Kiwifruit – Female – Dexter

Plant family: Actinidiaceae

Plant origin: Southern China.

Fruit description: Female – Dexter - Suitable for subtropical and warmer areas, Dexter is a large sweet hairy fruit. The fruit is brown and hairy when ripe. Inside is a pretty bright green flesh with tiny edible black seeds. The fruits centre core is white. The flavour is sweet and very refreshing, the texture is luscious and juicy.

Flowers: The Kiwi Fruit flowers are fragrant, white to yellow. The Male and Female flowers occur on separate plants.

Growing conditions: Female – Dexter suitable for subtropical and warmer areas, Dexter is a large sweet hairy fruit. The Kiwi Fruit is a deciduous climbing plant with large roundish leaves about 100 mm in diameter. It can tolerate frost and is a vigorous grower. It needs a trellis, fence, wall or pergola to grow on and to make picking the fruit easy. Kiwi Fruit needs light well-drained soil and plenty of fertiliser as the plant is a heavy feeder. The roots are shallow so the plant can dry out easily. Keep it well mulched. Kiwi Fruit grow well in coastal areas, mild inland areas and subtropics.

Uses: Eat kiwi fruit fresh, with or without the skin. It looks spectacular as a garnish on a cheese or fruit platter, lovely on a pavlova or fresh fruit tart. It is wonderful in fruit salad. It goes well with other fruits and yummy with yoghurt, cream or ice-cream. It can be pureed for juice or a smoothie. It makes good jams and pickles.

Medicinal uses:

Pollination requirements: Separate Male and Female plants are needed to pollinate so the Female plant bears fruit. A male plant can pollinate up to 10 female plants.

Harvest time Harvest when the fruit has a slight give when gently pressed. Unripe fruit is very hard and can be ripened off the tree. The fruit ripens in late Autumn to early Spring. The fruit keeps well after picking.

Plant relatives

Special features:

Grown by method: Grafted Pot size: 175mm

Plant growing Height and Width for pots or in the ground planting: Grows to 2.5 metres high Planted in a Pot. Grows 5 metres long if Planted in the Ground.

Shipping plant pot or planter bag size: 175mm