Php apache permissions – best practices

I have a codeigniter app that creates folders using php. The owner of any folder created via php is “apache”, but if I want to upload a folder via ftp, the owner is my ftp username.

I’m having an issue where php (apache) can’t modify files in folders uploaded via ftp due to permissions. In the meantime, I’ve added my ftpuser to the apache group and apache to the ftpuser group, but wondering if there’s a better way?