Pinot-loving possums strip vines

Possums with a penchant for pinot gris grapes are becoming a problem at a Marlborough vineyard.

The nocturnal marsupials are living up to their pest pedigree in New Zealand by munching through a large section of vineyard south of Blenheim.

Vineyard manager Tim Dwyer said he had never seen anything like it before, with the possums causing ‘‘significant damage’’.

Dwyer said the fruit had been targeted for more than two weeks, with 60 to 70 vines ’’stripped’’ in the 2.5-hectare block, belonging to 15th Valley Farm.

‘‘We are probably looking at next-to-no fruit off the vines that they have hit,’’ he said.

He initially thought insects or cattle had chowed down on the pinot gris grapes, however ruled that out after seeing possum droppings.

‘‘There is the odd deer around but we cancelled that out.

‘‘It was after looking into it a bit closer that we started to see some possum poo around the posts,’’ he said.

He thought the possums were coming from the gully nearby. ‘‘We are pretty sure they are coming out of gullies with the pine trees at night,’’ he said.

The possums had caused damage to the tops of the plants and tended to come back to the same tree and eat the initial growth.

After setting traps, Dwyer caught 20 possums over the twoweek period.

‘‘We think we have sort of got on top of it now so we are going to start moving through all the other blocks.’’

He said it was important to stay vigilant so other areas would not suffer damage as well.

The secondary fruit would be delayed by about one month, but it should not affect harvesting, Dwyer said.

Dwyer shared his concerns on a Facebook group, asking people if they had ever seen possum damage to vines.

Only a couple of people had noted a similar issue but not to the same extent, he said.