Need some gardening help: kiwis

[Bugbear]

I don't grow them, they don't do well here, but my information says they should be slightly soft when ripe; there should be a fruity smell to them; and they will get ripe if you pick them a little soon. Fruits like this give off ethylene and they will ripen each other if they are together. but you can also make them all over-ripen. You might taste one to see if it is sweet.

Looks like the fruit grows on one-year-old wood, and they should be pruned like a grape vine; those I do grow. They also require a male and female plant, if I remember correctly, so keep that in mind if there are plants that do not produce fruits; don't get rid of all of those.

You should be able to prune them way back, leaving some one-year-old growth, in the winter when they go dormant. I suppose, if you have too many, you could cut half of them back all the way to the ground and let them grow back over the next year.

I'm still looking into fertilizer, but a balanced fertilizer in a low aplication probably wouldn't hurt. Or if a kiwi grower wants to override my advice, even better.

Hope that makes sense, and helps.

* Here you go:
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/kiwifruit.html

This information on cultivating them looks pretty good, and not too complicated. Don't worry about the varioties etc.