How to Tell Male and Female Kiwifruit Trees Apart, and Do Male Trees Need Grafting to Bear Fruit?

The prospects for kiwifruit cultivation are fairly promising, and more and more rural entrepreneurs are joining the kiwifruit growing industry. But for newcomers, mastering kiwifruit cultivation techniques is an essential prerequisite. For example, how do you tell male and female kiwifruit trees apart? Do male trees need grafting to bear fruit?

1. How do you tell male and female kiwifruit trees apart?

1. Look at the characteristics after flowering

(1) Flowering time: Under normal conditions, the male flowers of kiwifruit generally open earlier than the female flowers.

(2) Appearance of the flowers: Male flowers have pollen as soon as they open, but the flowers are smaller, while female kiwifruit trees have larger flowers, and at the beginning of flowering there are no obvious traces of pollen on the petals. In addition, female flowers have less fuzz than male flowers, and their leaves are larger than those of male flowers.

2. Look at the bud eyes

The bud eyes of male kiwifruit mostly appear in a state of “protruding outward”, while the bud eyes of female kiwifruit mostly “sunken inward”. However, this refers to the majority of cases; a very few special varieties and mutation cases are exceptions.

3. Look at the branches

The distance between buds on the branches of male kiwifruit is relatively narrow, while the distance between buds on female kiwifruit trees is larger.

4. Look at leaf size

Generally, the leaves of male kiwifruit trees are “thick, small, and round”, while the leaves of female kiwifruit trees are “thin, large, and pointed”.

2. Do male kiwifruit trees need grafting to bear fruit?

Kiwifruit is a dioecious fruit tree. If there are only male trees, it cannot bear fruit, and although female trees alone can set fruit, the fruit set quality is poor. So nowadays, when many people cultivate kiwifruit artificially, they plant a certain proportion of male trees in the orchard as pollinizer trees so that the female trees can be pollinated and set fruit.

But male trees are not completely incapable of setting fruit; they just need to be “grafted”. In fact, grafting is one of the most common propagation methods in kiwifruit cultivation, and it can be done either by “approach grafting” or by “approach grafting” and “cutting grafting”.

Notes on grafting male kiwifruit trees:

1. Grafting time: Just to ensure the survival rate, the grafting time should be chosen carefully. Usually, late February to early March each year is the most suitable.

2. Grafting position: Low grafting is not recommended, because kiwifruit grafted this way has weaker cold resistance and disease resistance. It is best to graft high at about 1 m above the ground.

3. Wax sealing of the top: If grafting onto young trees, it is best to first seal the top of the cut scion with melted wax before grafting.

4. Management after grafting: After grafting, be sure to water in time, control the temperature well, and prepare to prevent a “late spring cold snap”. For example, you can put a small plastic bag over the graft site to keep it warm and protect it from the cold. Finally, when new shoots have grown to about 50 cm, unbind them in time.

In general, if you buy seedling kiwifruit plants to grow, then you must buy some female trees and some male trees, so that pollination and fruit set are favored!