In early October, KVH staff completed a round of monitoring on six Whangarei orchards to confirm the region’s ‘Exclusion’ status.

The orchards were chosen to represent the region with the focus on Hort16A plantings due to their higher susceptibility to Psa-V.

Samples taken from two CK3 males showing Psa-V like symptoms on one orchard were tested and confirmed ‘Not Detected’. There were no other visible signs of Psa-V symptoms on the other orchards.

A review of the 2014 season spray diaries showed four of the six orchards had good protective spray programmes in place and all orchards had good hygiene protocols in place. The growers had plans to convert their Hort16A blocks to less susceptible varieties; and some had begun this process by stump or notch grafting some of their Hort16A blocks to Gold3.

Due to Whangarei’s close proximity to Kerikeri (a containment region where Psa-V has spread this season) it’s essential Whangarei growers remain proactive with their protective spray programmes and hygiene practices to continue to keep Psa-V out of their region.

A report of the Whangarei monitoring will be available on the KVH website shortly.