Coming across a wilding kiwifruit vine in New Zealand’s backcountry might seem like finding mana from heaven, but like any plant growing out of place, wilding kiwifruit has the potential to cause havoc when it escapes into our native habitats.
The Restoring and Protecting Flora Project - a Top of the South Island conservation programme - is mobilising additional effort to control wilding kiwifruit spreading into native bush to prevent the climbing vine from smothering native plants.
The project is surveying and controlling wilding kiwifruit from the Karamea River to the Marlborough Sounds and Wairau River.
“It’s a real threat,” says Restoring and Protecting Flora project manager Hudson Dodd.
“It’s another amazingly good smotherer of native bush like old man’s beard and banana passionfruit vine. Wilding kiwifruit can also be a vector for disease and pests and a real threat to commercial growers.”
Its environmental impact can be considerable. The seed is easily spread by birds eating the fruit, and a single wilding vine can smother hectares of native bush.
“We need regional scale control, which is going to require a collaborative effort from everyone if we are going to prevent wilding kiwifruit spreading across the landscape. Restoring and Protecting Flora presents a really good opportunity to work together so we can really have a positive impact,” Hudson says.
It is recommended to be very careful with the disposal of kiwifruit, especially in the bush where the seed can easily germinate. If you are carrying kiwifruit whilst out and about, take the scraps home with you and dispose of them safely rather.
“If you have seen any wild kiwifruit vines, please help Tasman District Council by calling 03 543 8400 and letting us know where you have seen them,” a council spokesperson says.
“Photos are always handy for follow-up action. We will then add these sites to our database, for future destruction.”
Kiwi Vine Health adds that wild kiwifruit vines are a “vigorous, densely hairy vine that can grow up to 20m high into the forest canopy”.
“Shoots have shaggy, reddish hairs when young. From October through to December the vines produce white flowers that are up to about 6cm across. They are followed by edible fruits that are brown, hairy and oval with green flesh and numerous black seeds. The vines can grow in a wide variety of habitats including scrub, gullies, native bush and pine plantations.”
Hudson says that the project is a significant collaboration between Buller, Tasman, and Marlborough district councils, the Department of Conservation (DOC), MBC Environmental, Project DeVine Environmental Trust and Kūmānu Environmental.
It is being led by The Nature Conservancy Aotearoa NZ - the New Zealand arm of a global conservation not-for-profit, and being funded by DOC’s Jobs for Nature fund. It is also supported by the kiwifruit industry’s biosecurity organisation, Kiwifruit Vine Health.
“By working together, we will achieve more gains towards addressing the biosecurity issues NZ faces. It’s a significant move to restore the environment and help nature and people thrive.”
