and I tried to sow some seeds in autumn but nothing came up.

Charlie I suspect your problem is humidity or in this case the lack of humidity. I have never rooted kiwi cuttings but I have grown them and have rooted lots of fruit tree cuttings. What I do is take a bunch of pots and fill them with moist sand. I mix the sand with perlite if I feel like it. Take a bunch of new green growth off of the kiwi in 6 inch pieces. Make sure it's not old woody growth it needs to be the new green growth to root properly. Using clippers I would take off all leaves besides the top two. I would Dip the bottom 3-4" in clonex rooting gel. I would Take a pencil and poke a hole down in the sand and stick the cutting in firming the sand up around it. I would Make sure to wear gloves and don't get the rooting gel on me. I would Get a bunch of glass jars and turn them over the cuttings and push down in the sand of the pots to control humidity similarly to the concept of using a mister. I would Lay the grow light or any fluorescent light on top of the jars. That method has worked for me to root a lot of different bushes and it takes roughly 8 weeks to develop roots. I use that method during spring or summer when new growth is easy to come by. Maybe use a heat mat to warm them if I have new growth now and it's getting cool inside where I start them. I don't know that climate you live in. I always start my plants like that in a basement. I Keep the sand moist. That's my method but I can't advise you what to do but it works for me.

ClarkinKS - I tried a similar approach with some fruit tree cuttings last spring. When I took the covers off of the cuttings, they died. How long do you leave the covers on; for the 8 weeks required to get roots or longer?

Yes 8-10 weeks until they root. You can see the roots coming out the bottom of the pot and then its time to pull the jars.

This post was edited by ClarkinKS on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 5:11