leaves and are much less vigorous, so I'd be surprised if one of those could send a runner that far.  Any chance of a photo or two?
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • prsjerseyprsjersey Posts: 4
    Thank you for your comments. We only moved into our bungalow last year, but the neighbour tells me he has had lots of edible fruit. He did give the plant a big prunning earlier this year so it has more light now, I wondered if that promoted a growth spurt in our direction. I'll try and get some pics before the rain starts and will post them.
  • prsjerseyprsjersey Posts: 4
    The kiwi growing in the neighbours garden
    The kiwi in my garden.  You can see the distance  the plant has travelled. 3 metres to the fence plus a metre on the other side.. 
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    Yes, it looks like it has! :)
    I had some difficulty removing one when I changed the layout of part of the garden.  I could only dig down about 60cm but removed every trace of root.  Two years later it popped-up again in the same place, so I don't think you'll have any problem with it rooting if you dig it up and cut it from the runner, then pot it up.  Another shoot will likely grow from that runner in the future once this one has been cut away, so you may get more than one chance.  :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • prsjerseyprsjersey Posts: 4
    OK, it looks like I need to get onto this before I get overun by kiwi. I could have worse problems! Thanks Bob.
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