If you’d like to grow your own fruit at home but have limited space, why not try growing your fruits vertically? These fruit plants are fairly quick to establish and usually start fruiting sooner than fruit trees.
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| A Well-Trellised Kiwi Vine Plant |
Before we move to our list of best fruit vines or climbing fruit plants, it's especially important to know that there are several types of trellises:
1. Obelisk trellises: This is a tower-like structure traditionally set up in garden pots.
2. Cattle trellises: This is a tall and wide arch made of sturdy wire mesh.
3. A-frames: This provide support on both sides of the A-shaped structure and can go on a raised bed or directly on the ground.
4. Wall trellises: These ones go directly on garden beds and are made against a wall.
5. Arch trellises: They connect from the garden bed to another garden bed or anywhere else in your garden as long as it is attached to a garden pot.
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Climbing Fruits
For the climbing fruits, the big three are the Passionfruit, the Kiwifruit and Grape. And we also have others like the cantaloupe, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries among many others. They all do require proper care but they will reward you with a bountiful of fruit in a short amount of time.
Here are 9 fruit vines or climbing fruits that are very easy to grow and help to maximize your garden space and create your own little fruit garden or orchard at home, or in your big commercial fruit farm.
1. The Dragon Fruit
Pitaya is a stunningly attractive plant that features large flowers and a melon-like fruit. Berries, the most spectacular of the dessert fruits, necessitate attention, as they will transform into the rampant monsters of your garden if neglected.
In order to prevent them from invading other areas of the garden, they require a sunny, airy location with some form of edging. A trellis is a suitable choice, as it enables the long canes to be bound up, thereby facilitating improved circulation that will mitigate the negative consequences of excessive humidity. It is highly recommended that some shade be provided when thriving in the subtropics.
2. Grapes
The ideal weather conditions will cause grapes to grow prolifically, and they are also great climbers. They can withstand both hot and cold weather, but they really shine in sunny locations. Growing grape vines can shade a small to medium area at first, but as they mature, they can completely engulf any building.
Pruning the vine on a regular basis is key to managing its development and harvesting fruit of excellent quality. In most cases, low-quality fruit is the result of overproduction.
3. Kiwi
Another fruit that grows on a vine is kiwi, which is a hardy climber, kiwi vines sprawl and eventually cover the trellis, casting a heavy shadow. The most enjoyable aspect of growing kiwis on a trellis is seeing them mature from little green gems into big, fuzzy fruits!
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In addition to six sunlight hours every day, they require wet, well-drained soil and a strong trellis in the dry weather conditions. Pollination requires male cultivars, specifically one male plant for every six to eight female plants. Because various groups bloom at different times, it is imperative that males and females belong to the same group. The ideal length of trellis for female vines is 6-8 feet per plant.
4. Passionfruit
Passionfruit vines are vigorous climbers that produce delicious fruits and stunning flowers known as passifloras or passion flowers! If you need all-round cover then go with the passionfruit.
Passionfruit thrives in warm climates but can grow in cooler regions under proper care. Like grapes and kiwi, they make a lot of shade and need constant pruning.
5. Blackberries
Blackberries are tolerant of most soils, but won’t tolerate saturated winter soils. They also need trellises to prevent them from becoming overgrown, untamed bushes! They need full sun to produce high-quality fruit and harvest in the dry season or when they reach a black or deep purple color. The trellises make harvesting season easier because they make the crops more accessible, prevent back pain and reduce contact with thorns.
6. Raspberries
Raspberries also love climbing trellises!
Plant raspberries in early spring and harvest in summer when the fruits look plump and deep red. Raspberries need full sun, well-drained soil, regular pruning, and a trellis to prevent them from sprawling on the ground and overtaking horizontal garden space.
Plant raspberries and blackberries very shallowly, barely cover the roots. Planting too deeply usually leads to failure.
7. Blueberries
Blueberries are shallow, fibrous rooted plants. To grow well, they need;
Organic rich soil- work in rotted compost, sawdust (not cedar) or bark mulch to improve the soil, and this is best done by amending a whole area to a depth of about 6 inches rather than amending planting holes. Keep the beds clean to avoid competition from grass or weeds. They are shallow rooted plants and cannot compete with other plants for water or nutrients.
Irrigation or consistent moisture is needed even for established blueberries during drought. Drought can stunt the plants and affect future fruit bud formation.
A minimum of 6 sun hours is necessary for sweet fruits, whereas the less the sun will mean later ripening and fruits that are more tart or bitter in taste. Ensure to space out highbush varieties. Dwarf varieties can be planted closer together.
Plant at least 2 varieties for pollination unless they are self-pollinating. Blueberries are both wind and bee pollinated, so planting your bushes fairly close to each other instead of on either sides of a building can help greatly in pollination.
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Fertilize with fertilizers that are formulated for acid loving plants, and you can prefer to go organic. Or use conventional fertilizers that are available for this group of plants; sometimes they are labelled for other acid loving plants such as rhododendrons. Cottonseed meal is also a good organic fertilizer for acid loving plants.
8. Gooseberries/Currants
Miniature berries that can be either sweet or sour, gooseberries can be green or red in color.
Both culinary and dessert gooseberries are delicious, but the sour ones are best used in baked goods and preserves, while the sweet ones are perfect for snacking on their own. You can let gooseberries grow wild into a bush, or you can train them to climb a fence or trellis. Planting them in containers is another option.
Because of their ability to pollinate themselves, gooseberry bushes only require a single plant to yield fruit.
It is hardy in most soil types, except in soils that are too damp. Very sun-tolerant and requires only four to five hours of sunshine every day to bear fruit. Renewing the plant's fruit production requires removing or thinning down older canes. Sow seeds 4 to 6 feet apart.
9. Strawberries
Strawberries need sandy, well-drained soil, amended with compost. Keep the beds well-watered in dry weather.
Remove the first set of flowers to encourage root establishment. Allow one runner between each plant if planted on the wider spacing and cut off all other runners.
Benefits of Trellising Climbing Fruits
1. Saves Space in the Garden
A trellis allows you to preserve precious garden space by growing climbing plants vertically. This is especially helpful for small gardens, balconies or rooftop gardens where space is limited. When you train your plants to grow up a trellis, you make better use of the available vertical space and you can grow more plants in a compact area.
2. Improves Plant Health
Trellising helps to improve plant health by providing better airflow and exposure to sunlight. The increased airflow reduces the growth of fungal diseases like damping-off and powdery mildew, and the enhanced sunlight exposure ensures that the leaves and fruit receive adequate light for growth and development.
3. Reduces Pests
Using a trellis helps to keep your plants off the ground, which reduces the risk of annoying pests damaging your plants.
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4. Increases Yield
Trellising plants can increase their yield by providing support for the vines and giving the plants plenty of space to grow and develop properly.
5. Easier to Harvest
It’s much easier to harvest the fruits and vegetables when they’re grown on a trellis. You don’t have to bend over or reach into the dense foliage to pick your produce – it’ll be easily accessible and visible, so the harvesting process will be a lot quicker and more enjoyable.
6. Provides Shade to other Plants
Trellising can also provide much-needed shade to the plants growing below them, especially during the dry weather months.
7. Creates a beautiful scenery in the Garden
A trellis can add visual appeal to your garden and turn an ordinary garden area into an eye-catching display.
At Richfarm Kenya, we propagate healthy and quality climbing fruit plants. You can order your choice of climbing fruit plants for your garden or fruit orchard.
Contact us at 0724698357/0723213602. Also on our socials; Facebook, Linkedln, X, Youtube and TikTok.
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