Quote:The best indicator of harvest maturity is honey core (watercore) with harvest when at
least 50% of the crop displays slight honey core.

Growing Fuji in Australia

Predo Joticland Gordon Brown2

1Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
2Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, New Town, Tasmania, Australia.

Presented at the Washington State Horticultural Association meeting, December 1997,
Wenatchee, WA.

The first importation of standard Fuji into Australia was made in 1973, just 10 years after it was
released to the Japanese fruit industry.The initial screening tests in Tasmania indicated that this
was a high quality cultivar worthy of further evaluation.The variety showed superb eating
quality, storage and shelf life.The bicolor striped appearance was quite variable and did not
impress the growers during the early seventies.With the emergence of many red sports in Japan
further importations were carried out in the early eighties and four selections (Naga-Fu 1,
Naga-Fu 2, Aki-Fu 1 and Aki-Fu 7) were released for commercial tests in 1984-85.

Since 1989 a number of striped Fuji strains and variants from overseas or local sources have
been included in the testing program in Tasmania.Naga-Fu 2 and Naga-Fu 1 are currently the
most prevalent red strains in Australian orchards.Over the last 2 years Naga-Fu 6 and
Naga-Fu 12 have received some attention in the commercial scene.

Fruit quality, maturation and storage research on Naga-Fu 2 was first conducted in Tasmania
during the 1989 and 1990 seasons.Further detailed studies on all four red Fuji strains were
made when the trees were older, in 1992 and 1993.Results for harvest maturity and storage of
the fruit were confirmed in South Australian research conducted in 1993.In Victoria,
commercial experience with harvest maturity and fruit storage has been documented by a private
consultant confirming the commercial adoption of the previous research.

Although Fuji has many outstanding attributes, precocity, fruit size, eating and keeping quality, it
has some weaknesses.Poor skin finish and inconsistent color quality have been the most
troublesome characteristics under Australian conditions.Crop regulation also presents some
difficulty to growers.Sunburn and bird damage affect the packout to a lesser extent.

Under cool temperate conditions, Fuji has an extended flowering period and produces flowers on
all ages of fruiting wood.The blossoming habit creates difficulties in crop regulation and
invariably exposes young fruitlets to inclement weather which contributes to unsatisfactory skin
finish.Fruit cracking and skin staining have not been observed to date.

GROWING CONDITIONS AND PRODUCTION
Fuji has been planted in all major apple growing regions of Australia from the southernmost
areas in Tasmania (43ºS) to Stanthorpe in Queensland (28ºS).This wide geographic spread
includes mild temperate coastal, Mediterranean, inland continental and subtropical zones
modified by high altitudes.Due to its site sensitivity Fuji has produced disappointing returns in

some locations.In general, apples receive sufficient winter chilling.The growing season is long
with prevailing hot and dry summers in most districts.Drip and minisprinkler irrigation are
widely used for at least 5 months of the growing season.

On the Australian scene, Fuji, Red Gala and Pink Lady lag behind the three major cultivars,
Delicious, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious (Table 1).Based on current planting, it may
challenge the third position by the end of the decade.By the year 2000 the production should
reach 35,000 metric tons or 10% of the national crop.The area of plantings should rise from
1,000 ha (2,471 acres) (1996) to 1,250 ha (3,089 acres) in the year 2000.

In Tasmania, Fuji commands the leading position amongst the new cultivars (Table 2) and is
second only to Delicious in terms of overall tree numbers.The current Fuji plantings of 250 ha
(618 acres) should produce around 7,000 metric tons in year 2000.The area of planting should
rise to 400 ha (988 acres) over the next 3 years.

FUJI STRAINS
In the search for better color, a number of Fuji strains have been introduced since 1981.The first
group of high colored strains included Naga-Fu 1, Naga-Fu 2, Aki-Fu 1 and Aki-Fu 7.
Evaluations in Tasmania determined that the two Naga-Fu strains and Aki-Fu 7 display
predominantly uniform red color.Aki-Fu 1 is mainly striped and the most variable selection,
particularly on vigorous rootstocks (Table 3).The blush strains also produced fruits with a
greater red color area and intensity compared with Aki-Fu 1 which was the least attractive in the
test and appeared less suitable for commercial development.

Wider experience in commercial orchards across a comprehensive range of sites and growing
conditions have revealed that Naga-Fu 1 and Aki-Fu 7 may be more grower friendly in respect to
appearance as both selections produce brighter red color and improved skin finish.This could be
related to the color pattern (Table 3) and the level of tree vigor.Naga-Fu 2 has exhibited a high
incidence of russet.

