Perhaps shock therapy could be the answer to Psa for kiwifruit growers.

Kiwifruit Vine Health is investigating an orchard in Te Puke which has healthy vines growing around a power line amongst a Psa-V infected crop.

KVH general manger John Burke says they are keen to investigate what is happening on the orchard.

'We've had a report that an orchard in Te Puke, which has quite bad infection, has vines around a power pole or power line and these are looking okay – so we're going to have a look at it.”

John says there have already been some trials around it, but they have proved unsuccessful so far.

'We are looking at it – we've had people coming to see us about using EMF – electric magnetic fields – to help with the plants, so that ties in with that transpower thing, so we're going to investigate that definitely.”

KVH want to hear from growers who may have some vines that are showing to be more resilient to the infection.

'We're asking growers to be really observant and even keep an eye on any vines that might be holding up against the disease because we might find there is some variance on the root stock that might help us.”

John says getting through Psa is going to be through plant breeding.

'We are trying to fast track resistant root stock firstly and then looking at cultivators.”

There are now 689 orchards identified with Psa-V, mostly in the Te Puke region.

Last week a record 255 new kiwifruit orchards were confirmed with Psa-V.