How sweet it is...


Longtime Oliver grower might have a winner with his recently certified ‘Okana’ apple.


SUSAN MCIVER By Susan McIver C said.


For several years he sold apples from his Okana trees as Spartans, a close relative, through the Fernandes Packing House in Osoyoos.


“Legally, we can now sell them under


hance discovery of a sweet-tasting apple set an experienced Oliver grower on the long road to its certification and to possible success in the marketplace.


In September, David Evans received notification from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that it had certified his new variety, Okana, and granted him plant breeders’ rights. “I think I’ve got a winner,” Evans


In one hand, David Evans holds a deep red Okana apple and in the other a distinctly upward curved leaf.


the name of Okana,” he said. Certification came on the heels of years of work by Evans and his wife, Jean, who have farmed the same acreage south of Oliver since their marriage in 1956.


Evans first bit into an especially sweet apple from a tree in his Spartan planting 25 years ago.


“I knew I had something different then,” he said.


Not until 10 years later, however, did Evans begin to think about developing his potential new variety.


In 1998, he bought 800 Fuji trees as part of the government replant program and planted them in one acre.


Lucy Wright and Laura Garcia of Fernandes Fruit Market in Osoyoos are pleased with


customer acceptance of Okana.


SUSAN MCIVER 8


“The market for Fujis went down, and the trees didn’t grow properly,” he said.


Evans’ solution was to take out every other Fuji, plant them in a second acre and graft Okana onto them.


In 2005, Evans began grafting more than 900 Okana trees onto M26 rootstock. “Okanas are not only sweeter


than Spartans, they have a deep red colour covering more of the apple and their leaves have a curled back appearance,” Evans said. He applied to the CFIA in the summer of 2011.


A year later, tests and trials were conducted at the Oliver orchard. “We did all of the horticultural work on our own and filed all of the paperwork by ourselves,” Evans said. From his observations Okana does not show russet, damage from thrips or mildew on leaves or fruit. The tree is upright with square crotches and the wood is dark and hard, but not brittle.


“Harvesting Okana is a pleasure because it is easy to pick, requires only one picking and keeps firm over a wide harvest range,” Evans said. He has also found that Okana must be sprayed with a suitable hormone to prevent pre-harvest drop, is well adapted to spray thinning and “likes to be winter pruned, growing spurs on two- and three-year shoots.” Initial consumer response to Okana has been promising.


“People really seem to like it,” Evan said.


His confidence is based on positive responses from customers at the Osoyoos Farmers’ Market and comments from attendees at this year’s UBC Apple Festival.


Okana is available at numerous stores British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2013-14


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