Golden kiwi, Actinidia chinensis

 By now I have fruited three different golden (yellow) kiwi accessions. My oldest female is the result of the grafts I made in 2016. The scions came from a member of Santa Clara Valley (SCV) chapter of CRFG. Someone brought a male and a female cuttings of golden kiwi for one of the regular meetings at Prusch Park.  These ones I keep under "SCV golden female" and "SCV golden male" names.  They both are grafted onto the same Vincent female of fuzzy kiwi.

Later, in the same year, I came across the seeds harvested from a yellow kiwi with red center.  I planted 14 seedlings in 2017. A number of males and one female bloomed in 2019, but no fruits were made that year. In 2020, two females bloomed and both produced fruit. None had red center, but both are exceptionally sweet.  I was not planning on releasing the material from them this season, as I wanted to evaluate them better. I am releasing them early, as both fruits seems to be better than the "SCV golden female". I do not have data on productivity. Keep in mind that these are EXPERIMENTAL and all I have is the observation of few fruits in one season! These females probably need their own male.  I do not know if SCV male will pollinate them, but their blooming times overlap.  They all bloomed in early April in Vacaville, California. 

SCV golden male and female

The fruits are very late, December harvest.  They are good, but not as complex as the ones we get from Zespri kiwi packs.

They still have some fuzz on the immature and developing fruits.

Female flowers

Male flowers

EXPERIMENTAL seedlings

The foliage is very ornamental with a lot of red colors in the developing shoots. The amount of red color in the foliage varies between seedlings.  Some male plants had pink flower petals. 

EXPERIMENTAL male flowers

EXPERIMENTAL female flowers

EXPERIMENTAL "Early Female #1" fruit. Now called "October Sunrise"

I only had one fruit this year, it ripened in mid-October and was exceptionally sweet and flavorful.  It is small in size and fuzz-less when ripe.

EXPERIMENTAL "Late Female #2" Now called November Sunset"

I had 5 fruits on this plant, but I started picking them early, and the first 4 I picked were not ready.  The last one picked in late November was kept for too long on my kitchen counter and shriveled.  Never the less, it turned out to be an exceptionally sweet and flavorful fruit.  The flesh seems to be greener than #1 and the fruit seems to have more fuzzy skin.

Developing fruits of #2