How you can tell a male kiwi plant from a female kiwi plant?
Kiwi plants are dioecious, meaning that male flowers occur on one plant, and female flowers on another plant. One sure fire way to know which you have is to observe which plant bears fruit; that most certainly will be the female plant.
However, not having fruit does not guarantee that you have a male plant, as many factors can prevent fruit from forming on a female kiwi in our Michigan climate. The truly scientific method of determining male or female is to use a hand lens to inspect the flowers. A male plant will have flowers that have no stigmas, or have undeveloped stigmas. A female plant will have flowers with ovaries that are prominent and with stigmas, but without stamens. If you do not have a diagram of flower parts and actual flowers to inspect, the best approach with a kiwi is to purchase your plants from a nursery that has identified the particular plant as male or female. Be sure to grow at least 1 male plant for each 8 female plants in close proximity to ensure fruiting.
If you have the opportunity to visit the 4H Children’s Garden in East Lansing on the campus of Michigan State University, be sure to see the large and vigorous hardy kiwi on a large, sturdy trellis in the amphitheater garden area. Sorry, I don’t know whether it is male or female, so take a hand lens with you if you visit while it is blooming this spring. For a virtual tour of the 4H Children’s Garden on the Internet go to http://4hgarden.msu.edu.