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Grower Research Successful hardy kiwi as a low-impact, high value sustainable crop can provide farmers an alternative to increase farm income and diversification, increase employment via fresh fruit and value added markets, and offers a crop grown without pesticide usage thus eliminating health risk, land, and water pollution. Workshops have been conducted for both Penn State University, and Cornell University. We also sponsored the Soil Health Renewability Seminar sponsored by the Pocono NE Resource Conservation & Development Council and Bloomsburg University as well as hosting prospective growers from the United States, Canada, and Chile.
Research Projects in the works Cornell University Is currently conducting multi-cultivar hardy kiwi vine trials in New York.
Cornell Small Fruit Workers Summer Tour Bill Turechek, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Geneva Several Cornell faculty, extension specialists, research technicians and students traveled last week on a tour of small fruit farms in central Pennsylvania. The tour was arranged and hosted by Kathy Demchak, Senior Extension Specialist at Pennsylvania State University. This is the third consecutive year in which a regional, small fruit tour for Cornell small fruit workers was held. There are essentially three reasons why we have these tours. First, is to learn about new and exciting opportunities in the production of small fruit crops. Second, because many of us are called regularly on to farms to diagnose a problem, we seek out both common and uncommon problems, namely disease, insect, or nutritional ailments, to help us sharpen our field diagnostic skills. Third, and perhaps most important, these tours give us the opportunity to form good working relationships with other small fruit workers and growers across the Northeast. Our next stop was Kiwi Korners (http://www.kiwiberry.com/index.html), owned and operated by David Jackson and Holly Laubach. David and Holly have an impressive 14 acres dedicated to the commercial development and production of hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta). Kiwi Korners was founded in 1987 and, over the last 15 years, they have grown and tested a number of varieties and have experimented with different planting systems. Hardy kiwi is a slow-growing, difficult plant to cultivate, but as you can see from the pictures, it appears that Dave and Holly have got it down. Currently, they are working to establish markets, and are producing educational material about hardy kiwi for the consumer. If hardy kiwi is crop that you would be interested in learning more about, I certainly recommend that you contact David or Holly for advice. The link to contact Dr. Marvin Pritts is http://www.hort.cornell.edu/pritts/ Penn State University Kathy Demchak, PSU Extension Specialist, is currently conducting hardy kiwi vine trials in high tunnels with our Passion Popper variety.
David Jackson, Kathy Demchak, and Jeff Mizer - PSU Extension Agent - Snyder Co. Bloomsburg University Dr. George Davis and graduate student Jennifer Kruk are currently conducting DNA mapping research of hardy kiwi varieties. We are hopeful that this project will result in the advantage of defining the sex of a vine long before flower, and possibly the ability to distinguish individual cultivars.
Dr. George Davis Miss Jennifer Kruk Our SARE Grant Kiwi Korners completed a SARE grant entitled "Hardy Kiwi Pollenation and Production" in 2001. This grant addresses the issues of successful pollenation in a commercial kiwi arbor, and includes such considerations as mechanical vs. biological pollenation techniques, flowering schedules of both male and female cultivars, and measuring the vigor of male cultivars through pollen viability testing, the density of flower production, and new growth characteristics. This grant research offers a foundation of knowledge including vigorous, viable plant material with matched flowering schedules, and which supplemental methods, individually or combined, would be cost effective and increase and/or achieve successful pollenation. We have posted our SARE Grant "Final Report" here onsite to share our research results. |
