Laxton's Superb
A late Cox-type dessert apple. Strongly inclined to biennial bearing, which is worth knowing before concluding that a barren year means something is wrong.
A cultivar of Apple. Everything on this page is about the cultivar; how to grow the species is on the plant page, and how big the tree gets is on the rootstock page.
Pollination
What this cultivar needs before it will set a crop.
- Self-fertility
- Needs a pollination partner
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
- Partner
- A compatible partner is required
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
- Flowering group
- 4 on the apple scale
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple pollination groups
Checked 2026-08-13
- Ploidy
- diploid
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- NIAB — National Institute of Agricultural Botany: Cultivar ploidy records
Checked 2026-08-13
- Partners needed
- one
Partners for Laxton's Superb, from the 35 apple cultivars GrowingHQ holds
Computed by the pollination engine from the flowering groups, ploidy and recorded pairings on each record — not a hand-written list. The scope is exactly what the heading says: these are the answers that exist in this catalogue, not the answers that exist.
| Cultivar | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Annie Elizabeth | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Arthur Turner | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Ashmead's Kernel | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Bountiful | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Braeburn | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 5 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Charles Ross | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Cox's Orange Pippin | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Discovery | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Ellison's Orange | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Fiesta | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Gala | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Golden Delicious | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Greensleeves | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Grenadier | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Herefordshire Russet | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Howgate Wonder | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| James Grieve | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Katy | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Kidd's Orange Red | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Lord Derby | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Pixie | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Red Falstaff | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Scrumptious | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Spartan | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Sunset | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Worcester Pearmain | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
1 further cultivar returns no verdict, because a flowering group or an incompatibility group is not recorded on one side. The engine reports that rather than assuming a value: Newton Wonder.
The fruit
- Season
- Late
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — season
Checked 2026-08-13
- Use
- Eating
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — use
Checked 2026-08-13
- Keeping
- Keeps two to four months
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — storage
Checked 2026-08-13
The plant
- Vigour
- More vigorous than average
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — vigour
Checked 2026-08-13
- Habit
- Upright
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — habit
Checked 2026-08-13
- Cropping
- Tends to biennial bearing
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Apple cultivars — cropping
Checked 2026-08-13
A barren year may be normal here
This cultivar tends to crop heavily one year and lightly the next. A poor year following a heavy one is the habit rather than a fault, and thinning the fruit in the heavy year is the usual way to even it out.
On each rootstock
The size of the tree comes from the rootstock. What the cultivar contributes is a direction, in words — GrowingHQ does not multiply the range by a vigour factor, because no source supports the multiplier and the resulting number would look far more precise than the inputs are.
| Rootstock | Height | With this cultivar |
|---|---|---|
| M27 | 150–180 cmSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidenceApplies when: In reasonable soil with normal pruning. On poor dry ground an M27 tree can stall well below this and never fill out.
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this rootstock's range — though a dwarfing rootstock still keeps the tree small. |
| M9 | 200–250 cmSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidenceApplies when: Varies with soil fertility and with how vigorous the grafted cultivar is.
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this rootstock's range — though a dwarfing rootstock still keeps the tree small. |
| M26 | 250–300 cmsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this range or beyond. |
| MM106 | 350–450 cmSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidenceApplies when: Kept smaller by pruning, but this is the size it wants to reach.
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this range or beyond. |
| MM111 | 450–550 cmsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this range or beyond. |
| M25 | 550–700 cmsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | Laxton's Superb is a vigorous cultivar, so expect the upper end of this range or beyond. |
Full profiles for each of these are on the rootstock page.
Cultivar record reviewed 2026-08-13.