Glossary · Orchard
Orchard floor
Also written sward, orchard sward. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
The ground layer beneath the trees, and its management: permanent grazed grassland in traditional orchards, mown alleys with herbicide strips in intensive ones.
- Subject
- Orchard
- Also written
- sward, orchard sward
In more detail
The floor is not passive. It competes with young trees for water and nitrogen, it determines whether fruit can be shaken and collected cleanly, it harbours the leaf litter on which scab overwinters, and in a traditional orchard it is most of the biodiversity. Grazing under trees adds a second output but requires either a clear stem or tree guards.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Production
Orchard floor management
What is grown, mown, grazed or suppressed beneath and between the trees, which affects tree vigour, juice nitrogen, harvest logistics and the biological interest of the ground.
Production
Grazing under trees
Running livestock in an orchard so the sward becomes a second crop, with the tree protection, stock timing and food-safety rules that arrangement requires.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Orchard
Standard
A tree grown on a vigorous rootstock with a clear trunk of about 1.8 to 2.1 metres before the first branch, forming a large canopy that can be grazed or mown beneath.
Orchard
Traditional orchard
An orchard of widely spaced standard or half-standard trees on vigorous rootstocks, with a permanent grassland floor that is grazed or mown. In the United Kingdom it is a recognised priority habitat.
Orchard
Windfall
Fruit that has fallen from the tree before deliberate harvest. In cider orchards windfalls are a normal part of the crop; the question is how long they have lain and in what condition.
Orchard
Scab
A fungal disease, caused by *Venturia inaequalis*, producing olive-brown blotches on leaves and corky, cracked lesions on fruit. It reduces yield, disfigures fruit and opens the way for rots.
Orchard
Agroforestry
Growing trees and agricultural crops or livestock together on the same ground. A grazed standard orchard is one of the oldest European examples, combining fruit, timber and pasture on one field.
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.
Traditional Orchard Habitat Inventory and orchard loss surveys
People’s Trust for Endangered Species / Natural England · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24. The traditional orchard campaign pages were reached and confirmed, but the orchard-loss figures CiderHQ wants from this body sit in survey outputs rather than on the campaign page, and were not located in this pass.
A Somerset Pomona: The Cider Apples of Somerset
Liz Copas, The Dovecote Press, 2001. ISBN 9781874336877 · reference work · bibliographic record verified, not opened 2026-08-25
Bibliographic record verified on 2026-08-25 against Open Library: Liz Copas, The Dovecote Press, 2001, ISBN 9781874336877. The author was Long Ashton’s cider pomologist, which is why this work is registered for Somerset cultivar identity at all — it is the nearest thing to a successor to the station’s own descriptions. No copy was opened. Not digitised in any open collection.