There aren’t many fruit trees that can keep you in food most of the year. The Gala apple fruit tree is one of them. Famed for their crispness, Gala apples can be harvested most of the autumn and can be stored for months while retaining an excellent texture. If you are thinking of growing a Gala apple tree, who can blame you? Read on for tips to make Gala apple tree care as easy as possible.
I. Appearance and Characteristics
At the top of the harvest charts, Malus domestica ‘Gala’ is a culinary or dessert cultivar with a profusion of fragrant, white flowers in mid-season (mid-spring). Draped in clusters along the branches, they are truly a sight to behold. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. They are followed in late summer and fall by a heavy crop of medium-sized, bright red apples with darker red stripes over a creamy-yellow background.
Sweet, crisp, juicy, with a mild tang, they are flavorful and snack-worthy, perfect for eating, cooking, and making salad and sauces. The fruits resist bruising and can be stored for up to six months. Gala is partially self-fertile and requires pollination by a tree of another variety with the same bloom period, such as Honeycrisp, Fuji, Golden, or Red Delicious.
Originating from New Zealand, Gala’s success is explained by its taste, texture, sweetness, ease of growing, and productivity. Beautiful in bloom, heavy with luscious apples, and picturesque when old, apple trees are very rewarding additions to the landscape.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight
Apples ‘Gala’ prefers sunlight and grows well in full sun. Sufficient sunlight for about 8 hours a day is recommended. Sunlight will have a great impact on flower colors, while insufficient sunlight will lead to lighter colors. If there is strong light in summer, apples ‘Gala’ needs proper shady conditions to avoid high-temperature injuries. Too much light may cause leaf curling or spots on stems and leaves.
Temperature and Humidity
‘Gala’ apples perform best in areas with 900 to 1,200 hours of temperatures below 45 °F (7°C). This winter chill requirement helps the tree develop properly later in the summer. ‘Gala’ is a variety with a standard winter chill requirement, and it struggles to produce a bountiful crop in zones 9 and warmer.
Other apple varieties are awesome for areas with mild winters, like Southern California. For zones 9 and above, try varieties with low winter chill requirements, like ‘Fuji’ and ‘Granny Smith.’
Watering
Apples ‘Gala’ thrives in conditions that mimic its origins, requiring moderate humidity and consistent moisture. It exhibits a preference for evenly moist soil, indicative of its intolerance to drought. Watering should be done twice a week to maintain this balance. As an outdoor plant often cultivated in temperate regions, apples ‘Gala’ has a growing season that is closely tied to water availability; adequate spring rainfall can significantly enhance fruit production.
Soil
Apple trees’ optimal soil is deep, fertile, and well-drained. The beauty of apples lies in their ability to tolerate multiple different conditions. Although they prefer loam, they also tolerate heavy clay soils.
If your dirt is extremely heavy, dig a wider hole for the tree at planting. When you dig, you loosen up the hard soil. Then, when you plant your tree, you put the loosened-up soil back into the hole. This broken-up dirt allows your tree to establish itself despite the heavy clay conditions.
Avoid amending the soil, as this causes your tree to have a tough time expanding out of the amended soil into the native soil. After planting, add mulch around the tree’s root zone to add nutrients into the soil. Be sure not to pile mulch up around the base of the trunk, as this can lead to rot later in the season.
Fertilizing
Newly planted trees will benefit from organic fertilizer feeding. Use a general fertilizer with equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, like a 10-10-10 fertilizer. Apply ¼ pound at planting.
Every subsequent year, at the start of spring, apply ¼ pound of the same fertilizer. Once your tree is producing a standard crop each year, it will not require additional fertilizer.
Planting Instructions
It is generally easiest to plant apples ‘Gala’ by buying seedlings rather than sowing seeds. The recommended planting time is before budding in early spring or after leaves fall in early winter. Before planting, thoroughly check whether the roots of the tree are healthy. If rotten roots are found, they need to be quickly cut and disinfected with carbendazim.
When planted in a garden, the pit depth should be about 40 cm and the diameter about 60 cm. If the root is large, the size of the pit needs to be twice as big as the root ball. Before transplanting, apply some rotten organic fertilizer as the base fertilizer. In severe cold zones, pay attention to keeping apples ‘Gala’ warm while transplanting. Add a cover such as wood chips or mulch at the base of the plant to ensure it overwinters safely.
Pruning
‘Gala’ trees grow to 14 feet tall, so you have some options for shaping your tree. Some common shapes are a central leader shape, a modified leader shape, or an espalier.
