Glossary · Orchard
Cordon
Definition
A tree trained as a single stem, usually at an angle against wires or a wall, with fruiting spurs held close to that stem. Used for very high density planting and for trials rather than for commercial cider fruit.
- Subject
- Orchard
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Orchard
Bush
A small tree on a dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstock with a short stem, planted at high density and cropping within a few years of planting. Most cider fruit grown commercially since the mid twentieth century comes from bush orchards.
Orchard
Spur bearer
A cultivar that carries most of its fruit on short, slow-growing shoots — spurs — on two-year-old and older wood. Spur bearers tolerate the routine winter shortening of shoots that pruning involves.
Orchard
Rootstock
The root system onto which a fruiting cultivar is grafted. It governs the tree’s eventual size, its speed into bearing, its anchorage and its tolerance of soil conditions, without changing the fruit itself.
Orchard
M9
A dwarfing apple rootstock from the Malling series, producing a small, early-bearing tree that requires permanent staking and good soil moisture. Standard for intensive dessert orchards and used for some intensive cider planting.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
NIAB (incorporating East Malling Research)
NIAB · research institute · retrieved 2026-08-24
East Malling developed the M-series apple rootstocks that determine tree size in essentially every modern orchard, cider orchards included. The authority CiderHQ uses for rootstock behaviour.