8.30 am
Aerial spraying to kill painted apple moth caterpillars in West Auckland finally began at first light today - but quickly came to a halt.
A helicopter had only completed spraying Traherne Island when the crew found that something was blocking the spray nozzles.
They hope to resume the aerial spraying tomorrow morning.
High winds and forecasts of further rain prevented spray runs on Saturday and Sunday which were to open the latest attempt to eradicate the Australian pest.
The twin-engined BK-117 helicopter needs seven hours of calm, dry conditions to drop the pesticide, known as Foray 48B or Btk, over the 560ha spray zone accurately. The spray requires a further five hours without rain to be effective.
Suburbs targeted in the first operation are Glendene, Kelston, the Avondale Peninsula, the worst-infected areas of Waikumete Cemetery, the margins of the Whau River, and Traherne Island in the upper Waitemata Harbour.
Btk spray contains naturally occurring soil bacteria and was used effectively in Operation Ever Green, the $12 million eradication campaign against the white-spotted tussock moth which ran from 1996 to 1998 in east Auckland.
The new spray zone includes about 3000 West Auckland residential and industrial properties around the Whau River, it's tributaries, and the Avondale peninsula.
The painted apple moth was discovered in Glendene, West Auckland, in May 1999, but is likely to have arrived six months earlier, possibly in a shipping container.
Critics of the spraying programme say it is beginning too late, as painted apple moths have now been discovered in other parts of the city.
nzherald.co.nz/environment
Technical problem halts moth spraying in West Auckland
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