Golden parmane apple – care instructions and experience

The Goldparmäne is described as a demanding apple variety that does not grow well in every location and is not very easy to prune. First of all, it should be noted that the Goldparmäne cannot be really super demanding, otherwise it would not have been cultivated uninterruptedly in large stretches of land from 1510 until today.

With regard to the location, however, it is correct that the Goldparmäne was discovered and known in France, and on average it is a bit warmer in France than in the colder regions of Germany. Accordingly, the Goldparmäne needs:

• A warm and sunny location
• Preferably in one of the climatically favored regions of Germany
• The Goldparmäne immigrated from France to Baden-Württemberg around 1800
• Baden-Württemberg is winter hardiness zone 7a (maximum -17.7 ° C)
• The tree has tolerated this zone for a good 200 years
• The warmer winter hardiness zones 7b and 8a (maximum cold -14.9 ° C, -12.2 ° C) are suitable
• In Germany there are also climate zones 6b and 6a ((-20.4 ° C, -23.3 ° C)
• Locations in these zones may be too cold for the variety to ripen aromatic apples
• The location should usually be frost-free during the flowering period of the Golden Parmane from April to May
• The more the frost-sensitive flowers suffer cold damage, the leaner the harvest will be
• Ultimately, the microclimate in the garden decides
• The nursery will advise whether the planned location offers enough warmth

With regard to the trimming, it is correct that the Goldparmäne would like to be trimmed regularly. But that applies to every apple tree in the home garden that should stay in good shape and bear a lot of fruit. The bush-like crown of the golden parmane forms many individual branches that grow upwards, on which the fruit wood grows. It just needs regular, correct pruning so that the tree does not overbuild and then grow old. It is particularly important for the young Golden Parmane to get the very strong growth of the steeply upright leading branches on the right path. The growth of the golden parmane becomes weaker with age.

It is also correct that the gold parmane makes very high demands on its care compared to the best-selling apple trees. Because the apple varieties best-selling (also to private and hobby gardeners) are the few apple varieties that are used in commercial fruit growing. And these commercial varieties actually only have one requirement: to be sprayed several times in the season (up to 30 times), otherwise they usually get drowned in pests and diseases – and you don’t have to worry about watering and fertilizing.

The Goldparmäne, on the other hand, is an apple variety that still has all of the original genes and would like to be planted and cared for as the tradition dictates:

• Plant gold parmane in a light, sheltered location
• With humus and nutrient-rich, permeable soil
• Enrich rather poor soils with humus
• Make heavy, compacted soils looser with a little sand

Like all old apple varieties, the golden parmane cannot and should not fertilize itself. This ability of some modern commercial varieties limits the genetic diversity during reproduction and thus violates one of the most important breeding principles. So you need fertilizers, other apple trees in the area, z. B. other old apple varieties in the neighboring garden or on an orchard. If you are only surrounded by commercial varieties, you should inquire carefully before or when purchasing from the nursery whether fertilization is guaranteed or whether you need to plant a pollinator yourself. The question of fertilization must also be clarified if you are among the first to bring life and crops back into a collection of monoculture ornamental wastes (called settlement, allotment garden).

For other apple varieties, the golden parmane, with its long-lasting, diploid bloom, is an excellent pollinator. It is planted on orchards, for which it is not typical, because it is such an excellent pollen donor for triploid apple varieties (which are absolutely dependent on cross-pollination). Triploid are, for example, Boskoop, Gravensteiner, Kaiser Wilhelm; for diploid and triploid and fertilization see forum.planten.de/index.php/topic,37232.0.html.

Harvest and storage

The apples of the Golden Parmane are medium-sized, round to elongated barrel-shaped, with juicy, medium-firm flesh and a smooth, dry, not very waxy skin. The yields are not high and are different every year, as the Goldparmäne tends to alternate (strong harvest years are followed by weak harvest years). The taste is described as sweet with a fine acidity and nutty aroma, the gold parmane is suitable for fresh consumption and all common types of processing. The ripeness is indicated by brown-red sun strips on the golden yellow fruits.

The Goldparmäne reaches picking maturity between mid-September and the beginning of October. An apple is ripe for picking when the carefully twisted fruit stalk detaches itself from the branch (think of the adage that some things like ripe fruit can fall into your lap, which originated during the apple harvest).

Nothing against a few apples eaten fresh from the tree, but the actual ripeness for consumption is not reached until later, depending on the harvest in October / November (to January / February). Especially before the production of applesauce, jelly, dried or frozen apple wedges for cakes, etc., the apples should definitely be stored for several weeks, the fruits still develop a lot of aroma during this time.

So a typical autumn and winter variety with a focus on winter consumption; Strictly speaking, the cultivar is also called “Wintergoldparmäne”. Goldparmänen must not be stored in the refrigerator or cold store, as the apples tend to brown if they are stored too cold. A cool room is enough, in which the apples z. B. individually rolled in newspaper and stored in stacking boxes. Towards the end of the storage period, the peel can collapse, which shouldn’t prevent you from processing it because it is just a blemish.

