All about apples, pears, plums, and cherries - and orchards where they are grown

SundanceTM apple

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SundanceTM is a modern disease resistant apple, which was first selected from a breeding programme in the 1960s and introduced in the early 21st century.

The following excellent article describes the origins of this apple in more detail: www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/sundance.pdf.  Of particular interest is the pedigree diagram which shows the direct relationship with Golden Delicious, along with the more complex parentage necessary to incorporate the gene for scab resistance which occurs naturally in the crab apple Malus floribunda. This is a good illustration of the challenge facing anyone trying to develop a scab-resistant apple, in effect it is a matter of retaining the scab resistant gene whilst breeding out the other less desirable characteristics of the crab apple (small size and acidic flavor) and replacing them with better qualities from high quality apples such as Golden Delicious.

USDA identification images for Sundance

The identification paintings in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection span the years 1886 to 1942.

    Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.

    Visitor reviews

    • 05 Oct 2016  WA, United States
      My Sundance tree is about 6 years old. It produced a small crop for the first time two years ago, no apple trees in my area produced last year and this year it is bearing 20-30 large apple despite not being thinned this spring. The trunk and branches are larger and sturdier than my other two trees of the same age. While it is not a huge producer like my pixie crunch apple tree, it is a healthy, sturdy tree with beautiful, large apples. It is October 5th and the appls seeds are brown indicating they are ripe. The apples are heavy, juicy and flavorful but a bit too thick skinned and tart for me to eat fresh. Fortunately I purchased this tree for baking and hopefully the apples will sweeten in storage like they are supposed to. Overall I am very happy with my Sundance apple tree!

    Tree register

    United States

    Spring blossom records for this variety

    2015 season

    • 2nd June  2015  - tree owned by Steve in Green Bay, United States

    Record your blossom dates in our Fruit Tree Register - more >>.


    Harvest records for this variety

    2015 season

    • 2nd week November  2015  - tree owned by Steve in Green Bay, United States

    Origins

    • Species: Malus domestica
    • Parentage: Golden Delicious plus others
    • Introduced: 1964
    • Developed by: Purdue University

    Using

    • Picking season: Late
    • Cropping: Good
    • Keeping (of fruit): 3 months or more
    • Flavor style (apples): Sharper
    • Food uses: Eating fresh

    Growing

    • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
    • Flowering group: 4
    • Ploidy: Diploid
    • Bearing regularity: Biennial tendency
    • Organic culture: Suitable

    Climate

    • Cold-hardiness: Cold-hardy
    • Cold hardiness (USDA): (5) -20F / -29C
    • Summer average maximum temperatures: Cool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)
    • Summer average maximum temperatures: Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
    • Chill requirement: Low-chill 500 hours

    Identification

    • Country of origin: United States
    • Period of origin: 1950 - 1999
    • Fruit size: Large
    • Fruit colour: Green / Yellow

    Where to buy fresh fruit

    The following orchards grow Sundance:

    United States




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