Gala Royal apple trees wholesale, an early red Gala on M9.

Where Gala Royal comes from

Gala Royal is a red bud sport of Gala. Gala itself was bred in Greytown, New Zealand, by James Hutton Kidd from Kidd’s Orange Red and Golden Delicious; the original tree was selected in 1939 and the cultivar reached commercial orchards in 1960. The redder mutation was found in March 1969 by Hendrik Willem (Bill) ten Hove at Matamata, and since the early 1970s this clone has dominated Gala plantings.

Do not confuse Gala Royal with other red Gala mutations. An Italian clone of different origin is described on the Gala Schniga Red page.

Fruit, harvest window and storage

The fruit is redder than the original Gala: a bright red ground with broad, darker stripes. The flesh is sweet, crisp and juicy. The cultivar ripens early and is picked before Golden Delicious.

Gala Royal does not keep for long. In ordinary cold storage the apples last a few months, while controlled-atmosphere storage keeps the cultivar on the market almost all year. Without CA, plan to sell within the first months after picking.

Disease and pollination

• Disease: the cultivar is susceptible to scab, fire blight and powdery mildew. It has no scab resistance, so scab protection is budgeted into the orchard plan.
• Pollination: a pollinizer is needed for a full crop. Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji are named as compatible.
• Other red Gala clones pollinate each other poorly, so a second Gala clone is not planted as a pollinizer.
• M9 rootstock, zone Z5–Z8 on the USDA scale: the same for every sapling in this line.

All three partners are in the nursery stock: Granny Smith, Fuji and the Golden Delicious clone Golden Delicious Rangers.

Where Gala Royal fits in a commercial orchard

Early picking and bright colour define its role: the fresh market at the start of the season. Short storage without CA makes it a cultivar for quick sales rather than long winter marketing. How to spread cultivars across harvest dates in a commercial orchard is covered in apple cultivars for a commercial orchard.

How many Gala Royal trees your area needs depends on the planting scheme. The calculation of trees per hectare is given in how many saplings per hectare.

Stock, grades and ordering

The largest grade on 9 October is 3+ with 70,000 trees. Grade 5+ stands at 58,000 trees and grade 1+ at 18,000. Stock per row is in the table below, the overall price list is on the sapling prices page, and the other M9 cultivars are in apple saplings.

In money, a minimum lot looks like this: 6,000 trees in grade 1+ cost RUB 2,160,000, in grade 3+ RUB 2,400,000 and in grade 5+ RUB 2,700,000. Grades 3+ and 5+ together give 128,000 trees, more than 87% of the stock for this cultivar, so Gala Royal can cover a large order too.

An order starts at 6,000 saplings, which can be all Gala Royal or mixed with other cultivars. The lifting date and payment are agreed along the routine on the how pickup works page.