The first case of the vine disease Psa-V has now been confirmed in the Whangarei region, five years after it was discovered in Te Puke orchards.

Kiwifruit Vine Health says it has received a positive test result from Hort16A and male vines on a kiwifruit orchard in Whangarei.

Psa on the vine during the outbreak in 2010. File photo.

KVH Chief Executive, Barry O'Neil, says this new find in Whangarei is very disappointing and will be particularly hard for local growers and the regional committee.

'Whangarei growers and the regional committee have done a fantastic job at keeping Psa-V out of the region for more than four years. The fact Whangarei is located between two positive regions, and is only now being confirmed with Psa-V, is testament to the highly proactive approach they have taken over the last few years.

'However, it has been a cold, wet winter and spring is always a nervous wait as we start to see what effect the winter has had on orchards. This spring KVH has had reports of more widespread infection in all positive regions – worse than the last couple of years so this result in Whangarei is not entirely unexpected.”

All growers in the region have been advised of the situation by KVH, including best-practice advice going forward. KVH will hold a meeting for Whangarei growers next week and will be carrying out extensive monitoring in the region over the weekend.

There are a total of 49 orchards in the Whangarei region comprising of approximately 144 canopy hectares.

'Based on the symptoms found—dieback and exudate—it's likely the disease has been in the area for some time and the symptoms are now starting to show.

'Every grower in every region should be proactively monitoring their vines and maintaining a robust spray programme this spring to protect their orchards as much as possible,” says Barrie.

The disease was so severe in the Te Puke region, virtually of the highly susceptible Hport16A variety has been removed, most replaced with the more Psa-V tolerant G3 known as SunGold.

However, growers in all regions will be anxiously monitoring their vines to see if the cold wet winter and spring conditions have increased disease activity.