Actinidia is a perennial lignified liana from the Actinidian family. Her homeland is Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. Branched shoots are covered with beautiful leaves, so actinidia can be used for landscaping the garden, especially varieties with variegated foliage. But most of all it is famous for its delicious and healthy fruits. Not everyone knows that the same kiwi is the fruit of one of the plant species. Of course, most varieties of actinidia are small-fruited and not as pubescent, but they are all very tasty. Even an ordinary gardener is quite capable of bringing this culture to the site along with the usual currants and gooseberries.
Plant description
Actinidia is a deciduous perennial with branched shoots. It is nourished by a fibrous superficial rhizome, capable of producing lateral processes up to 1.5-2 m long. The stems remain flexible for a long time and are covered with a gray-brown smooth bark. Young processes are slightly pubescent. Liana braids tree trunks, poles or other supports. In the natural environment, its length reaches 30-50 m, and the thickness is only 2-3 cm.
Whole petiole leaves grow again. Ovate or oval leaf plates with serrated edges are painted red-green. The leaf length is 8-15 cm. Species with variegated foliage are very decorative. It can be a yellow border around the edge or a contrasting pink tip.
Actinidia is a dioecious vine, that is, there are plants exclusively with male flowers or only with female flowers. Small flowers bloom singly or collected in small groups in corymbose inflorescences. They have almost no smell. The buds bloom in June-July, starting at the age of 5-7 years. Male flowers are free of ovaries and have only a bunch of stamens in the center. Female flowers besides stamens with sterile pollen have an ovary. All corollas with a diameter of 1-3 cm are a bell-shaped cup with white or golden petals.
Actinidia is pollinated by wind, bumblebees and bees, after which the fruits ripen on female plants - oblong juicy berries with a thin brown-green skin. This happens in September for three weeks. The surface of the fetus may be smooth or pubescent. Closer to the center in small rows are small black seeds. The size of the fetus is very different. It can be only 1-1.5 cm or almost 8 cm.
Types and varieties of actinidia
In total, there are 75 main species in the genus Actinidia. In addition to them, there are varieties with pronounced decorative or fruiting properties. In Russia, frost-resistant varieties adapted for growth in open ground are used.
Actinidia argument (acute). The largest variety. The length of its vines reaches 36 m, and the diameter of the base of the stem is 15 cm. The shoots are covered with a light brown bark with vertical cracks. Rounded or oval leaves grow up to 16 cm in length. They have a bare dark green surface and small teeth along the edge. Fragrant white-green flowers with a diameter of 1.5-2 cm bloom in July. By September, green oval berries with a diameter of 1.5-3 cm ripen. They have a sugary-sweet taste reminiscent of figs. Varieties:
- Actinidia is autologous. A frost-resistant plant already in mid-September gives the first fruits - juicy cylindrical berries weighing up to 18 g. Plant productivity - up to 12 kg.
- Large-fruited. Drought-resistant and frost-resistant liana gives oval fruits weighing 10-18 g. Under the smooth dark green skin with a rosy barrel hides aromatic honey flesh.
Actinidia is delicious. Curly branched vine up to 9 m long is covered with ovoid petiolate leaves 7-13 cm in length. On young leaves there is a reddish pile. The monoecious plant, bisexual fragrant flowers bloom on it. Buds grow 1-3 in the axils of the leaves. Oblong fruits with a diameter of 5-6 cm are covered with fleecy brown skin. Under it lies a sour-sweet greenish pulp with small black seeds.
Actinidia colomictus. A frost-resistant liana grows 5-10 m long. At the base, the thickness of the stem is about 2 cm. Egg-shaped serrate leaves 7-16 cm long grow on reddish petioles, and are covered with red pile along the veins. Male plants are variegated. In summer, during flowering, the tip of the leaf acquires a whitish-pink color, and later becomes bright crimson. In late autumn, foliage is painted in yellow-pink or red-violet tones. In July, fragrant flowers bloom, and in early September, green fruits ripen 20-25 mm long. Varieties:
- Adam - ornamental deciduous male plant;
- Dr. Shimanovsky - a dioecious plant with pinkish leaves and tasty juicy fruits;
- Clara Zetkin - a female plant produces fragrant, sweet fruits weighing about 3.5 g;
- Vitacola - gives sweet and sour fruits up to 4.5 cm long;
- Gourmet - the plant gives sweet and sour fruits with the aroma of pineapple weighing 4-5.5 g.
Actinidia Giralda. A fairly rare plant, similar to acute actinidia. Its very sweet and rather large fruits are covered with dense emerald skin. Varieties:
- Juliania - cylindrical berries with apple-pineapple aroma and sweet taste weigh 10-15 g;
- Alevtina - barrel-shaped emerald fruits weighing 12-20 g smell like apple, pineapple and wild strawberry at the same time.
Actinidia polygamous. A flexible vine with a height of 4-5 m is covered with oval leaves with a pointed edge. The plant blooms white small flowers, and later gives edible sweet and sour fruits weighing about 3 g.
