Bingo for local apple farmer

Writer: Hedda Mittner.

The Hemel-en-Aarde region is already well known for its vineyards from which premium cool-climate wines, most notably Burgundy-style Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are produced. Now this fertile valley is again in the spotlight for a very different reason – a new cherry-red mutation of the Gala apple variety, aptly named Bingo Gala, which apparently has striking commercial potential, especially in the Asian market.

Apple grower and farmer, Jannie Wiegman, with the cherry-red mutation of the Gala apple variety, which he has developed in the nursery on Zuiderkruis farm in Hemel-en-Aarde. Aptly named Bingo Gala, this cultivar is touted as a potential top seller in Asia, because of its striking colour.

This new generation of Gala apple was developed from a mutation that was discovered by local farmer, Jannie Wiegman, who came across a few trees with bright red apples as he drove through his Gala orchard on the Sunridge farm in Grabouw on his motorcycle one rainy day shortly before harvest time. Jannie, who is the former owner of the Zuiderkruis apple and pear nursery and farm in Hemel-en-Aarde, told Landbouweekblad that his interest was immediately piqued by these apples, which looked different to the rest in the orchard.

“These red apples were on three trees, then there were two gaps, followed by another tree, a gap and yet another tree. This told me that the trees probably came from the same shoot that mutated,” he told Landbouweekblad. He decided to grow 100 trees to see what would develop, as he did not want to proceed until he was certain of the stability of the colour.

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