Sansa apple trees

Sansa
  • Picking season: Early
  • Keeping (of fruit): 1 week
  • Gardening skill: Suitable for beginners
  • Pollination group: 4
  • Uses: Eating fresh
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile

Sansa is one of the best-flavored and sweetest early-season apple varieties. It is similar in flavor and size to Gala, one of its parents, although as might be expected from an early-season apple it has some acidity too.

Like most early-season apples Sansa does not keep, and is best eaten straight from the tree. It can be kept fresh in a fridge for a week or so.

Aside from its short storage life, it can really be considered as an improved Gala-style apple, and is a far better choice if you want to grow apples with little or no spraying.

Sansa apple trees for sale

Item
Mature height*
Price
Quantity
1-year Sansa apple trees bare-root
G.11 rootstock
Small (6ft-9ft) mature height
$29.00
1-year Sansa apple trees bare-root
G.969 rootstock
Medium (8ft-12ft) mature height
$29.00
1-year Sansa apple trees bare-root
Large (10ft-16ft) mature height
$29.00

We are between seasons at the moment. You can pre-order trees now for delivery when the new season starts (fall for warmer zones, or next spring), you won't be asked to pay until nearer the time.

*Find out more about the apple rootstocks we use to control the mature height.


How to grow

Although developed for flavor rather than disease resistance, Sansa turns out to have good natural resistance to cedar apple rust, mildew, and scab - probably inherited from its Akane parent which is also naturally resistant.

Sansa is of average vigor, but a good cropper - a quality it probably inherits from Gala.

Like Gala and Akane, Sansa has a wide climate range and can be grown in most areas of the USA.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

Historical details

Japan, 1980s. A cross between Gala and Akane.

Sansa characteristics

Using

  • Picking season: Early
  • Uses: Eating fresh
  • Cropping: Heavy
  • Keeping (of fruit): 1 week
  • Flavor style (apples): Sweeter
  • Fruit persistence: Normal ripening

Growing

  • Gardening skill: Suitable for beginners
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 4
  • Pollinating others: Average
  • Ploidy: Diploid
  • Vigour: Weak growing
  • Precocity: Precocious
  • Bearing regularity: Regular
  • Fruit bearing: Spur-bearer

Disease resistance

  • General resistance: Good
  • Cedar apple rust: Very resistant
  • Mildew: Very resistant
  • Scab: Some resistance

Climate

  • Cold hardiness (USDA): (5) -20F / -29C
  • Summer average maximum temperatures: Cool ( 20C - 24C / 68F - 75F) Warm (25C - 30C / 76F - 85F)

Identification

  • Country of origin: Japan
  • Period of origin: 1950 - 1999
  • Fruit color: Red