This tree is capable of producing an astonishing 40 different fruits coming from the same base, it is an experiment carried out after years of cultivation by Sam Van Aken.
Sam Van Aken, an art professor at the University of Syracuse, has developed this incredible tree that can grow 40 different types of fruits at the same time.
How can a tree bear so many different fruits?
In 2008 an orchard in New York State, which had a wide variety of fruits, was going to be closed due to lack of budget. Van Aken bought it and spent the next five years learning how to graft parts of different trees onto a single fruit tree.
Working with more than 250 varieties of stone fruit, Van Aken created a timeline determining when each one bloomed and began grafting a few onto the roots of the tree he used as a base. The process involves grafting portions of tissue from another plant to an already established one so that they grow as a single organism. For the insertion, a piece of the fruit tree to be grafted with a little root is taken, an incision is made in the base tree and it is placed there. It is then taped and left over the winter to set and cure. If all goes well, the branch will be pruned to encourage it to regrow as a normal branch of the base tree.
The planting processes
During most of the year this tree looks like a normal specimen, but in spring you can see the white, pink, red and purple tones of the flowers, which later turn into different species of peaches, nectarines, plums , apricots, cherries and almonds in summer.
This specimen has the genetic inheritance of a wide variety of stone fruit species. Van Aken has created 16 trees of 40 fruits so far.
Van Aken has trees that are three years old, but the results are already visually impressive. To fund the project, Van Aken uses the money from the sale of the trees, in addition to a grant from Creative Capitalm, an art institution granting for innovative artists. Van Aken said he hopes to eventually use the project to create a huge archive of all the different fruit species.
