At Fruit Logistica, Benoît Escande presented the RKD Gala, a mutant of the Gala variety which has a significant advantage. “Its main asset is that it has an advanced maturity of 3 weeks. It is already very tasty when the first Galas are not even harvested yet, or only harvested according to their color but not their maturity,” explains Benoît Escande, manager of Escande Nursery.
Benoit Escande at Fruit Logistica
The first trees in production were planted at the end of 2017. The feedback from the producers is very encouraging. “They are very satisfied with the variety and aware of the significant qualities of this clone, in terms of taste, color and precocity. The only imperative is to remember to plant very tightly. If the orchard is dense enough (3.5m x 0.80m at least), the crop does very well.”
Today, the variety is in full development. “The RKD Gala has been developed a lot by Blue Whale and its growth in Spain and Italy is very interesting. We still have 80,000 trees available, which were already sorted and packed for Ukraine. But with the war, we were not able to deliver those trees. The Ukrainian clients had already come to check the merchandise and we were looking for trucks to bring them to the Donbas region, but the conflict broke out and the transaction was never completed.”
These trees are therefore available for producers in Portugal, Germany, or even eastern or northern countries, who want to start producing this clone of the Gala.
For more information:
Benoît Escande
Escande Nursery
Phone: +33 553 71 22 13
Escande.trees@gmail.com