Manchurian Kiwi - anyone have experience with Actinidia Kolomikta?

[chrisdb]

Does anyone have any experience growing this plant for fruit? Male plants are often grown as ornamentals because of the variegated leaves, but some varieties have been bred in Russia for better fruit taste/yield. Fruit is supposed to be the size of a grape.

I've ordered a couple as they are supposed to be a bit less vigorous than the more common arguta kiwis (apart from Issai, which everyone seems to have bad experiences with).

Does anyone have experience growing/training a kolomikta, even for ornamental purposes?

Has anyone on this forum successfully got a kolomikta to flower or fruit?

How did you train it / what was it supported by? The reason I wanted less vigorous plants is that I want to try to restrict them to a large arch instead of covering half the garden with a massive pergola.

[Glutton4...]

Never had one, always hankered after having one though. It looks so attractive in the books.

[chrisdb]

It does look very good. I understand though that the males show more variegation and if you're growing for fruit normally you'd keep the male plants small to leave more room for fruiting female growth.

I read somewhere that it smells either of lemon blossom or lily of the valley when it flowers. I'm hoping for lemons as my wife loves the scent of lemon and orange trees. We keep a lemon tree in the conservatory mostly for the scent - the fruit is an extra.