Early winter, when leaves turn yellow, is the best time to detect wild kiwifruit vines from the air.

Over the last two weeks, aerial surveillance has been undertaken for the Te Puke gullies and pine blocks from No 4 Road to Paengaroa. About 250 infestations were detected in the Te Puke area – sometimes there were multiple infestations on one property (e.g., through a pine block). See some images from the flights here.

Information from the flights will now be collated and analysed for trends and will also be of huge help to the surveillance contractor to quickly find infestations and programme their destruction.

The cost of this surveillance was co-funded by KVH and Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC). KVH also recently co-funded aerial surveillance with the Tasman District Council, with a flight in Golden Bay detecting 39 infestations. Local contractors, the Project De-Vine Trust, have begun control work on these.

Read more about the collaborative wild kiwifruit management programme – including KVH, Zespri, councils, and landowners - here.