WA5

WA5. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

WSU has recently released news of their second new cultivar, this one called WA5 according to Kate Evans, Associate Professor with WSU’s Apple Breeding Program.

EVANS: WA5 is a cross of Splendour' x ‘Coop 15'. It’s an early to mid September apple so it follows Gala in terms of season, it’s pretty much medium sized, round, very attractive, very bright in appearance, distinctive red/orange stripe over a yellow background.

She says that a big plus for WA5 is that it has very little russet or bitter pit problems.

EVANS: It has excellent eating quality, really good texture. It’s crisp and very juicy and keeps its firmness pretty well out of storage. It has a good sugar/acid balance. We rate it in a kind of medium acidity, medium sugar range.

Evans also says the tree is fairly compact although it does need some thinning. WA5 trees are now available for phase 4.

EVANS: It’s ready for what we call our phase 4 grower evaluation so we’re releasing it in the same way we released WA2 

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.