Most of the minor fruit crops are grown mainly for home use. Characteristics of the subgroups of fruit grown in Alabama are described in Table 2. Growing kiwifruit in Alabama is possible in home gardens, but certain problems must be overcome before this crop will prove worthwhile commercially. They require 4 to 6 years to begin cropping. They may be planted at closer spacings and will remain smaller than nonspur trees.
All common varieties are the larger nonspur type.
They have very firm fruit with many stone cells in the flesh, which give them a gritty texture and limit their use mainly to processing. However, the hard pears are much more tolerant of fire blight. Japanese types are generally round and similar to apples in shape. Chinese types are typically pyriform in shape like European pears. Orange is the primary variety of fruiting quince grown.