27 September 2012

Fruit salad trees?

Is your backyard too crowded for all of the types of fruit you need? Well, you are in luck. A New Zealand company can sell you a fruit salad tree, with all of your fruit on one tree. The science of botany and horticulture has advanced enough that this company has been around since 1990. Grafting trees is just not as big a deal as it used to be.

But now Scientific American reports that grafting of softer plants has become commonplace. For example, farmers in Kenya are now growing pomato plants that grow both potatoes and tomatoes on a single plant. And, since it is based on grafting, this all seems to come free of the concerns that are raised about GMOs.

Personally, I am holding out for a romaine salad with almonds plant. Or for someone to graft the carrots and potatoes right onto the cow.

BTW Plant propagation is taught at Rutgers under the number of 11:776:310. Look for it this spring.



1 comment:

Bill Wolfe said...

You can have this Brave New Word.