The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) reminds south Tararua home gardeners of the importance of not planting peas this growing season.
The Ministry has placed a two-year ban on pea growing in a bid to eradicate a significant pest of pea crops - the pea weevil.
The ban also applies to sugar snap and snow peas but ornamental sweet peas are a different species and are fine to grow.
Pea weevils lay their eggs in developing peas and the growing larvae feed on the young peas, ruining pea crops and potentially threatening our valuable fresh and seed pea exports.
Response incident controller Fiona Bancroft says if the weevils become established in New Zealand, they'll also be a nuisance for home gardeners, with a likely need for spraying.