Kiwi Vines

Question

For many years I have had a kiwi vine climbing up the side of my house, always giving many pounds of fruit. After having an over abundance of vine and fruit this last year (and to be honest I was pretty fed up with thinking of ideas of what to do with the kiwi fruit after making jams, cakes/breads and freezing it as well as giving plenty away), I decided to cut down the majority of the vine, leaving the main stem – now about 6 ins in diameter and a few offshoots, which I am sure will take off again. My problem now is that where I have sawed off one branch, about 4 inches in diameter, it will not stop “crying” and I have a constant stream of water(?) coming out of it. In the past when I have cut smaller branches, and higher up, they have soon dried out but this is going on for already one month. I am sure there is something I can put on to heal it (preferable nothing chemical) without poisoning the whole vine. By the way, I live in southeast France and we have had a very cold winter this year.

Answer 1

You do not need to put anything on the wounds to stop the sap, which is what you see running out of the plant. Painting the wounds can actually harm the plant by trapping harmful pathogens in the wound. The sap running a bit serves to help wash out any harmful fungus or bacteria that may have gotten in the wound and when the sap dries, it self-seals the wound to protect it.