OrchardHQPlan a new block, before a single tree goes in the ground.
Draw a boundary on the satellite map, pick varieties and rootstocks, set spacing and headlands, let the grid generator place every tree, check that the planting pollinates itself — finalise and plant. For adding trees that are already in the ground, see the Map guide.
Need precision positions? Pin accuracy beyond what a phone GPS gives — Refine, row-snap, RTK, drone mapping — is covered in the Precision mapping guide.
1. Draw a boundary
From the Plans tab on the web, hit + New plan and trace a boundary polygon on the satellite imagery — the same Mapbox imagery the field map uses, so what you see is what you'll plant on.
place /guide/images/plan-desk-boundary-draw.jpg · 1200×680 · web satellite map with a polygon drawn over a real field, the planner side-panel open showing fruit type + spacing inputs
1b. Or walk the boundary in the field
On the mobile app, open Boundary walk, hit start, and walk the perimeter with the phone in your hand. The app records a GPS fix every few seconds, auto-closes the polygon when you return to the start, and uploads it as a new plan boundary. Useful when the boundary is irregular, when the satellite imagery is out of date, or when you're already standing in the field anyway.
place /guide/images/plan-mobile-boundary-walk.jpg · 360×740 · phone mid-walk: live GPS track building a polygon, "Stop & save" button at bottom, accuracy chip at top
2. Generate the grid
With the boundary drawn, pick the fruit type, the rootstock, your in-row and between-row spacing, and a variety mix (each row a percentage of the total — autocomplete from the reference). Hit auto-distribute and the grid generator places trees on the spacing you set, respects headlands, and interleaves varieties so you don't end up with eight Dabinetts in a row. Turn on the interplant layer to add a second grid at a divisor of the canopy spacing (5 m, 3.33 m, 2.5 m) with its own mix.
place /guide/images/plan-desk-grid-generated.jpg · 1200×680 · planner workspace mid-flow: boundary polygon + auto-generated grid + interplant layer in two palette colours
3. Check pollination before you order trees
The pollination overlay scores every planned tree against every other tree — same flowering window, compatible variety, within effective distance (80 m for apple and pear, 15 m for cobnut, 100 m for walnut). Red dots are unpartnered; the click-to-explain panel suggests partner varieties that close the gap. Adjust the mix, re-run.
4. Finalise + plant
Hit Finalise and every planned position becomes a tree in the orchard, marked "planned". On planting day, walk the rows with your phone and flip each one to "planted" as you put it in the ground — the Map guide covers that flow.
place /guide/images/plan-desk-pollination-check.jpg · 1200×680 · planner with pollination overlay on every planned tree + click-to-explain panel suggesting partner varieties
Where it's strongest, and where it isn't yet
Plan is built around laying out a real block on a real boundary, choosing varieties that pollinate each other, and turning the result into a planting list you can work from. We're still working on cider-specific juice attributes, microclimate awareness, and a few finer scheduling helpers.
If you need something we don't yet support — interplant succession, automated row-orientation, anything we haven't anticipated — please tell us.
From the orchard
A guide explains; a walkthrough shows. Posts from Frank's own orchard in Gort:
Planning a cider orchard for 2028
Grafting choices, variety mix, layout. Three years out — what we lock in now and what we leave open.
Walnut and stone pine with cobnut and almond interplant
Designing a polyculture: walnut and stone pine as the canopy, cobnut and almond interplanted between. What the planner does, and what it can't.
Don't see what you need? hello@orchardhq.app — we'd like to hear about it.
Try the planner on the demo orchard.
Try the demo → Request access →