Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table
.
Cultivar requirements to reach maturity (days from full bloom to
harvest) at Laimburg, Italy
Date of full bloom
Date of harvest
Cultivar
(April)
(Aug-Oct)
Days to harvest
'Gala'
.
.
'Elstar'
.
.
'Jonathan'
.
.
'Jonagold'
.
.
'Golden Delicious'
.
.
'Red Delicious'
.
.
'Idared'
.
.
'Rome Beauty'
.
.
'Braeburn'
.
.
'Granny Smith'
.
.
'Fuji'
.
.
Data supplied by S. Sansavini.
some northern areas with especially favourable microclimates where some of
these can be produced.
Short-seasoncultivarsoftenhaveawideclimatictolerance.'Cox'isgrownas
an early-season cultivar in New Zealand and 'Gala' is an early-season cultivar
in parts of France. In addition, very short-season apples are grown as 'early'
apples even in northern climates, e.g. 'Discovery' which is harvested in mid-
August in England. These 'early' apples usually do not store well and most are
of poor quality compared with main-season apples.
Apple cultivars for mild winter areas
There are many areas with high incident radiation, and with the dry summers
which reduce the severity of fungal disease attack, which would be very suitable
for apple production but have too little chilling in winter to give good budbreak
of most cultivars. This problem can be dealt with to some extent by chemical
treatments to induce budbreak and these are described later. However, the use
of cultivars with little requirement for winter chilling is beginning to have a
major impact. For example, large-scale production of apples in Egypt is based
on the growing of 'Anna' and 'Dorsett Golden', which can produce heavy
crops in climates with few hours below
◦
C.
.
Apple cultivars for cold-winter areas
Apple production in a number of areas with continental climates is dependent
on the use of cultivars which can withstand very low winter temperatures.
'McIntosh' and 'Antonovka' are outstanding for winter hardiness.
