How to Grow Hardy Kiwi in Containers

Fill the container halfway with growing medium. Wet the growing medium helping it settle in the pot and forcing out air pockets. Release the hardy kiwifruit from its nursery container and place the plant in the container’s center. Use your fingers to gently disentangle the roots, if necessary and spread them out in the pot.

Fill the container with growing medium, leaving about 1 inch of room at the top of the pot to keep the medium from overflowing the container when you water the plant. Pat the growing medium down lightly and add more if needed. Water the plant thoroughly.

Insert the trellis or T-bar support into the pot for the vine to climb. A T-bar support consists of a vertical post with a horizontal crosspiece forming the top of the T shape. Loosely tie the central stem to the support with the string or a twist tie.

Place the container in a sunny spot. Hardy kiwifruit needs full sun to produce the best fruit crops. Hardy kiwi requires about 150 frost-free days, so keep the container indoors until all threat of frost has passed. Hardy kiwifruit also needs 100 chilling hours annually, which means it needs to spend 100 hours in temperatures below 45 F during the dormant period.

Water kiwifruit frequently if you leave it outdoors in the summer, especially in arid climates. Keep the growing medium evenly moist, but not wet. If the leaves begin drooping or turning brown at the edges, check the pot to be sure the growing medium is not too dry.

Fertilizing the plant in the early spring encourages growth. Use a nitrogen-rich fertilizer or a fertilizer formulated for citrus or avocado trees. If you use a granular fertilizer, water the plant thoroughly after drizzling the fertilizer around the base of the vine. Fertilize the plant again in early summer.

Pruning every few weeks during the growing season keeps the plant vigorous and productive. Cut the plant back to one vertical shoot the first year to form the trunk. In the second growing season, prune all but two strong-side branches near the top of the trellis and train them to grow horizontally. Cut these two horizontal branches in the second winter so they each have 12 to 18 buds. Prune the hardy kiwifruit vine annually in winter every year thereafter, removing dead wood and keeping fruiting branches from tangling together. Good air circulation is essential for good growth.