page_title: Cider apple
section_title: High density orchards
hierarchical_section_title: Cider apple / Orchard design / High density orchards
caption_attribution_description: English: Trees in modern apple orchard Polski: Owoce i drzewa w intensywnym sadzie jabłoniowym
context_page_description: Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider. Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or dryness of flavour, qualities which make the fruit unpalatable but can be useful in cidermaking. Some apples are considered to occupy more than one category.
  In the United Kingdom the Long Ashton Research Station categorised cider apples in 1903 into four main types according to the proportion of tannins and malic acid in the fruit. For cider production it is important that the fruit contains high sugar levels which encourage fermentation and raise the final alcohol levels. Cider apples therefore often have higher sugar levels than dessert and cooking apples. It is also considered important for cider apples to contribute tannins, which add depth to the finished cider's flavour.
context_section_description: High density planting became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and is a common method of growing cider apples outside of the United Kingdom. The average high density orchard contains about 1,000 trees per acre, although some orchards in Europe and the Pacific Northwest may contain up to 9,000 trees per acre. Trees in high density orchards are grafted onto a precocious dwarfing rootstock that keeps the tree small and encourages early fruit production, with trees often bearing within two to three years of planting. This allows growers to bring new varieties of apple to market more quickly than they could with traditional, more widely spaced orchard designs that are slower to mature. Because trees grown on a dwarfing rootstock are small and thin, they must be supported by a trellis system. Rows are spaced depending on the height of the mature tree, usually half the tree height plus three feet (approximately 1m). High density orchards are more labor efficient than traditional orchards, as workers do not need to climb ladders during maintenance or harvest Pesticide application is also more efficient, as chemicals can be applied by over-the-row sprayers, fixed in-canopy systems, or other devices that reduce pesticide waste.
caption: Apple trees in a modern high-density orchard.
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