Kiwifruit Vine Health has confirmed that an orchard in Pukekohe south of Auckland has tested positive for Psa-V, the virulent form of the vine killing disease sweeping through the New Zealand kiwifruit industry.

The organisation says that two further orchards are showing signs of the disease and KVH says it is likely further tests will show they are infected as well.

KVH General manager, John Burke, says it is likely the disease has got to Pukekohe in plant matter, rather than carried on the wind, and was most likely taken there before the disease was first reported in the Te Puke area.

Up until now Psa has been confined to the Bay of Plenty region, concentrated in the Te Puke area.

The alarm was raised in Kerikeri two weeks ago when it was thought two orchards were infected, but subsequent tests proved negative.

John Burke says that all kiwifruit growing regions are at risk, and everybody involved in the sector must do all they can do to protect orchards and attempt to slow the advance of the disease.

It’s only a year since Psa was discovered in a Te puke orchard but the latest KVH statistics show that 868 orchards are affected with PSa-V, the most virulent form of the disease, and 79 per cent of New Zealand kiwifruit hectares are now in a Priority Zone.