As we enter September, the apple and pear harvest is 'hotting up'
While pear picking is well under way and Bramley started in August, dessert apples like Scrumptious and Earl Windsor are normally ahead of Gala, but a new early clone of Gala; 'Gala Wildfire' has already been picked and supplied to Supermarkets for at the last 7-10 days. This appears to be a real gamechanger, although some growers feel it is possibly 'too early' - either way it adds a new dimension to Gala this amazing apple 'of which' it's DNA is in a multitude of modern varieties!
The development of Gala which started out as a red striped on a green background apple in the 1930's, but has achieved increasing levels of 'red colour since the Royal Gala mutation was found in 1969.
Below: Gala - Royal Gala - Galaxy Gala an example of how the mutations have changed over the last 50 years
More about the remarkable Gala apple at the end of this Journal
Gala would normally start picking in early September, but a new earlier ripening clone Gala Wildfire with optimum red colour has already been harvested and sold through the market chain.
Below: left. Gala Wildfire bins and right. Conference Pear bins A. Hinge and Sons LTD
The WildfireR RKD apple is a very early Gala. It differs from other apples in that it ripens 18 to 22 days earlier than conventional Galas. The bright and intense red, washed and streaked fruit is very attractive. Its sweetness and juiciness make it a very promising apple.
This mutant originated in Washington State, USA. RICHARD CALLAHAN, a US citizen, discovered a branch bearing coloured fruit 3 weeks earlier than the other Galas while walking in his orchards. The maturity was confirmed the following year. In July 2015, Benoit Escande travelled to the United States and realised the competitive advantages of this clone.
Very rapidly, trials were set up in France to observe the WildfireR RKD under European conditions. The earliness and the very good colouring confirmed the unique and promising character of this new gala.
In 2020, the first harvest of the Virus Free trees took place at Escande: the fruits were picked on 8 July. The starch regression was 8/10 while the other Early Red GalaR Bigigalaprim or SchnigaR Schnicored control varieties had not yet started theirs.
Click on Gala Wildfire video
Below: left & right. Early Windsor being graded at Adrian Scripps Ltd
Below: left & right. Conference Pears at A. Hinge and Sons LTD
Below: left & right. Conference pear harvesting at A. Hinge and Sons
Below: left. Gala Galaxy tree and right. Gala Galaxy apples at A. Hinge and Sons
Below: left & right. Harvesting Gala Schniga at Adrian Scripps Wenderton farm
Below: left. Checking Gala Schniga bin and right. Bins of Gala Schniga ready for the journey to the cold store
The development of Gala which started out as a red striped on a green background apple many years ago, but has achieved increasing levels of 'red colour since the Royal Gala mutation was found in 1969.
A Royal story for Royal Gala
At 09.45 on the morning of Sunday 10th February 1963, the Royal Yacht Britannia sailed gracefully into Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, and moored at Napier, its fourth stop of the Royal Tour by Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. This was their second visit to New Zealand following the Queen's coronation ten years earlier. Unsurprisingly, the Queen visited an apple orchard and packing house during her one-day whistle-stop tour.
"The Queen called on the Wake family, whose 50-acre orchard seems as well cared for as a cottage garden "
That day, a basket of fruit was delivered to the Royal Yacht by Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association.
A redder Gala sport was discovered by Bill ten Hove (1918-2009) at Matamata, New Zealand in 1969. A sport is a natural genetic mutation occurring in buds in mature trees possibly because of radiation from the sun, the most common sport being change to skin colour. Bill noticed that the apples on one branch of one Gala tree in his orchard showed improved red striping. Budwood was grafted and propagated.
During HM The Queen's next visit to New Zealand, in March 1970, some of the new Gala apples were delivered to the Royal Yacht Britannia in Wellington by the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board.
"The Queen liked Gala apples so much she asked for more"
The red sport was named Royal Gala because of the Queen's delight with the Gala apples.
Concluding the Gala story, from that first 'breeding' by JH Kidd in the 1930's - Gala has gone on an exponential curve: the discovery of Royal Gala in 1969 set off a search for more mutations with improved red colour. Every time I search the internet, there seems to be another Gala mutation.
That is all for this week, but my grateful thanks to Robert Hinge (AP Hinge & Sons) and Russell Graydon - (Senior Farms Manager at Adrian Scripps Ltd) for their input into this week's English Apple Man Journal
Oh, and just one more thing!
Hello from Hector (Hinge) Robert's calf from his Highland Cattle Herd.
Take care
The English Apple Man