Rising winds end spraying for painted moth

Rising winds today halted insecticide spraying in West Auckland suburbs aimed at killing the painted apple moth.

A helicopter took off at first light loaded with the insecticide and completed the spraying over Traherne Island beside the north western motorway, all but a small part of the tip on the southern end of the Avondale Peninsula, and the Waikumete Cemetery, before the winds rose about 10 am.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said if the wind abated the spraying would resume at first light tomorrow.

MAF spokeswoman, Mary-Ann Crawford, said the spray programme was now half completed.

Spraying the suburbs of Kelston and Glendene would be completed more quickly because the "tricky parts" of the spray operation ended today, she said.

- NZPA

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