Apple 'Golden Resistant'

Apple Golden Resistant (Malus domestica Golden resistant) – a winter cultivar of the domestic apple (Malus domestica). An American-bred cultivar. Recommended for the steppe and forest-steppe regions since 1962.

It is a vigorous tree with a broadly oval or broadly rounded crown of medium density. Scaffold branches arise from the trunk almost at right angles. Bud responsiveness is moderate, and shoot-forming capacity is moderate. It bears fruit on spurlets, spurs, fruiting rods and one-year shoots.

Blooms for a long period, relatively late. Produces pollen of medium to high viability — 42—76%. Fruit set from open pollination — 9—27%.

Fruits are of medium to large size, weighing 150-170 g, of average uniformity, oblong-ovoid-conical in shape, greenish-yellow in color, with large corky light-brown lenticels, sometimes with a slight orange blush and rusty netting. The skin is of medium thickness, dry, firm, shiny. The flesh is yellowish-cream, fine-grained, firm, juicy, aromatic, of excellent sweet-and-sour taste (4.5-4.6 points). Harvest maturity occurs at the end of September; eating (consumer) maturity in January. Fruits should be picked very carefully, avoiding finger dents. Begins fruiting on a semi-dwarf rootstock in the 3rd-4th year after planting, on a dwarf rootstock in the 2nd-3rd year. In storage fruits keep until March, in refrigeration — until May. The yield of an 8-10 year old tree on a semi-dwarf rootstock is 45—60 kg (37—50 t/ha), on a dwarf rootstock – 35—50 kg (28-63 t/ha). Produces stable high yields.

Pollinators: Aydared, Elstar, Gloster, Melrose.

Hardiness zone: 4 (-26°C).

Location: prefers sunny, wind-protected sites. Does not tolerate waterlogging or very dry places. Groundwater should lie no closer than 2.5 m from the surface. Not demanding to soil type, but prefers fertile, fresh soils.

Planting: It is preferable to plant the seedling in spring before bud break or in autumn 1-15 months before frosts. The planting hole should be at least 80x80x100 cm; spacing between seedlings should be calculated depending on the mature crown size (at least 5-6 m). The seedling is backfilled with a soil mixture consisting of leaf soil, humus and sand in a ratio of 1:3:2; a little peat and granulated double superphosphate (250-300 g per planting hole) can also be added.

Diseases: the cultivar is resistant to scab and powdery mildew.

Pests: hawthorn tortrix moth, hawthorn moth, brown fruit mite, upper-surface fruit moth, apple blossom weevil, oriental fruit moth, pear sawfly, pear tube borer, oak-leaf silkworm, cambial borer, western bark beetle, green apple aphid, winter moth, kasarka (tortrix), ringed silkworm, red-gall apple aphid, red apple mite, blood aphid, leaf-mining moth, gypsy moth, common pear psylla, fruit moth, fruit and subcortical leafroller, peeling geometrid, rowan moth, currant leafroller, blue-headed cutworm, fruit striped moth, apple spot-like scale, psyllid, apple moth, apple moth and leafroller, codling moth (apple fruit moth), apple clearwing, apple-plantain aphid, apple sawfly.

Care: in the second year after planting it is necessary to apply a complete mineral fertilizer (phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium). In winter protection from freezing and rodents is required. Whitewashing of apple trees is applied in the 5th-6th year after planting the seedling. In spring and summer provide nitrogen fertilization and moderate irrigation. Feed the apple tree after flowering, then after fruitlet drop, and the last time in late August - early September.

Pruning: carried out in two ways: thinning and shortening. For shortening remove half of the upper parts of shoots, and for thinning – remove the whole shoot or branch. The optimal period for pruning is early spring – March-May. Apple trees planted the previous autumn should be pruned before sap flow begins. Summer pruning (pinching) can also be used.

Propagation: propagated by grafting onto rootstocks.

Use: the cultivar is valued for the high taste quality of its fruits, consistent and abundant yields, and high disease resistance. Fruits are consumed fresh; transportability is good.