Fuji

Fuji originates from Japan, where it was developed in 1939. at the Tohoku Research Station in Fujisaki by planned crossing of Red Delicious and Ralls Janet, and was released to the market in 1962. It was named after Mount Fuji and its place of origin. Due to its incredible juiciness, extreme sweetness, and outstanding long-term storage ability, it is one of the most popular, best-selling, and commercially most sought-after winter apple varieties in the world.

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 Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gala, and Idared. It flowers medium-late, abundantly, and over a long period.

The tree is extremely vigorous, with the strongest and most robust growth among all commercial apple varieties. It forms a powerful tree with thick shoots and a dense, widely branched canopy. It enters the fruiting stage early when grafted onto low-vigor rootstocks, in the second or third year. Once it starts bearing, it produces extremely high yields, but it has a pronounced and genetically very strong tendency toward alternate bearing. For this reason, mandatory, early, and very strong chemical and hand thinning of the fruit in early summer is required, along with intensive summer pruning in order to control its strong vigor.

It belongs to the group of late winter apple varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens late, during the second half of October, usually between October 15 and 25, closing the autumn apple season.

Harvesting takes place in the second half of October. The fruit holds very well on the tree and does not drop on its own, while timely harvesting ensures the accumulation of a record sugar content, for which this variety is a world champion.

It has unsurpassed, premium storage ability. In modern ULO cold storage with controlled atmosphere, it successfully retains full freshness, high juiciness, and extreme crispness for 7 to even 9 months, so it can be sold without difficulty throughout the entire spring and summer of the following year. Due to its exceptionally firm flesh and firm skin, it tolerates picking, rough mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance overseas transport perfectly, without the risk of crushing. It is an absolute premium leader on the global market.

The fruit is medium-sized to large, with an average weight of 180–220 g or more, uniform, and regular round to slightly roundish-conical in shape, sometimes with a slightly flattened apex. The skin is medium-thick, firm, smooth, and noticeably pale yellow to yellow-green, covered on the sun-exposed side with orange-red blush in the form of longitudinal stripes and overcolor. In the standard variety, coloration covers around 40–50% of the fruit surface. The flesh is creamy-white, exceptionally firm, compact, crisp, and very juicy. The taste is premium, dessert-quality, and recognizable, characterized by extremely high sugar content, making it the sweetest commercial apple, minimal acidity, and a rich, luxurious aroma.

It is a moderately resistant variety. It shows excellent resistance of the wood to low winter temperatures. It is susceptible to apple scab on leaves and fruit, Venturia inaequalis, powdery mildew, and fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, so intensive and regular preventive chemical protection is required. During humid years, due to the extremely high sugar content, the fruit may be susceptible to watercore, which can be successfully managed through a proper calcium balance in nutrition.

Our apple fruit trees are produced on highly compatible and certified rootstocks: M9, M9 T337, the absolute and essential global standard for controlling the extremely 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.