Early Sungrand

Sungrand, also known as Early Sungrand, originates from the USA, where it was developed by the renowned breeder Frederick Anderson in Modesto, California, and released into wide commercial production in 1954. In the history of world fruit growing, it is recorded as one of the most important pioneering varieties that established modern standards for the class of yellow-fleshed summer nectarines. Due to its high and stable productivity, exceptional fruit size, beautiful appearance, and outstanding resistance to transport, it has remained an irreplaceable and highly valued variety in commercial orchards and home gardens for decades.

It is a fully self-fertile variety. It is characterized by an exceptionally high level of self-pollination and abundant flowering every year, so it reliably and stably produces maximum yields in pure single-variety orchards without any need for other pollinator varieties in the orchard. It is an excellent universal pollinator for all other peach and nectarine varieties that flower at the same time. It flowers from medium-early to medium-late and is characterized by large, open, and attractive rose-type, showy flowers whose buds are highly resistant to late winter cold.

The tree is moderately to highly vigorous, with strong scaffold branches that form a well-branched, regular, orderly, and medium-dense canopy with excellent branch angles. It enters full bearing very early, often producing its first commercial crop as early as the second or third year after planting. It bears regularly, abundantly, and exceptionally stably every year. Due to its inherent tendency toward abundant fruit set in clusters, mandatory strong winter pruning is required, along with mandatory early hand thinning of the fruit in early summer, in order to prevent fruit size reduction and branch breakage under the weight of the crop.

It belongs to the group of medium-early summer nectarine varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens in the peak of summer, at the end of July and in early August, usually between July 20 and 30, around ten days before the standard Redhaven peach.

Harvesting is carried out selectively and in several passes, most often in 2 to 3 pickings during the end of July. One of the major advantages of this variety is that ripe fruit tolerates remaining on the tree very well and does not drop easily even in stronger winds, allowing stable harvest planning and market placement at full maturity.

Its fresh-storage ability is very good for a summer nectarine. In cold storage, it can be successfully kept for 7–10 days. Due to its exceptionally firm, compact, and fleshy fruit, it tolerates picking, rough mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance transport to distant markets perfectly, without the risk of crushing or juice leakage. It is primarily intended for luxury fresh table consumption on domestic and foreign markets, but due to its flesh characteristics it is also excellent for home processing, compotes, and freezing.

The fruit is large to very large, with an average weight of 160 to over 180 g, uniform on the tree, and regular in shape, round to slightly oval, with a weakly pronounced longitudinal groove. The skin is thin, smooth, completely without pubescence, and glossy. The ground color is intense yellow-orange, covered over most of the fruit surface, more than 75%, by a beautiful, bright, glossy red blush and overcolor on the sun-exposed side. The flesh is intense yellow, without pronounced redness around the stone, very firm, compact, and fleshy in structure, exceptionally juicy, and melting. The taste is outstanding, rich, and full, characterized by high sugar content perfectly balanced with a pleasant level of refreshing acidity and a fine varietal aroma. It belongs to the group of true freestone nectarines: the stone is medium-sized and, at full maturity, separates from the flesh completely easily, smoothly, and cleanly.

It is moderately resistant to diseases. It shows excellent natural resistance of the wood and flower buds to low winter frosts during dormancy. On the other hand, like all nectarines due to their smooth skin, it is highly susceptible to peach leaf curl, Taphrina deformans, and susceptible to Monilinia and fruit rot, Monilinia laxa, in humid and rainy years before harvest, which requires mandatory, professional, and maximally regular preventive chemical protection, including copper-based blue spraying at the bud swelling stage and targeted fungicides throughout the growing season.

Our nectarine fruit trees are produced on highly compatible, certified rootstocks: vineyard peach seedling, an excellent standard for well-drained, light, and moderately fertile soils, and the modern vegetative rootstock St. Julien A, which successfully controls tree vigor on heavier and wetter soils, ensuring a perfect and long-lasting graft union.