Keep up with biosecurity when replacing plants or planting new blocks

Winter is the time when growers look to replace plants on their orchards or plant new blocks. This article is a reminder that if these plants are being moved between properties there are biosecurity requirements that must be met to reduce the likelihood of spreading pests and diseases including Psa.

As a general rule, plants may only be sourced from nurseries that meet the requirements of the Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS). There are two types of these nurseries – both are listed on the KVH website.

• Full certification plants: these are plants that are free of Psa and other target organisms. Nurseries with these plants have demonstrated the ability to keep Psa out of their growing environment (either through growing in a fully enclosed greenhouse or by being located in an Exclusion region where there is no Psa) and plants have tested Psa Not Detected.
• Restricted certification plants: these are plants that may have the common New Zealand form of Psa (Psa-V) but are free of non-New Zealand and resistant strains of Psa.

The only exception is Grow for Your Own Use, where growers can grow plants on the property they are to be used on without any KVH controls. Growers can also move plants between KPINs under the same ownership (but only to a maximum of 1000 plants per year). Traceability records must be maintained but there are no registration or certification requirements.

Plants displaying symptoms are not to be moved and both the nursery and recipient are to maintain traceability records should symptoms develop at a later stage and tracing be required.

Please contact KVH at [email protected] or 0800 665 825 if you would like more information about the requirements.