Here’s a quick public service announcement to be aware of a rampant fruity friend – and it may just protect our horticulture crops from another kind of PSA – Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae, or Kiwifruit Vine Canker.
Wild kiwifruit vines are listed as an Eradication Pest Plant in our Tasman-Nelson Regional Pest Management Plan.
Kiwifruit can be spread into forests by birds carrying seeds from unmanaged or abandoned orchards, or wild (self-propagated) vines. Vines can smother native trees and shrubs and degrade plantation forests.
Currently in the North Island, vines have become a reservoir for organisms that are a threat to kiwifruit production, such as PSA, a disease of kiwifruit, that has resulted in devastating losses for growers.
We currently have one variety of PSA present in New Zealand. However, there are other strains that we’re trying to keep out.
If PSA ever arrives in the South Island, we will need to know where all unmanaged or wild kiwifruit vines are located.
During autumn, large, rounded kiwifruit leaves will turn yellow, making them obvious in the canopy. They also have prominent vine sprouts, sticking out of tree canopies, and fruit may be evident.
If you have seen any wild kiwifruit vines, please help us by calling 03 543 8400 and letting us know where you have seen them. We will then add these sites to our database, for future destruction.
