The Frankenstein tree is both an intriguing piece of art and an agricultural genius, the work of Sam Van Aken, an art professor at Syracuse University (USA). The tree is capable of bearing 40 different types of fruit and was formed using traditional grafting techniques.
The inventor was assisted by a qualified team of biologists and farmers who contributed their knowledge of grafting sprouts from different plants. One of the most striking aspects of the tree is that, depending on the growing season of each variety, the tree’s changes color and smell.
The common denominator of the basic components, in any case these are “bone” plantsthat is, they are kept on a trunk or branches.
So far, twenty Frankenstein specimens have been planted in art museums, university campuses, and private land in the United States. The first stage of preparation combines about twenty types of fruit, followed by pruning and planting of many varieties.
Van Aken was able to graft different stone fruit plants such as: peach, plum, apricot, nectarine and cherryTo create a single tree that grows 40 kinds of fruit.
Because these stone fruits are very similar in their chromosome structure, Van Aken set out to combine them using a ‘chip grafting’ process. The tree, which blooms in pink, crimson and white tones in the spring, gives various fruits in series throughout the summer.
natural procedure
For the realization of this project, which has artistic limits, no complicated techniques, chemicals or laboratory experiments were required. The procedure is absolutely natural. These magical fruit trees are the direct result of native trees, heirlooms and ancient fruit.
The first specimen was planted in an orchard at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, which the professor saved when he learned it would be demolished.
“I wanted the tree to interrupt and transform everyday life, and I also wanted to surprise people,” said Van Aken. “When the tree unexpectedly it blooms in different colors and you notice different types of fruit hanging from the branches.“It not only changes the way you view it, it also changes the way things are perceived in general,” he told Clarín newspaper.
The versatile tree allows for different combinations, as Van Aken’s project actually covers more than 250 fruit varieties on different trees. Therefore, the public is likely to appreciate it. Different Frankenstein models in Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Van Aken’s aim is to manipulate nature to enhance its beauty. This type of undertaking has its conditions: You have to wait years to see if a vaccine bears fruit, and you have to be very careful when pruning and working around the growth cycle as well as strategic areas where the vaccines are placed. from any fruit used
“I see it as a work of art, a research project and a form of conservation. Sculpture by grafting,” said Van Aken. Now the main goal is to get “one hundred fruit trees”.