Seed cultivation
For seed propagation, fresh seeds should be used. They can be bought in a store or obtained from a ripe fruit yourself. Mash the pulp through cheesecloth, then rinse and dry the seeds in a cool, shaded area. Before sowing, preparation is necessary. First, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 4 days. Water is changed daily. Then they are placed in a stocking and immersed for 3 weeks in wet sand with a temperature of + 18 ... + 20 ° C. Weekly stocking is removed and washed. In early January, a container with sand and seeds is buried in a snowdrift or refrigerated for 2 months. Continue to weekly extract and rinse the seeds in the stocking.
After such a long preparation, the seeds are sown in boxes with a mixture of turf land and sand to a depth of 0.5 cm. Already during planting, some seeds will hatch. Shoots will appear within a few days. They are kept at room temperature and in bright ambient light. It is important to spray and water the crops daily. In summer, plants with 3-4 leaves are transplanted into a greenhouse, where they are grown several years before flowering. When the sex of the seedlings is determined, they can be planted in the garden in a permanent place.
Vegetative propagation
Vegetative propagation is pleasant to gardeners for the fact that you can immediately determine the sex of the resulting seedling and not wait for flowering. Also with this method, all varietal characters are retained. The main methods of vegetative propagation:
- Green cuttings. In early summer, annual shoots of 50-100 cm long are cut from the tops of the vine. Pruning is carried out in the morning and put the sprouts in a jar of water. Then each long branch is cut into cuttings of 10-15 cm with 3 leaves. The lower cut is done under the sheet, and the sheet itself is removed. The top cut is 4-5 cm above the sheet. Rooting is done in a greenhouse with moist sand-humus soil. Cuttings are placed at an angle of 60 ° with a distance of 5-10 cm. They are buried to the middle kidney. Seedlings are regularly watered and sprayed 5 times a day. In autumn, the cuttings are sprinkled with fallen leaves. Until next spring, they remain in the same place. The transplant is carried out before the sap flow begins.
- Rooting of lignified cuttings. In late autumn, lignified shoots are cut, tied in small bundles and stored vertically in a sandbox. The temperature should not exceed + 1 ... + 5 ° C. In early spring, they are planted in a greenhouse and begin to water. Care is similar to handling green cuttings.
- Arc layering. When the leaves bloom, the large shoot is tilted and pinned to the ground. A soil layer 10-15 cm high is poured on top and watered. The stem can be fixed anywhere, but the top is left on the surface. By autumn, the shoot will grow its own roots. It is cut and planted separately. You can postpone the transplant until next spring.
Landing and care
Actinidia is planted in early spring or late autumn. Plants prefer loose fertile soil. For each dig a pit 50 cm deep. Gravel or gravel is poured on the bottom. The root neck is buried by 2 cm. The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral, the presence of lime is unacceptable. Peat and compost are added to the soil. After planting, the plants are fertilized with ammonium nitrate, wood ash and superphosphate. The distance between seedlings should be 1-1.5 m.
So that actinidia bears fruit, for every 6-7 female plants one male is planted. All of them should be close to each other so that insects can freely move between plants.
Actinidia does not have a mustache or aerial roots, so from the moment of planting, you need to immediately take care of the support. This can be a fence, wicker wall of the gazebo, arch or other structure.
The plant needs regular watering. It is advisable to water the vine by sprinkling at least once a week. In drought, 6-8 buckets of water are poured weekly under the root. Soils at the roots regularly loosen and remove weeds.
Plants are fed twice a month with mineral complexes with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Fertilizer in the form of granules is scattered on the surface of the earth at the roots.
Pruning is carried out from 4-5 years. You need to regularly thin out the crown and straighten the shoots on the support. Too dense thickets cease to bloom and bear fruit. Pinch the tips to increase branching. At the age of 8-10 years, the plant is rejuvenated. In late autumn, the entire ground part is cut to hemp 40 cm in height.
For the winter, the liana is removed from its support and laid on the ground. From above it is sprinkled with fallen leaves and spruce branches to a height of 20 cm. On the ground itself, put poison from the mice so that they do not damage the plant. In the spring, shelter is removed, sanitary pruning is carried out and the shoots are straightened along the support.
Medicinal properties and contraindications
Actinidia has great benefits. Her berries contain a large amount of ascorbic acid, fatty oils, micro and macro elements. Using them, you can improve the body and strengthen the immune system. Fragrant berries relieve pertussis, scurvy, anemia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, rheumatism, constipation, dizziness, hypertension and fever.
The fruits are eaten fresh and cooked in jams, preserves, jelly, stewed fruit, marmalade. Bark, leaves and flowers also have beneficial properties. Decoctions and oils are prepared from them for internal use, wrapping and therapeutic massage.
Due to the large number of active substances, actinidia is contraindicated in people prone to allergic reactions, suffering from thrombophlebitis, varicose veins, high blood coagulation.
