Glossary · Orchard
Triploid
Definition
A cultivar carrying three sets of chromosomes rather than two. Triploids are vigorous and often heavy croppers but produce sterile or near-sterile pollen, so they cannot pollinate anything and need two other cultivars in the orchard.
- Subject
- Orchard
In more detail
The practical rule is that a triploid must be planted with at least two compatible diploids flowering at the same time — one to pollinate the triploid, and each other to pollinate the remaining tree, since neither can rely on the triploid for pollen. Several well-known cider and dessert varieties are triploid.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Orchard
Diploid
A cultivar with the normal two sets of chromosomes, producing viable pollen. Most apple and pear cultivars are diploid, and an orchard’s pollination planning is built around them.
Orchard
Pollination group
A numbered band grouping cultivars by the timing of their blossom, so that a grower can plant varieties that flower together and can therefore pollinate one another.
Orchard
Self-incompatible
Unable to set a useful crop from its own pollen. Almost all apples and pears are self-incompatible, so an orchard needs at least two cultivars flowering together.
Orchard
Pollinator
A cultivar planted to supply compatible pollen to the cropping variety, or — in the other sense of the word — the insect that carries it. Crab apples are often used as pollen sources because they flower long and heavily.
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.
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.