Tree size differences were more pronounced in the latter stage of the test.On MM.106 grown on
shallow duplex type soil in the Huon Valley, Naga-Fu 2 produced the smallest tree with
consistently less vigor than the Aki-Fu strains.This may be linked to latent viruses “Spy
epinasty and decline”and “stem grooving”that are present in Naga-Fu 2.

Aki-Fu 1 and 7 were more productive, particularly during the early phase of the trial.These two
selections also had the best crop efficiency (yield/tree size) with Aki-Fu 7/MM.106 being the
most productive (Table 4).Inconsistent cropping was apparent.

The second wave of Fuji strain trials focused on striped strains and included overseas
importations Naga-Fu 6, Naga-Fu 12 and a variant of Aki-Fu 1 released from quarantine in 1994,
and a series of promising local selections mainly arising from Naga-Fu 1 plantings.

Preliminary tests in Tasmania indicated that Naga-Fu 6 has quite prominent and somewhat
inconsistent stripe over green-yellow undercolor.Naga-Fu 12 displays a mixture of blushed and
striped fruits with striped color patterns often fused with blush red overcolor.The stripes are
finer and less continuous in comparison with Naga-Fu 6.The 1994 Aki-Fu 1 strain has color

characteristics similar to Naga-Fu 12 and may prove to be superior to the 1981 introduction.
Naga-Fu 6 and Naga-Fu 12 are now entering the commercial test stage.

Additional striped colored selections and variants are awaiting preliminary screening in
Tasmania.These are Fuji 2001, Ogura, Ayano, Moriho-Fu 3A, Iwa-Fu 10, etc., from Japan and
BHP 1-6 from Washington State.

ROOTSTOCKS
In a test with a limited range of rootstocks in Tasmania, M.26 was the most productive rootstock
selection during the first 4 years of the trial (Table 5).The other three rootstocks produced
identical results.As expected, M.26 tree size was 50 percent smaller than with Northern Spy or
M.1.However, it is not fully clear why MM.106 was smaller than M.26.The reverse vigor
performance could be due to a strong replant effect on MM.106 and differences in nursery tree
quality.M.26 nursery trees had more primary feathers which reflects in comparative early yield
performance.Under the management approach in this trial which had no pruning and no fruit
thinning, Fuji displayed classical biennial crop characteristics in all four rootstock combinations
(Table 6).M.26 and M.1 showed the largest annual yield variations.

An experiment with Naga-Fu 2 on an expanded range of dwarfing rootstocks conducted in
Adelaide Hills, South Australia, provided further information on Fuji response to dwarfing and
some medium vigor rootstocks (Table 7).The trial was established on fully ameliorated medium
sandy loam soils.MM.106 produced the highest total crop per tree and the largest trees during
the first 6 years of the test.Conversely, Ottawa 3 had the poorest outcome with Naga-Fu 2.The
trial confirms this rootstock’s extreme sensitivity to the latent viruses, stem grooving and Spy
epinasty and decline, which are present in this Fuji strain.Tree losses (50%) were also a
problem with this scion/rootstock combination.Similar difficulties with Ottawa 3 were observed
in Tasmania even at the nursery phase.Mark, M.26 and M.9 all had good total crops in relation
to the tree size which translated into good yield efficiency.Mark and M.9 were the most
productive rootstocks in the experiment while MM.111and MM.106 gave disappointing results.
M.9, M.26 and MM.106 exhibited pronounced signs of biennial bearing in the 5th and 6th year
of the test.In regard to mean fruit weight, Mark, M.9 and M.26 had the greatest mean fruit
weight.

On the commercial scene, MM.106 and N. Spy are the most common rootstocks in semi-
intensive plantings.M.26, M.7, M.793, MM.104 and MM.111are also used by growers.
MM.106 frequently produced poor fruit quality on weak growing sites and in replant situations.
Any marked decline in vigor due to unsatisfactory soil conditions or other factors invariably
resulted in high incidence of russet.On typical podsolic duplex type soils in Tasmania, N. Spy,
M.1, M.2 and similar high vigor rootstocks appear to have positive effects on skin finish.The
more dwarfing rootstocks MM.102, M.26 and M.9 can produce good fruit quality on virgin deep
fertile soils and high level of orchard management.

GROWING SYSTEMS AND PRUNING
Central Axis (C. Axis) and its variations, planted at medium density of 800-1000 trees/ha (324-
405 trees/acre), has been the most common system of growing Fuji in Australia.Multi-leader
“Regulated Bush”and, most recently, “V7”canopies have also been adopted by growers.