Brought kiwi berry and razzleberry plants from Latvia to USA but seem dying

[fruehling]

Hello all,

I came here because I read many threads and everyone here seems incredibly knowledgeable and helpful.

I just spent a few weeks in Latvia and decided to bring both a male and female kiwi berry plant and a razzleberry (hybrid wild strawberry/raspberry/blackberry) plant back with be. To get it through Customs, I had to remove all the soil and wrap with wet paper towels.

It was about 48 hours before I was able to get them into pots with Miracle-Gro moisture control soil, and watered with Miracle-Gro Quick Start transplant solution and water. After which I put the pots into a nice sunny part of the yard.

Importantly, I am VERY new to gardening so please be kind.

The plants were in the following conditions when potted (the roots were all still very moist and looked great):

Razzle - fair to good with some of the green growth yellowing
Male Kiwi berry - good to great with almost no leaf wilting
Female Kiwi berry - very poor to poor with 80% of leaves wilting or dry completely

I decided that it may be a bad idea to be outside, so I put them in a sunny room. After another 48 hours the condition is about the same for the male, the female is in slightly worse condition, and the razzle seems to have all dry leaves.

I hope I haven't killed them off completely.

My question is, what can I do to stimulate them to survive? Would notching help the female? Should I remove the dead leaves? Will new growth come out of the branches or from the ground? Have I set back the life of these plants?

Like I said, I am very new to this, so please help. I will do whatever I can to help them. Here are some images of what I've got now.


Female

Male

Razzle

[WendyC]

They are dying off as they don't have enough roots to support the top growth. They would be better off outside and in the shade while the plants have a chance to recover from their ordeal! Keep the compost moist but not waterlogged as you need air in the soil as well for the new fine root hairs to grow. You could mist them or if you have large enough plastic bags you could make a mini greenhouse over them to stop the leaves from drying out too fast. Put the bag over the top, an elastic band (or string) around the top and blow inside to keep the bag off the plant. You could also prune the plants back. They'll resprout when the roots have established. Good luck.

[fruehling]

Thanks for your response! Are you certain about not enough roots? When I removed the dirt, I tried to save all the root system. Oddly the female seemed to have only huge thick roots, while the male had only hair like small roots. Maybe I accidentally removed the fine roots from the female?

By pruning the plants back, do you mean to remove all the dead/dry leaves, or actually cutting the branches, or both?

By resprout, do you mean out of the ground, or off the established branches?

The weather is pretty hot here right now, are the better off in the heat, or in the house, even in your mini greenhouse idea either way?

Thank you so much for your help! By dying off, I hope you mean that they will make it once they grow enough roots.

[WendyC]

It's the fine root hairs which will have been damaged. They shrivel up very quickly despite your attempts to keep them moist. If it is cooler in the house then yes keep them in the house, but out of the sun. I would cut the whole plant back by about half. The raspberry hybid should resprout from below soil level. The kiwi I'm couldn't say but pruning won't kill it. Can you add your location to your profile?

[fruehling]

Thank you again for your prompt help. I have taken off all the dry leaves (90%) and cut back all dry branches from brazzle.

All leaves had to be removed from female kiwi and i pruned down quite a few branches. Interestingly they all were moist and green inside which I guess is a good sign? I tried making some notches just above a couple of the dormant buds as suggested here:
Notch Dormant Buds So They Bear Fruit
I hope that I can coax new branches there.

[marchogaeth]

Don't try to do too much at once. Give them a chance to recover like Wendy says. If you keep giving them a shock they will give up. Everything with plants (except dying) happens much more slowly than you think it will/should do.

[zazen999]

Aye, just put them in a non sunny place and let them be.

[fruehling]

All good advice. Now that they are pruned and dead leaves removed, I'll just let them sit in the window of the dark side of the house. Shall I just water when the soil seems dry? The Miracle Gro quick start for transplanting says to repeat every 7 days. Do you all suggest to just let them recover on their own? Did I make a mistake putting them outside in the sun that first day?

[zazen999]

All good advice. Now that they are pruned and dead leaves removed, I'll just let them sit in the window of the dark side of the house. Shall I just water when the soil seems dry? The Miracle Gro quick start for transplanting says to repeat every 7 days. Do you all suggest to just let them recover on their own? Did I make a mistake putting them outside in the sun that first day?

Stop. Don't give them anything but water when dry. Let them recover on their own. No 'miracle gro', no nothing. Leave them outside, in a non sunny place and only take them indoors when it gets too cold for them. Have you checked their hardiness in their own country? They might not need to be indoors at all. Find out how they like to grow and try to give them those conditions. You have nearly killed them by ripping them out of the ground, letting them dry out for days, putting them straight into high nutrient soil with high nutrient feed when they just needed water, and then into a hot room when they didn't have any roots to take up moisture to replace that lost to the sun, you have started nicking the branches before they have had time to recover. Plus there will be the seasonal change and the change in day length to cope with. Crikey. Just put them outside, somewhere cool and let them be.

[fruehling]

Well, just thought I would report back. The female kiwiberry and strawberry/raspberry hybrid have not only started new growth, but seem to be doing incredibly well! New branches growing very fast on the female, and lots of new leaves on the hybrid. The male is completely stagnant. Not a single sign of change. The leaves that remained are still soft and seem fine, but the vine isn't growing at all and no new leaves or starts. Not really sure what's going on there, but I'll keep tending to it.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Even the "crikey" comment gave me a nice smile.

[Two_Sheds]

Are you certain about not enough roots? ...
The weather is pretty hot here right now, are the better off in the heat, or in the house, even in your mini greenhouse idea either way?

I've come late to the party, but you've been given the same advice I would give.
The plants have been losing moisture (through their leaves) faster than they can take it up (in their roots) so they've tried to remedy the situation by losing their leaves.
When you transplant bare root plants eg. raspberries, you're advised to cut all topgrowth back to the ground, so that the plant can put all its energy into making root growth

Shall I just water when the soil seems dry? Did I make a mistake putting them outside in the sun that first day?

Stand the pot in a saucer (plate) of water for 5 mins. It will drink all it needs. Don't pour water onto the top of the soil.

Yes, you should never put new plants straight into hot soil. Nor should they be in the house (unless they're naturally deep shade lovers).
They need to be light (in natural, full spectrum daylight) but cool (out of direct sun)

Don't expect any miracles this year. Next year they should come back stronger.

[fruehling]

Here I have attached pictures of the current state of the plants. You can clearly see the fantastic new growth on the two plants. But I am starting to be concerned about the vine/male kiwiberry. I feel like I'm not doing something right on that one. On the female, I removed all the leaves and eventually they started coming back really well. I left two leaves on the male, and not only have I not seen any signs of new growth, but the end of the vine seems to be slowly retreating.

They are sitting in the kitchen in the window out of the direct sunlight, but getting light all day.