Mar 04, 2016 09:00:00

'Tree of 40 Fruit', a tree that bears 40 kinds of fruits

Van Aken, a contemporary artist and professor at Syracuse University who was planning an art project to create a 'tree with colorful cherry blossoms,' purchased an orchard in New York, which was about to close in 2008. After that, Mr. Aken used a grafting technique called ' Chip Grafting ', in which the cut surfaces of the branches of different plants were joined together and fixed with tape to bond them together according to their healing ability. The '

Tree of 40 Fruit ', in which 40 kinds of fruits and flowers are in full bloom, has been completed and is highly regarded as a work of art.

Tree of 40 Fruit — Sam Van Aken
https://www.samvanaken.com/tree-of-40-fruit-1

The Tree of 40 Fruit is grafted with drupes such as almonds, apricots, cherry blossoms, nectarines , and peaches so that they grow on a single tree, and it will take five years to complete one tree.

By 2014, Aken had completed 16 Trees of 40 Fruits. Not all 40 kinds of fruits grafted on one tree are the same, and Mr. Aken has grafted more than 250 kinds of fruits so far, including rare varieties. As well as being a work of art, it also has the purpose of maintaining certain rare varieties.

Drupe is chosen 'because it is graftable to most species,' Aken said in an interview with

Epicurious . Aken has placed Tree of 40 Fruits, including rare varieties, in various parts of the United States such as Syracuse University and museums, and is aiming to create orchards in urban areas.

In addition, Aken's website publishes photos of the Tree of 40 Fruit that he has created so far. From the pictures below, you can see that multiple types of flowers are in bloom on the same tree.

There is also a movie that Mr. Aken himself gave a lecture, and you can see how it is actually grafted.

The tree of forty fruits | Sam Van Aken | TEDxManhattan --YouTube


This is a CG rendering of the tree of 40 fruit.

The man in the photo is Van Aken, a contemporary artist and professor at Syracuse University.

You can see that flowers of different colors are in full bloom from one tree.

All Trees of 40 Fruits are transplanted by calculating the time when the flowers and fruits of the tree will grow, and the notes are closely written with where and how they are grafted.

The grafted scene looks like this. First, collect a part of the germinated branch from the grafted branch. Next, by cutting off the branches of the mother tree, embedding the germinated branches and fixing them with tape, another plant grows from the branches of different species.