It’s for real! This tree bears 7-8 different varieties of fruits

A tree that can bear 8 different fruits at one time. Doesn’t this sound like from a fiction novel or a movie? Well, you might be surprised to know this but this fruit is very much REAL. A fruit salad tree was the idea developed by James and Kerry West in the early 1990s in Australia. This fruit salad produces 6-8 fruits of the same species like lemon, orange, banana, and even apples. The very first fruit salad tree was grown in Australia, but over time it has been shipped to other parts of the world. (Image courtesy: YouTube/@Natgeo)

Apparently, there are four types of fruit salad trees and each one of them grows a different variety of fruits. These fruit salad trees are named as citrus, stone fruit, multi apple, and multi nashi. From the name itself, this is very clear as to which tree grows what fruits. For example, the multi nashi tree is a salad tree that produces different kinds of Asian pears. On the other hand, the multi-apple tree can bear apple varieties like yellow, red and green apples. The stone fruit tree is known for a combination of plums, apricots, peaches, and nectarines. And last but not the least, the citrus fruit salad tree can bear the fruits like oranges, lemons, mandarins, grapefruit, and limes. (Image courtesy: Facebook/@fruitsaladtree)

The whole process of growing this tree is amazing. At first, the tree is soaked overnight in a bucket full of water. Then, this tree is dipped into a fresh big hole in the ground and the roots are spread. Depending on the kind of soil being used, compost or gypsum should be added to it. Utmost care is given to the fact that the tree is being fertilized every 6 months. Afterwards, to preserve the soil moisture, mulching of the tree is done. The whole process of growing this fruit salad tree takes time to bear fruits and it is somewhere around 9-18 months when you might see the first fruit salad. (Images courtesy: Canva)

Growing a fruit salad tree is one of the convenient methods you can use to utilise your garden/terrace area. It is one of the best ways in which you can have fresh fruits around the whole year. Also, it requires a minimal amount of space to grow, so it would not bother much. Another reason is that you can grow your favourite fruit in your backyard.

The only disadvantage of this fruit salad tree is that they can’t grow fruits of different species on just one tree. For example, one cannot grow lime and apple together or banana or stone fruits. More experiments are required in this area and maybe in the near future, we’ll be able to get such trees as well.