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A dream come true: Art professor grows trees that can bear 40 types of fruit

Cuddles

Well-known member
Okay, I realize that this may have been posted on this forum before. After all this news article is from 2015 BUT I just love it! I mean just imagine having a tree like this in your own garden - 40 different kind of fruits to enjoy. Not too much and not too little of either to eat I imagine - PERFECT :p

Art professor grows trees that can bear 40 types of fruit​



By Wyatt Massey, Special to CNN

Updated 11:01 AM EDT, Mon August 3, 2015


Perhaps more shocking than seeing various colored blossoms on the same tree is seeing different fruits growing side by side. Van Aken has worked with more than 250 stone fruit varieties on the tree project.



Stone fruits are fruits with pits. Van Aken grows peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, nectarines and almonds.



Sam Van Aken created the Tree of 40 Fruit by grafting buds from various stone fruit trees onto the branches of a single tree, making it capable of producing multiple types of fruit. This is an artist rendering of what a 10-year-old tree would look like in full bloom. Click through to find out more.


Sam Van Aken created the Tree of 40 Fruit by grafting buds from various stone fruit trees onto the branches of a single tree, making it capable of producing multiple types of fruit. This is an artist rendering of what a 10-year-old tree would look like in full bloom. Click through to find out more.
courtesy Sam Van Aken

The types of trees Van Aken's project has produced could theoretically save orchard space and increase access to a diverse number of fruit in various locales.




The tree's rootstock is chosen to survive in the climate where the tree will be planted. Different varieties of stone fruit are then grafted onto the tree.




Van Aken diagrams each tree, allowing him to create a tree that blossoms evenly and for up to a month.




A goal of Van Aken's project is for the various colors of blossoms to prompt passers-by to stop and ask questions.




Perhaps more shocking than seeing various colored blossoms on the same tree is seeing different fruits growing side by side. Van Aken has worked with more than 250 stone fruit varieties on the tree project.




Stone fruits are fruits with pits. Van Aken grows peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, nectarines and almonds.




Sam Van Aken created the Tree of 40 Fruit by grafting buds from various stone fruit trees onto the branches of a single tree, making it capable of producing multiple types of fruit. This is an artist rendering of what a 10-year-old tree would look like in full bloom. Click through to find out more.



The types of trees Van Aken's project has produced could theoretically save orchard space and increase access to a diverse number of fruit in various locales.




Tree of 40 Fruit​


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Story highlights​


Sam Van Aken's "Tree of 40 Fruit" grows variety of stone fruits

Chip grafting of tree buds makes the project possible

CNN —

The first time Sam Van Aken saw tree branches being grafted and grown onto other trees, he likened it to Frankenstein. Yet, when the process became a full-time fascination, the Syracuse University art professor did not seek to create a monster but a piece of art.

The “Tree of 40 Fruit” is Van Aken’s creation, a single tree that can produce 40 different stone fruits, or fruit with pits, including peaches, apricots, plums, cherries and nectarines.

“I look at the Tree of 40 Fruit as an artwork, a research project and a form of conservation,” Van Aken said in a 2014 TEDxManhattan talk.

He uses chip grafting to create the trees, which involves cutting the buds off a fruit tree and having them heal to the lateral branches of a rootstock tree. Branches from the different fruit trees grow off of the rootstock, which is typically a tree variety natural to the area’s climate and soil. This allows fruit to be grown in areas that might not otherwise support that type of tree. Van Aken has planted 16 trees in seven states across the country.

 

William76

Well-known member
Yea,its been around for a while,had a few trys a few years back,(not very successfully),I imagine there's more info now there's the net,I had trouble getting more than 1 graft to take,could come in real handy for limited space grows etc,76
 

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