Fruit · Actinidiaceae
When to plant kiwifruit
An enormous vine needing a serious support and a long season - typically 220 frost-free days to ripen fruit. Male and female plants both required.
First worthwhile crop
Year 4
After planting, not after sowing.
Hardy in USDA zones
7a to 9a
Winter cold sets the limit here, not the calendar.
Frost tolerance
Half hardy
How much cold the plant itself will take.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Nothing about a standing crop is sown to a calendar. Once planted, kiwifruit stay in the ground for years, so the question is not when to sow but whether your winter is survivable and your planting window is open. Both answers come from your frost dates.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 4 after planting.
- Needs roughly 600 chill hours below 7.2°C (45°F)45°F (7.2°C) over winter to set fruit, which rules out the warmest climates.
- Hardy in USDA zones 7a–9a.
Frost tolerance
The dormant vine takes about -12C, but growth starts early and new shoots are killed at -1C, which in a cool climate is what limits it far more than winter cold.
Classified as half-hardy, with damage expected below -12°C (10.4°F)10.4°F (-12°C).