Pedigree and development of the Goldparmäne

The winter golden parmane is said to have been discovered in Normandy around 1510; the parent varieties of the random seedling are not known. The apple quickly gained such high esteem in France that the variety was called “Reine des Reinettes” (Queen of the Renettes). In Germany, too, the Goldparmäne was considered one of the best apple varieties for centuries.

One of hundreds of apple varieties, only when commercial fruit growing had to supply growing cities from the beginning of the 20th century, began the selection of commercial varieties according to market and sales requirements.

With its demands for uniformity, shelf life, etc., the trade was able to put an end to the variety of apples in stores in Germany very early on: As early as 1951, the Chambers of Agriculture recommended only 13 main varieties for the future out of 120 apple varieties: ‘Klarapfel’, ‘James Grieve’, ‘Jakob Lebel’, ‘Oldenburg’, ‘Goldparmäne’, ‘Boskoop’, ‘Roter Boskoop’, ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’, ‘Ontario’, ‘Cox’, ‘Laxtons Superb’, ‘Jonathan’, ‘Bohnapfel’.

But the Goldparmäne was there, especially in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg as the dominant variety; and the “Queen of Renetten” also survived the renewed restriction of the number of varieties for commercial cultivation, in which the newly formed Federal Fruit Variety Commission in 1960 limited the cultivation range to 3 to 4 main varieties on the state variety list. Then the first foreign apples came onto the German market, the domestic growers once again intensified production by reducing the range of varieties, the gold parmane and other age-old premium apple varieties became part of the history of commercial fruit growing. With the result that in the early 1970s, the sales shelves were covered with even ‘Golden Delicious’ green (this one apple had a market share of 56% in 1972) and it dawned on the first participants, that the apple variety thing had gotten out of hand. Since then the picture has been rotating, slowly at first and increasingly faster lately, the old apple varieties are being rediscovered.

Diseases

With regard to the susceptibility or sensitivity of the golden parmane, you will read a lot of different findings. Sometimes the golden parmane is said to be susceptible to glassiness and speck, codling moth and scab. Sometimes it is described as hardly susceptible to scab or powdery mildew, but infestation with fire blight (notifiable disease) and blood lice is shown as likely. Then again there are not only scabs, powdery mildew, lice, but also cancer and peak drought on heavy soils …

Usually all of these vulnerabilities appear in articles that do not have a justification, keyword-riddled short articles that don’t give you the chance to understand the background to these different views: The popular Goldparmäne has long been tested in commercial farming and was just too complicated to do. Those who are too complicated are not cared for properly; a tree that is not cared for correctly is actually susceptible to everything. If the facts about the apple were taken from one of the numerous pieces of information available on the Internet for commercial fruit growers, the Goldparmäne is in a bad position … The keyword-piqued short articles are inexorably falling into search engine nirvana in the course of the Google quality offensive, and the Goldparmäne is inexorably and fairly conquering healthy (again) the house gardens.

With real care instead of a chemical shower, the Goldparmäne behaves like an ordinary apple tree. An ordinary apple tree can, under unfavorable circumstances, become sick; and then with each variety it is certain diseases that first settle, to which the variety is susceptible. In the case of the Goldparmäne, there is an approximate susceptibility to glassiness and specks and lice; The golden parmane is not always and necessarily immune from all the other diseases mentioned. But she doesn’t have to get these diseases, and in a healthy setting she won’t get them to an extent that is bound to bother you as a home gardener.

Glassiness, specks and lice only became diseases through intensive fruit growing. Glassiness and specks are metabolic diseases that cause glassy or brown spots, lice are all around us and should be there because they are part of the general chain of utilization. A healthy golden parmane survives all of this with ease, the apples can be eaten, and a scab stain on the skin used to be no drama either. When you find your way back to a relaxed way of dealing with harmless “diseases” and “pests”, you will have enough attention for really threatening diseases that you are unlikely to encounter with the Golden Parmane in your home garden.

The testimonials about Goldparmänen in the garden are definitely quite positive, only the harvest of the delicious apples could be many times more abundant. Experience also shows, however, that the golden parmane only brings a good harvest in the long term in the best and most fertile soils. In poor soils, the fruits should become smaller and smaller over time (which you can do a lot with mulch, compost, organic fertilizer).

Conclusion : The Goldparmäne has been valued for a long time because of its great taste. It needs a lot of warmth and is particularly suitable for the warmer winter hardiness zones in Germany (7a, 7b, 8a). Experienced hobby gardeners should definitely try out for themselves whether the Goldparmäne is really as sensitive as it can often be read in instructions (for commercial fruit growing?). After all, the golden parmane has been cultivated for a good 500 years and could also grow contentedly in the home garden without much ado if it is given normal care instead of pesticides.