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How to buy a kiwi tree in the UK

Updated: October 2026

You are about to order a kiwi tree online, and the title is doing too much work. One page is a 9 cm liner, another is a male that will never fruit, and a packet of seed does not belong in this comparison at all. By the end you should know which line has to be on the label before you pay, and which cheap height is the worse spend. The [kiwi tree comparison](/hub/trees-and-palms/kiwi-tree) holds the six amazon.co.uk plants kept in this set. The [best kiwi tree](/hub/trees-and-palms/kiwi-tree/sub/kiwi-tree-best) page names a cultivar, and [self-fertile or a pair](/hub/trees-and-palms/kiwi-tree/sub/kiwi-tree-self-fertile-or-pair) covers partners. A kiwi in a UK shop is almost always a twining Actinidia vine, not a standard orchard tree.

You are about to order a kiwi tree online, and the title is doing too much work. One page is a 9 cm liner, another is a male that will never fruit, and a packet of seed does not belong in this comparison at all.

Our top picks

Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi in a 9 cm pot

Best overall

Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi in a 9 cm pot
6.0/10about £9.99
View offer
Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants Actinidia Jumbo in a 9 cm pot

Alternative

Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants Actinidia Jumbo in a 9 cm pot
3.9/10about £9.99
View offer
Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi 'Jenny' in a 9 cm pot

Rank 3

Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi 'Jenny' in a 9 cm pot
7.0/10about £9.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Sex and species on the label
  3. 3.Pot size and price
  4. 4.Before you check out

What you are actually buying

A 9 cm pot is a young liner. Carbeth sells three of them in this set at about £9.99. One names Jenny and calls itself self-fertile. One names neither cultivar nor sex. One puts Actinidia Jumbo in the title and then describes Weiki, a pollinator for baby kiwis, in the body. Only the named Jenny tells you what job the plant is meant to do. Seed was left out of this comparison. On the unnamed Carbeth pot, 3.8 from 368 reviews, people describe a leafless stick that looked dead, then new growth, and plants that never shot. The Jenny file is 3.1 from 14, and one text says the plant arrived looking almost dead. A stick can be dormant, or a plant that will not recover.

Sex and species on the label

The cultivar has to be on the label, and next to it the sex or a real self-fertile claim. Jenny and Solissimo are self-fertile fuzzy types on the RHS database. Issai is the self-fertile kiwi berry. Hayward is female and needs Tomuri or Atlas. A male fruits nothing. Fuzzy fruit is Actinidia deliciosa. The smooth berry is Actinidia arguta. Weiki is a male for female berries such as Ken's Red, not a partner for Hayward. The Jumbo title and the Weiki body contradict each other, so do not use that pot as a fruiting plant or a pollinator. The hardy kiwi berry page is where the smooth fruit belongs. The la iberica female and male at about £21.75 state sex and 150 cm, and neither names a cultivar. The yellow male at about £26.10 has Lemon Tree in the colour field.
Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi in a 9 cm pot

Testsieger

Carbeth Plants Carbeth Plants kiwi in a 9 cm pot
6.0/10about £9.99
View offer

Pot size and price

Pay for the name before you pay for height. In this amazon batch the three Carbeth pots are about £9.99. Elsewhere a named Jenny 9 cm pot is about £11.99 to £16, and a more established Jenny is about £19.99 to £45. A taller pot is further on than a liner and still not a cropping vine. The RHS allows three or four years from planting. The unnamed about £9.99 pot is the best value review file, 3.8 from 368, and it is still foliage until you know its sex.

Before you check out

Distance sellers must passport plants for planting to the final customer in Great Britain. A shop sale in person usually need not. Northern Ireland sits outside that scheme. A passport does not prove the cultivar. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats a dead plant, or a plant that is not as described, as a fault. The 14-day cancel right has an exception for goods that deteriorate quickly, so a healthy vine you have planted is a different case from a dead delivery. Photograph the pot and the stem on arrival. Before you pay, the cultivar is printed, the sex matches the space, and the listing does not contradict itself. About £9.99 is a 9 cm liner. About £21.75 to about £26.10 in this set is height without a name.

Common questions

Is a £9.99 9 cm kiwi the same as a named Jenny?
No. In this set one Carbeth pot at about £9.99 names Jenny and calls itself self-fertile, with a stated size of 6 m by 4 m. Another Carbeth pot at the same price names neither cultivar nor sex. A third uses a Jumbo title and a Weiki description. Same brand, same pot size and same shelf price do not make them the same plant.
Do I need a male and a female?
You need a pair only if the fruiting plant is female. A male fruits nothing. Jenny, Solissimo and Issai are self-fertile names on RHS pages, so one plant can be enough if that name is on the label. An unnamed female, including the about £21.75 la iberica tree in this set, is not a one-plant plan. Match the male to the same species.
How long until a new kiwi fruits?
The RHS says kiwi plants may take three or four years to fruit. A 9 cm pot has not already served that wait in the nursery. One reviewer of the unnamed Carbeth pot reported flowers after about two and a half years outdoors, which is a single report, not a schedule. A listing that prints August to October is naming a harvest season, not promising fruit in the first autumn.
Is a 150 cm tree a better buy if the cultivar is missing?
Not in this set. The 150 cm la iberica plants cost about £21.75 or about £26.10 and state sex without a cultivar. The female’s dimension line also reads 11 cm by 150 cm by 11 cm, which does not agree with a 150 cm height. You would be paying for a taller stem and still be unable to choose a partner. A named 9 cm Jenny is the clearer spend if you have one wall.
Will a plant passport prove the variety?
No. In Great Britain a distance seller of plants for planting has to passport the plant to you. That shows a trade route. It does not certify that the stem is Jenny, Hayward or Issai. If the cultivar is missing on the amazon page, a passport in the box does not fill that gap.
What should the label say before I pay?
It should name the cultivar, state male, female or self-fertile, and not clash with itself. Pot size or height should match the price, and sunlight should be stated if you are matching a shady fence. Kiwi as the only bullet, which is what the la iberica pages use, is not enough. If hardiness, sun or fertiliser type is asked on the page and left blank, treat that as unknown.

Related pages

How to grow a kiwi tree

Kiwi tree

Best kiwi tree for one wall, a pair or a cold plot

Hardy kiwi berry versus a fuzzy kiwi tree in the UK

A self-fertile kiwi tree or a male and female pair

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest, used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are from the amazon.co.uk listings written up on 20 October 2026. This is not a taste test or a hardiness trial.

  1. RHS, How to grow kiwi fruit (retrieved October 2026)
  2. RHS, Actinidia deliciosa 'Jenny' (retrieved October 2026)
  3. RHS, Actinidia arguta 'Issai' (retrieved October 2026)
  4. RHS, Actinidia deliciosa Solissimo (retrieved October 2026)
  5. GOV.UK, Issuing plant passports to trade plants in Great Britain (retrieved October 2026)
  6. Defra, Plant passport FAQ (retrieved October 2026)
  7. Gardeners' World, Kiwis grow guide (retrieved October 2026)