The Psa Risk Model is an online, weather-based decision support system, that assists with orchard management in a Psa environment. It includes actual weather station data and weather forecast details to provide customised access to unique disease information and interpretations that help growers target low risk periods for orchard activities such as pruning and grafting.

Ten-day forecasts can be viewed. Looking ahead Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato and Katikati have severe risk forecast for at least six of the next 10 days while the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay weather stations typically predict three or four days of severe risk. Overall though, across the country the risk seldom falls below moderate and growers should ensure good hygiene practice is in place to reduce the risk of infection transfer across orchards.

Growers are also reminded of the easy to use winter chill unit calculator available on the KVH website (accompanied by a short online video demonstrating what it can provide). This calculator allows growers to check how winter chill is progressing and compare chill hours across the past four years for a range of weather station locations.

Click here to access the KVH weather tools. Please note, growers must be registered with the KVH website to use the tools – if you haven’t already done so, please register now.

Image: Katikati chill calculator from the KVH website weather tools.