Does anyone have any experience with Galarina Apple? I was perusing the Cummins Nursery website, and the description makes it seem like a great apple for a backyard grower, but I can’t find much first-hand information about it.
My yard is pretty full at the moment, so I’m always looking for space to cram one more thing in. My cold-hardy eucalyptus tree has sadly died (it lasted for 5 years, but I think it couldn’t handle the wild temperature swings from last winter), which means I have space more tree! I was considering planting an apple tree in that spot once my hubby cuts the eucalyptus down. Haha, I’m already dreaming of my fall 2023 orders for Spring 2024…
I’m fairly new to tree fruits, so I’m still fairly new to the spraying thing. I’m not opposed to spraying, but I have 3 young kids and a big dog, so I want to try to keep it as light as possible. Last year, I sprayed my existing trees 2x with copper + neem oil while dormant (late fall and early spring), and 1x with infuse when my apriums started showing some rot (around late may), and then 1x with Bonide Revitalize (a biofungicide) after that. I’d be willing to spray a little more than that in the future, but probably not by much (although hopefully I’ll get the timing of things down better).
Would Galarina be a good choice? Would I be able to get edible fruit off of it? If yes, what rootstock would be best? As an FYI, there are several apple trees and ornamental crabs in my neighborhood, so I don’t think I’ll need a polinator.
I saw a post the other day of someone growing Initial which is a gala-like apple…and they grew it no spray… Seems like a good choice for low input…
Cummins says this:
Thoroughly vetted against apple scab, powdery mildew, and fireblight, also rosy apple aphids. At harvest time, fruit eating quality has been judged as excellent. The flesh is firm, crisp and juicy. Taste is slightly flavoured and middly acidic. The keeping quality is good for an early maturing cultivar: it keeps its harvest characteristics for two months in normal fridge conditions. Trial growers have observed that Initial can be managed with remarkably low input: good size and fruit quality have been obtained with minimal pruning , little or no irrigation, and no chemical thinning program. All around resistance to pests and diseases allows significant reduction in the number of phytosanitory treatments necessary.
It’s a reasonable choice. I considered getting it based on it’s disease resistance. Here is more info on the apple.
You might look at this list for disease resistant apples.
To answer what rootstock would be best it would be helpful to know what type of soil you have- sandy, loam or clay and what size of tree you want dwarf, semi-dwarf, or full size.
In any case, apples will be easier than the peaches and sweet cherries you have on your profile. You may want to look at the Eastern sweet cherry thread to see what you what you will face growing sweet cherries.
Easily in the top 3 apples of what my entire family would say is a good tasting apple, one of our favorites. We don’t spray our Galarina for anything disease related.
For your rootstock questions: I have loamy soil. As for height, maybe up to 10-15 feet ish?
Haha, the cherry was a whim purchase from home Depot sometime in 2021. It hasn’t bloomed yet, and I’m seriously considering replacing it. But, I also feel bad yanking it before it even had a chance to bloom
Thanks so much for the first hand insight! It just seemed strange to me that there’s so little first hand anecdotes from forum members when the available info online seems promising. Made me worried that it’s secretly awful or something?
It sounds like you have a small space to put the tree in. How much area do you actually have (length X width)? In commercial orchards dwarf apple trees trained to the tall spindle system are spaced 3 feet between trees and 11-13 feet between rows. So dwarf apple trees can be put in a small space. You may be able to put several apple trees in the small space you have if you train them to the tall spindle system. I have dwarf trees on 3 feet spacing between the trees.
Semi-dwarf trees take more space. But in both cases the training system has a big effect on the space you need. Central leader trained trees require a lot of space, tall spindle trained trees require little space. Here is a tree spacing calculator that helps you see how all of this works. http://fruitadvisor.info/tfruit/clements/appletreespacing.htm
I planted a gallarina 3 years ago. It is free of disease and grew beautiful blemish free amazing tasting apples this year. It over set so fruit thinning was a must. I removed over 2/3 of the fruit and still got about 50 perfect apples.
Welcome to one of the best resources of knowledge & experience for direct growing in the continent, Bstrin5150!
My one concern about Galarina, and not addressed in any of the websites I just checked, is how well it attaches at the graft union. Its (seed?) parent, Gala, is notorious for poor grip on Geneva 30 & 41, so was happy to see the recommendation above to try Gen 11, 214, 890 & 969, along with Bud9 and M7.
I have direct experience with Bud9, M7 & Gen890. Bud9 would make a really small tree & probably need support for the life of the tree. Conditions and soil here make M7 a poor choice, but others closer to your home have had good results with it. G890 will make a tree about 65% of standard (maybe more in your neck of the woods) & probably will be happily free-standing after a couple years in the ground. That should achieve the size you indicated.
I have been using G890 only a few years, but am impressed with its initial attributes.
FYI, in case anyone is interested… I just ordered a Galarina on G.890 from Cummins. I’ll update y’all in a few years to let you know how it goes
PS: I read on the website that the G890 will likely make a tree that is around 18’ rather than the 12-15 feet I had originally wanted. But, the choices were G890 or G935, and the rootstock descriptions on the website made it seem like G890 was a better overall rootstock (exccellent ancoring, less problems with viruses or diseases). Plus, @mroot recommended G890, but not G935. Anyone have any thoughts on rootstock choice, or if I should go back and try to switch to the smaller tree?
G935 is susceptible to latent viruses and it usually requires permanent staking. That’s that main disadvantages. Because of the susceptibility to latent viruses you would want to clean pruning tools carefully and sanitize them before cutting on the G935 rootstock tree. Also a G935 rootstock tree shouldn’t be grafted to as attaching a new scion which may have latent viruses risks killing the tree.
I don’t think you need worry about only having 12-15 feet of space for a Galarina/G890 combination. Galarina is a moderate vigor scion. If you use the tree calculator I linked above with a target tree height of 12 feet you get a between tree spacing of 12 feet and a between tree row spacing of 15 feet. That’s for a central leader trained tree which requires the widest spacing. If you’re willing to prune and shape the tree you should be fine with that spacing.
