Top Red

Top Red, also known as Topred, is a premium, internationally certified clonal selection of the famous American variety Red Delicious, discovered in the USA, in the state of Washington, as a spontaneous bud mutation, or sport. In fruit growing, it is highly valued because it represents a distinct spur, or compact, growth type, while also developing an intense, uniform, and exceptionally early dark red skin color over the entire fruit surface, well before the flesh reaches technological maturity. Due to its attractive appearance and premium fruit size, it is one of the most sought-after clones within the Red Delicious group.

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 from medium-early to medium-late, abundantly, and over a long period.

The tree is naturally low-vigor, a typical spur mutant, with distinctly upright branch growth, short internodes, and a compact, pyramidal canopy. Fruit buds are formed densely along the entire length of the branches. It enters full bearing extremely early, often setting and producing its first fruit as early as the second year after planting. Once it starts bearing, it produces regular, stable, and exceptionally abundant yields. Due to its distinctly upright growth and weak natural tendency for lateral branching, bending and training of young shoots during the first two years is essential, along with specific, stronger pruning in order to prevent the lower parts of the branches from becoming bare.

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

Harvesting takes place at the end of September and in the first half of October. It is very important to monitor the technological maturity of the flesh, using a starch test, because the fruit develops an attractive dark red color as early as 2–3 weeks before it is truly ready for picking, creating a risk of premature harvesting.

It has very good storage ability. In modern ULO cold storage with controlled atmosphere, it successfully retains firmness and quality for 5–7 months. Due to its exceptionally firm flesh at harvest and thicker skin, it tolerates picking, rough mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance transport perfectly, without any risk of crushing, making it a favorite variety for export. It is primarily a premium table variety for fresh consumption.

The fruit is large to very large, with an average weight of 180–240 g, uniform, and characteristic in its elongated-conical shape, with five recognizable ribbed lobes around the calyx end of the fruit, the trademark feature of Red Delicious. The skin is smooth, firm, and glossy, and at full maturity it is completely, 100%, covered with an intense, luxurious dark red to deep burgundy color. The flesh is pale yellowish to light yellow, firm, compact, and moderately juicy. The taste is refreshing, sweet, mild, and harmonious, completely without acidity, with a recognizable, refined aroma.

It is a moderately resistant variety. It shows excellent resistance of the wood to harsh winter frosts. It is highly susceptible to apple scab on leaves and fruit, Venturia inaequalis, and susceptible to powdery mildew, which requires regular and intensive preventive chemical protection. During long-term cold storage, it is prone to premature mealiness and loss of flesh juiciness, as well as the occurrence of bitter pit, which is why mandatory and intensive foliar calcium treatments are required during the growing season.

Our apple fruit trees are produced on highly compatible and certified rootstocks. Since Top Red is naturally low-vigor, as a spur type, it gives excellent results on lighter and average soils when grafted onto moderately vigorous rootstocks such as M26 and MM106, as these provide the necessary vigor and strength to form a stable tree. On exceptionally fertile and irrigated soils, it is successfully grafted onto M9 and M9 T337, with a mandatory trellis support system.