A bright red apple with the eating qualities of royal gala has been cleared for commercial planting.
The yet-to-be-named apple will be ready for sale two weeks before royal gala are picked, giving growers an opportunity for premium prices.
Details of the apple are under wraps while final commercial protection is arranged.
The
new apple is a royal gala sport. It was discovered 10 years ago by a Hastings orchardist, who noticed a twig with bright red apples on it at the top of a royal gala tree.
The apples on the tree were mature, ready for picking. But the apples on the twig at the top of the tree were bright red and over mature.
"When I saw their bright colour and realised they were past maturity, bells started to ring," he said.
He tagged the twig and in winter grafted it onto another tree. Two years later it produced the same type of fruit.
He then called in a nursery, which propagated more of the trees. It took another three years for them to produce fruit, again the same as the originals.
"By then we were satisfied it would stay the way it was when we found it and not revert back to the original royal gala," the grower said.
It consistently produced bright red fruit with royal gala qualities. More importantly it produced them two weeks ahead of royal gala without any special treatment and on standard root stocks.
New Zealand Fruit Tree, a consortium of two nurseries in Hawkes Bay and two in the South Island, is global manager for the variety.
Plant material has been sent to key growing countries, including South Africa, where its timing will complement New Zealand production and marketing.
Several thousand trees are ready for planting in New Zealand.
Produce firm Fresh New Zealand, which will handle marketing, is sending samples of the fruit overseas for assessment.
Managing director Lew Dagger said fruit would be sold on a controlled basis in New Zealand, the Pacific Rim and Asia. "We believe it will be a real success."
- NZPA
