Kiwifruit

WHAT IS KIWIFRUIT?

A kiwifruit is a delicious fruit recently introduced to BC from New Zealand. The plant is native to the mountain sides of China and was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s. It has thin brown fuzzy skin, emerald green flesh and a distinctive ring of small, black edible seeds. It is about the size of a chicken egg.

WHERE IS KIWIFRUIT PRODUCED IN BC?

In BC, kiwifruit are grown almost exclusively on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the area with the most moderate temperatures in the province. Kiwifruit plants can be killed by cold weather, even when they are dormant in the winter. Tests in BC and New Zealand show that a kiwifruit plant is killed if the temperature drops lower than -18°C.

HOW MUCH KIWIFRUIT DO WE PRODUCE?

Before 1987, there was no commercial kiwifruit production in BC In 1987, BC produced 18,000 kg and now we produce 450,000 kg of kiwifruit a year. This is about 6,500,000 kiwifruit.

HOW IS KIWIFRUIT PRODUCED?

Kiwifruit are grown on vines. The vines are dioecious which means a vine is either male or female. Both male and female vines have to be grown. The female vines produce the fruit but the male blossoms are needed to cross pollinate the female blossoms. In commercial operations there is 1 male vine to 6 to 8 female vines. It takes 7 years for a kiwifruit vine to mature from seed. A mature vine can produce over 1000 kiwifruit a year.

Kiwifruit require well drained soil. To start a commercial operation, dormant vines are planted in March or April. As the vines start to grow they are pruned and trained along a trellis system. The trellises must be strong because kiwifruit vines exert tremendous pressure when they are loaded with fruit. The new shoots, which grow each year off the previous season's wood, produce the fruit. Blossoming occurs in mid-June for about 10 days. Kiwifruit need to be irrigated during the summer months and a mature vine can use up to 20L of water a day. Kiwifruit are harvested by hand during October and early November. Ripeness is determined by using a hand held instrument (a refractometer), which determines the level of sugar in the fruit. When the fruit on average reach 7% sugar the entire field is harvested. At this point they are still hard and too sour to eat but they are picked, graded and packed into cartons and kept in cold storage where further ripening occurs naturally.

WHAT DOES KIWIFRUIT LOOK LIKE WHEN I USE IT?

Most kiwifruit grown in BC are eaten fresh. Kiwifruit are good for us. They have more vitamin C than a similar sized orange, more potassium than a banana and more fibre than a cup of bran flakes. Kiwifruit can also be used in jams and jellies and fresh kiwifruit applied to meat works very well as a meat tenderizer.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE KIWIFRUIT LEAVES THE FARM?

After the kiwifruit are harvested, they are put into cold storage where they slowly continue to ripen. When they are to be eaten, they are removed from storage, ripened and sold to consumers to be eaten as the fruit soften.

WHAT CHALLENGES DOES THE KIWIFRUIT PRODUCER FACE?

Since kiwifruit need a long season to ripen, producers are looking for ways to control the weather conditions. Young plants are wrapped to stay warm in the winter and all plantings have overhead sprinklers to prevent frost damage.

WHO'S INVOLVED IN PRODUCING KIWIFRUIT?

• Kiwifruit grower
• Pickers
• Packers
• Cold storage operators
• Farm advisors
• Supply companies

Interesting Fact About Kiwifruit:

The consumer demand for kiwifruit has increased dramatically since 1985. More than 10 times as many kiwifruit are bought now as then. BC is the only place in Canada where kiwifruit is commercially grown.

Contacts and other resources:

 

BCMAL - Tree Fruit Information

InfoBasket: Your Portal to Agri-Food Information on the Internet

Kiwifruit Growers Association of BC