The agency responsible for minimising the effects of PSA on New Zealand’s Kiwifruit is frustrated at delays for growers receiving written confirmation their crops are infected.

Kiwifruit Vine Health was set up in December of last year  to help growers re-establish orchards affected by PSA.

The delays between PSA testing and growers receiving a response in the mail have been going on for several months.

More than 200 orchards have been identified as having the disease, and 79 hectares of infected vines have been cut back.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. President Peter Ombler says growers are becoming frustrated.

"Quite understandably, growers are anxious about [the results], we all are, it’s a unique situation.

“We’re all anxious about seeing how this thing presents itself in our orchards next spring.

“There’s a lot of work going in, everybody’s absolutely flat out, trying to get this sorted in a co-ordinated manner.”

Kiwifruit Vine Health  General Manager John Burke says he understands grower’s frustration.

"It would be great for the orchardists to know where they stand and certainly great for Kiwifruit Vine Health to manage the disease in terms of knowing where the infection footprint is."

John Burke says delays are still the organisation's biggest issue and there is a backlog of samples for testing.

"There are two stages. The first is to get a PSA test to see whether or not they're positive for PSA. The difficult part is if they are positive, then ascertaining what type of isolate of PSA they have. That's where it becomes really difficult, because the scientists and or the lab have to isolate a coat culture from which to identify the isolate."