Growing Gala Apples in Massachusetts 



Duane W. Greene and Wesley R. Autio 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



Gala has been one of the most heavily planted apple 

 cultivars in the past few year. Now that some trees are in 

 full production, it is apparent that growth and manage- 

 ment, harvesting, and storage of Gala are different from 

 other cultivars that we are familiar with growing. This 

 paper summarizes some of the modifications and changes 

 that will allow us to grow large, premium quality Gala 

 apples. 



Strains 



Gala originated in New Zealand and the standard strain 

 is known as Kidd's D-8. The standard Gala is a very at- 

 tractive apple because it develops a beautiful orange-red 

 color when ripe. There are several other strains of Gala 

 that have been selected primarily for increased red color. 

 All red coloring strains develop more red color, and they 

 generally are more attractive than Kidd's D-8. All strains 

 of Gala appear to be somewhat comparable, except for the 

 slightly redder color and earlier ripening of Regal (Fulford) 

 Gala. Flavor and quality of red coloring strains appear to 

 be comparable to those of Kidd's D-8. You would not go 

 wrong with selecting any of the red coloring strains. 



Growth Habit 



Gala is a vigorous tree and it should be grown vigor- 

 ously. Trees should be staked since they sometimes have a 

 structural weakness at the graft union, particularly when 

 propagated on M.26 rootstock. Trees have willowy branches 

 that are brittle and bend very easily. Wc do not recom- 

 mend spreading branches of Gala trees at any age. If limb 

 spreaders are put in, limbs are frequently broken. 



Pruning 



Proper pruning is more important on Gala than on any 

 other cultivar that we grow. On most cultivars, aggressive 

 pruning reduces flowering and fruit set of apples. This 

 response is less prominent with Gala. It flowers heavily 

 even on upright wood. Many of these flowers set, so crop- 

 ping is not reduced by pruning. Gala has brittle wood. If 

 left unpruned or lightly pruned, the branches act like an 

 umbrella and layer themselves one on top of another. Fruit 

 do not size, color, or mature properly when this happens. 

 Spurs become weakened because of a lack of sun and this 

 predisposes them to produce small fruit in the future. 



Shortening and stiffening branches is an important 



procedure to prevent drooping and to reduce breakage. 

 More severe pruning than with other cultivars appears to 

 be appropriate. This practice does several things. It re- 

 moves some of the flowers from the tree. It stiffens branches 

 and allows much better light penetration. It stimulates 

 vegetative growth, and vigorous shoot growth is required 

 for good fruit size. It also renews fruiting wood. All hang- 

 ing branches should be removed. Summer pruning, done 

 at the traditional time in August, does not appear to be a 

 useful activity on Gala. Color, size, and packout are 

 notimproved substantially when pruning is delayed until 

 late in the growing season. 



Flowering 



Gala is a very precocious tree, thus it blooms and sets 

 fruit very early in the life of the tree. It produces flowers 

 on one-year-old wood and on spurs. The type of bloom 

 that we want (or most apples is spur bloom since that pro- 

 duces the largest fruit. Lateral bloom in most circumstances 

 is undesirable because it produces small inferior quality 

 apples that often have poor finish. Because of their loca- 

 tion at the ends of branches they pull branches down too 

 much. Pruning and thinning strategies should include re- 

 moving as many lateral flowers and fruit as possible. 



Chemical Thinning 



A key to good fruit size, high fruit quality and adequate 

 return bloom is good fruit thinning. We have worked and 

 continue to work on chemical thinning strategies. Car- 

 baryl is useful but frequently it is not potent enough for 

 Gala. Some combination of carbaryl with NAA seems to 

 be most appropriate. Aggressive thinning is required in 

 some years, whereas in others it is not. Since wc have been 

 unable to predict the situation where aggressive thinning 

 is appropriate, a more moderate approach to chemical thin- 

 ning is in order to prevent complete defruiting of trees. 

 Specifically. 3 ppm NAA plus I lb Sevin 50WP is a good 

 level to try, being aware that some had thinning may be 

 required. Accel'" does not appear to be very effective lor 

 either removing fruit or increasing fruit size with Gala. 



Hand Thinning 



As stated above. Gala may require some hand thin- 

 ning. Hand thinning is an opporiunily lo remove fruit on 

 one-year-old wood and lo space fruit on spurs for maxi- 



Fruit Notes, Winter. 1995 