A central leader shape looks aesthetically pleasing, although the modified central leader shape is the best option for apple trees. Apples are heavy, and so on a central leader tree, their weight can cause the topmost branches to fall over and break.
Create the modified central leader shape by selecting one leader branch growing up. Use pruners to cut at the top so that it branches out over time. The goal is to have multiple branches growing up and out around the crown. Also thin weak branches, branches growing downward, and dead wood.
For an espalier, select a strong and sturdy trellis for your tree to grow on. Tie the trunk to the trellis and tie each branch so that they lie flat along it. The plant’s shape will be two-dimensional instead of three-dimensional. With time, the espaliered tree will grow thick and produce nearly the same amount of apples as a mature tree. This is a great way to maximize growth in smaller spaces along a wall or fence.
The best time to prune an apple tree depends on your area, but it is generally best to prune in late winter before the tree leafs out. Its structure is easily visible, while it lacks leaves and flowers. This time is also when diseases and pests are at a minimum, and the tree can better protect its wounds than in the summer.
Propagation
Grow ‘Gala’ apple trees from cuttings. Apple seeds are highly variable and grow offspring that are different from the parent tree. Ensure you have the ‘Gala’ variety and take cuttings off a healthy, mature tree.
Growing from cuttings is time-intensive, and it may take up to six months for roots to show. Skip the waiting process and find grafted trees for your climate at your local nursery, or order them online from a reputable source.
If you are up for the challenge and have a ‘Gala’ tree in your area, try propagating it by cuttings! Take softwood cuttings from mature, healthy trees in January. Keep them cool in a refrigerator until spring.
In early spring, take your cuttings out and prepare them for planting. Remove any leaves from the bottom half of the cutting and place cuttings in pots with moist soil. As they grow, remove all flower buds. Cover each pot with a plastic bag or container to trap the humidity. Situate the cuttings in a protected area with dappled shade.
Keep your cuttings moist, and within three to six months, a few of them should grow roots. When new growth is visible and the cuttings have roots, transplant them into a larger container or plant them into the landscape. If your cuttings develop white powdery mildew, increase their airflow and open the humidity shields.
Pests and Diseases
Common Pests
Codling moths, apple maggots, leaf rollers, and aphids all attack apple trees. Keep your apple in tip-top shape by cleaning up fruit litter in the fall. This prevents infections and pests from overwintering below the tree. Keep your tree well pruned and prune in late winter to further lower the risk of infection.
Mesh netting is an awesome pest prevention tool. Simply bag up apples on the tree when they are small and let them ripen inside the netting. Use pheromone traps or an organic horticultural oil for extreme infections.
Trichogramma wasps are parasitic wasps that lay eggs inside the eggs of other moths and caterpillars. Growers release these critters in apple orchards, and they prey on the larvae that prey on apples. Attract them to your yard with yarrow, asters, and coreopsis.
Common Problems
- Weak Branches
Because ‘Gala’ trees grow quickly, they will sometimes create weak branches that extend further than they should and can break easily. You can opt to prune these larger branches back and encourage a modified central leader shape, or you can add support beneath the thick branches so they can strengthen over time.
- Fireblight
Most apples are susceptible to fireblight, a bacterial disease that affects plants in the Rosaceae family. ‘Gala’ is particularly susceptible to fireblight. Although copper pesticides reduce fireblight infections, they are not a foolproof way of prevention.
Avoid adding unnecessary chemicals and use mechanical prevention methods. In summer or winter, the fireblight infection stops growing, and you can easily see the damaged branches. Prune off all infected wood. Fireblight cannot enter the apple tree through pruning cuts, and it is more important to remove all the infected wood from the tree.
- Mild-Favored Apples
Are your ‘Gala’ apples not tasting great? They lose their flavor in storage. Avoid weak-flavored apples by consuming them fresh or preparing them into apple dishes soon after harvest.
III. Uses and Benefits
An American favorite, ‘Gala’ apples have many different uses in the kitchen. Slice them open to see their gorgeous yellow flesh and smell their sweet aroma. Eat them fresh, or enjoy their sweet and juicy nature by blending the apples and straining their juice.
They also make excellent apple pie, apple fritters, and apple jam. I like to boil my apples in water and sugar and mix them with pectin to make apple jam. It lasts an entire year, and I get to enjoy apples in the winter.
IV. Harvesting and Storage
‘Gala’ apple trees are an early to midseason ripening variety, meaning their apples are ripe earlier than most other varieties. They will typically be ready to eat from July through September. Apples are bright yellow with splotches and lines of red. Highly ornamental, they put on a show each summer while they ripen. Eat these apples fresh. They lose their flavor in storage and taste their best right after they’re picked.
