Apple Tree Elstar - Malus domestica

The Elstar Apple Tree is a relatively recent creation that has won over a very wide audience. This apple tree has a very good productivity. Reaching ripeness as early as early September, the apple is medium-sized, perfect for biting into, with a beautiful thin and smooth skin, yellow streaked with red. Its flesh is crisp, very sweet, and refreshing.

The variety 'Elstar' is the result of a cross-breeding between 'Golden Delicious' and 'Ingrid Marie' carried out in the Netherlands in 1955. It was named in 1972 and became popular among producers and the general public in the late 1970s. Its fruits are appreciated for being among the first to ripen, depending on the year and region, harvest takes place between early and mid-September. Highly aromatic, the fruits are pleasantly crisp and have a sweet to tangy flavour that is much appreciated. Their yellow skin streaked and spotted with reddish-orange at full ripeness is thin and digestible. Of a medium and regular size, it is a very good eating apple, excellent fresh without preparation, but it is also delicious in compotes and jellies. The fruits can be kept for a good part of the winter.

Left to grow freely, the 'Elstar' Apple Tree develops a roundish and semi-erect habit, with well-ventilated branching, acrotonous (favouring the growth of the highest branches over those located at the base of the tree). It is vigorous and hardy. However, it is quite susceptible to common apple parasites and diseases. Not enjoying the summer heat, it is well-suited for more northern regions and medium altitudes in mountainous regions. It is a medium-sized tree that is suitable for small gardens and produces large quantities of fruit. However, it may show a tendency towards alternate (biennial) bearing, meaning a year of high productivity may be followed by a year of low harvest.

Flowering takes place in April, at the same time or a few days before 'Golden'. Thanks to its pollinating qualities, Malus domestica Elstar helps to fertilise apple trees of other varieties that are nearby. For its own fruiting, it requires the proximity of an apple tree of another pollinating variety such as Gala, Golden Delicious, Cox Orange, Reine des Reinettes, Granny Smith, Belchard, or Melrose. Indeed, like many apple trees, it is not very self-fertile.