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There are many growers in the kiwifruit industry who believe Armillaria cannot be beaten with present knowledge. More research into Armillaria to find a certain cure is the cry. A success story from Te Puna shows that hard work and persistence may be the only way to beat this disease.
Back in 1988 Mr. Keith Travis of Te Puna took on the job of trying to rid an orchard of Armillaria. The orchard was so bad that new vines were being planted into a "fish net" lacework of rhizomorphs (bootlaces of fungus). The prediction by the pessimists was the orchard of 2 ha would be cut into two blocks grazing Emus.
The first step was to seek advice from Dr. Robert Hill at Ruakura. Over the next 10 years much was spent on spreading mulch, pasting sick vines with trichoderma slurry, removing sick shelter stumps etc. Mulch and compost seeded with trichoderma on this orchard was spread very deep over the whole area. Keith Travis makes the point that some vines were treated with trichoderma slurry several times a year.
By 1998 it seemed Armillaria was beaten. Everyone relaxed. And 4 vines have died from Armillaria this summer. This may sound like failure. No it is not. This orchard of 2 ha will produce over 20,000 trays of Zespri Gold this May at a Farm gate value of $5.00 per tray. A much better result than a few emus grazing.
The lesson: Armillaria can be beaten, but with hard work and persistence to underpin the practice of using mulches and trichoderma, not by a magic pill. I will be meeting Keith in the next few days to try out the new technique of exposing roots in association with pasting on the areas around the new dead vines.
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