How to Prune Kiwis (& When to Prune Kiwis)

Kiwi vines are a delightful addition to any garden, but they require a significant amount of care and patience to thrive. In the first year of your kiwi vine’s life, you’ll focus on training its trunk into the correct shape. By the second year, your attention will shift to guiding the side shoots to grow in the desired directions. It’s not until the third year that your kiwi vine will begin to bear fruit, at which point you’ll need to prune the old shoots and canes to encourage new growth. Both male and female kiwi vines require special pruning techniques and should be pruned during different seasons to ensure optimal growth and fruiting.

First Year: Training the Trunk

Kiwi buds appear as small, fuzzy ovals or bulbs on the new vine. These delicate buds can be easily pinched off or removed using trimming scissors. During the first year, it’s crucial to keep just one or two buds to prevent the vines from becoming tangled and twisted, which can hinder growth. As the kiwi vine begins to grow, it will produce numerous shoots. Identify the longest and strongest shoot to serve as the trunk, which will support the side shoots. Avoid training all shoots, as this can lead to entanglement on the growing structure, such as a T-shaped trellis or vertical wall.

Monitor the kiwi vine to ensure it grows straight and does not wrap around the stake. Loosely wrap string around the stake every two weeks for added support, but avoid bundling it too tightly, as this can put unnecessary pressure on the trunk. Even the main shoot, or trunk, may need to be pruned or “topped” if it begins to twist or break. When an old trunk is cut off, select the strongest remaining shoot to train as the new trunk. Removing the weakest shoots creates space for the stronger ones to grow without tangling, increasing the likelihood of fruiting.

Second Year: Training Side Shoots

Once the trunk has made sufficient straight, upward progress and reaches above the wires of your T-shaped trellis or vertical wall, you can begin training the side shoots. These side shoots will eventually become your fruiting shoots. Select two side shoots that are far apart to grow in a “Y” shape, providing ample space for each other. In the first season, prune these side shoots down, a process known as “heading” them back. Clip the thin ends of the side shoots until they are about four inches in diameter. Train your side shoots along the center wire of your trellis to give them room to spread out and fruit.

In the second season, side shoots will begin to grow rapidly. Hang them over the closest wire of your trellis and wrap them in 18–24-inch intervals to prevent them from falling off the wires. Every 8–12 inches, tie any canes to the outer wires of your trellis. During the summer, remove any twisting canes that may wrap around shoots, preventing them from fruiting. In the dormant season, usually early winter, prune your canes and side shoots down until they are at least 0.25 inches in diameter. Your first crop of fruit will begin growing on these pruned canes and side shoots in their third year.

Pruning Male and Female Kiwi Vines

Male kiwi vines produce flowers that, when pollinated, grow into fruit. Allow most of the spring to pass before pruning male kiwi vines to ensure they have fully flowered. After flowering, trim the canes to a length of 5.9–12 inches to provide more surface area, or “flowering wood,” for pollination. Removing dead or diseased wood from male vines during the dormant season helps free up space for new flowers to blossom. Cut off the majority of the wood toward the top of the vine, as it has likely already fruited. Keep any canes or shoots with small bulbs, known as “spurs,” as these are signs of very fruitful wood.

Female kiwi vines also benefit from careful pruning. New wood with spurs can usually be found at the base of female kiwi vines, while older, longer wood may also have spurs. Replacement canes that are far away from the rest will be bare because they have already been cut once to start new growth but will still fruit the next season. Most canes or shoots with heading cuts can be trimmed off, as they have already fruited. Use strong electric hedge trimmers if your vigorous kiwi vines are too strong to cut with manual hedge shears.

In the spring, pruning kiwi vines can be more challenging because they have ripened in the sun and are full of sap, making them difficult to cut. Keep second-year canes if they have grown 18–48 inches past where any fruit grew the previous year. Ensure all first, second, and third-year canes you keep are spaced out on the wires of your trellis to prevent crowding. After fully pruning your female kiwi vine, you should be left with about 30-40 canes that will fruit the next season.

Male kiwi vines are known for their vigorous growth, producing many shoots that can crowd the plant and block new growth. Typically, male kiwi vines are pruned in the summer to allow them a chance to pollinate the kiwifruit. Trim away any other flowers closely gathered around your kiwi vine, as these compete for the attention of bees, which are essential for pollination.

With the right care and upkeep, your kiwi vine can fruit for years, and possibly even decades, providing you with a bountiful harvest of delicious kiwis. Happy gardening! 🌱