Granny Smith

Granny Smith originates from Australia, where it was discovered in 1868 as a chance seedling by Maria Ann Smith, after whom it was named. Due to its unique appearance, refreshing acidic taste, and unsurpassed firmness, it is one of the best-known, best-selling, and most commercially successful 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, Idared, Gala, and Fuji. It flowers medium-late, abundantly, and over a long period.

The tree is moderately to highly vigorous, with upright branch growth in youth, later forming a wide, well-branched, and semi-spreading canopy with dark green, glossy leaves. It enters the fruiting stage very early, as early as the second year after planting. Once it starts bearing, it produces regular, stable, and extremely abundant yields. It is prone to overcropping, which is why mandatory chemical and hand thinning of the fruit in early summer is required in order to maintain large fruit size and prevent bare fruiting branches.

It belongs to the group of late autumn apple varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it reaches harvest maturity at the end of September and in the first half of October.

Harvesting is carried out before the fruit enters full botanical maturity, while the skin is still intensely and cleanly green. Timely harvesting is crucial, because fruit harvested too late begins to turn yellow under our sun and loses market value.

It has outstanding and unsurpassed storage ability. In modern ULO cold storage with controlled atmosphere, it successfully retains full freshness, acidity, and firmness for 6 to even 9 months. Due to its extremely firm flesh and thick skin, it tolerates picking, mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance transport perfectly, without the risk of crushing. It is one of the leaders in global export. It is primarily a premium table variety for fresh consumption, and it is also widely used in the industry for pressing premium clear juices.

The fruit is large to very large, with an average weight of 180–230 g, uniform, and regularly roundish-conical to spherical in shape. The skin is thick, firm, smooth, and glossy, with a characteristic intense grass-green color and visible whitish lenticels, or small dots. In some clones, a delicate reddish blush may appear on the sun-exposed side. The flesh is greenish-white, exceptionally firm, compact, juicy, and distinctly crisp. The taste is unique, refreshing, distinctly acidic, with moderate sugar content and a clean, refreshing aroma.

It is a moderately resistant variety. It shows excellent resistance of the wood to winter frosts. It is susceptible to apple scab on leaves and fruit, Venturia inaequalis, and to powdery mildew, so regular and intensive preventive chemical protection is required. During long-term cold storage, it may be susceptible to physiological disorders such as skin browning, or scald, and bitter pit, which is why intensive calcium treatments during the growing season and the use of modern storage technology, such as 1-MCP, are required.

Our apple fruit trees are produced on highly compatible and certified rootstocks: M9, M9 T337, the ideal standard for high-density intensive orchards with a support system, M26, for medium-density orchards, and MM106, for more vigorous trees and home gardens, with which this variety achieves an excellent graft union, long tree life, and high stability.