Elstar

Elstar originates from the Netherlands, where it was developed in 1955. by Dr. T. Visser and released into wide production in 1975. It was created by planned crossing of Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie. Due to its premium, refreshing, and aromatic taste, reminiscent of old apple varieties, as well as its exceptional juiciness, it is one of the most popular, best-loved, and most sought-after early autumn apple varieties in Western and Central Europe.

It is a fully cross-pollinated, self-sterile variety. It cannot set fruit with its own pollen, so the presence of compatible pollinator varieties that flower at the same time is essential in the orchard. The best and field-proven pollinators for this variety are Gala, Idared, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. It flowers medium-early, abundantly, and over a long period.

The tree is highly vigorous, strong, and robust, with a dense, vigorous, and wide canopy that forms long, thin, and flexible shoots. It enters the fruiting stage very early, as early as the second year after planting. Once it starts bearing, it produces abundant and high yields, but it has an inherent and genetically pronounced tendency toward alternate bearing and fruit size reduction. For this reason, mandatory, early, and strong chemical and hand thinning of the fruit in early summer is required, along with regular summer pruning in order to control its strong vigor and improve light penetration inside the crown.

It belongs to the group of early autumn apple varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it reaches harvest maturity early, at the end of August and in early September, usually around ten days before the standard Golden Delicious variety.

Harvesting takes place at the end of August and in early September. The fruit must be picked very carefully and selectively, in 2 to 3 passes, because it has thin skin that is sensitive to finger pressure, where dark marks can easily appear if handled roughly.

Its storage ability is moderately good for an early autumn variety. In standard cold storage, it can be successfully kept until December, while in modern ULO cold storage with controlled atmosphere it can retain freshness for 4 to a maximum of 5 months. Since the fruit is less tolerant of long storage and rough mechanical sizing, this variety requires careful marketing during the first half of winter, before the flesh loses firmness and becomes mealy. It is primarily a premium, luxury table variety.

The fruit is medium-sized, with an average weight of 150–180 g, uniform, and regular roundish-conical to spherical in shape. The skin is thin and smooth, with a yellow-green ground color covered over more than 60–70% of the fruit surface by an attractive, glossy bright red to orange-red blush and stripes on the sun-exposed side. It is characterized by distinctive, large, and clearly visible yellowish lenticels, or small dots, across the entire fruit surface. The flesh is creamy-white to pale yellowish, moderately firm, compact, extremely juicy, and melting. The taste is outstanding and refreshing, characterized by a perfect balance of high sugar content and fine, refined acidity, with a luxurious, intense lemon-like aroma.

It is a moderately resistant variety. It shows good resistance of the wood to winter frosts. It is highly susceptible to apple scab on leaves and fruit, Venturia inaequalis, powdery mildew, and European canker, Nectria galligena, which is why regular, professional, and intensive preventive chemical protection is required throughout the entire growing season.

Our apple fruit trees are produced on highly compatible and certified rootstocks: M9, M9 T337, the absolute and essential global standard for controlling the strong natural vigor of this variety in intensive orchards with a support system, M26, for medium-density orchards on poorer soils, and MM106, exclusively for home gardens and extensive orchards.