Fruit Cocktail/Fruit Salad Trees (growing, Fruit Trees, tomato, yard)
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Does anyone have one of these, or has anyone tried to plant one?
I am getting rid of some non-productive plants in my yard because I would rather use the space to grow some edibles. I was looking for dwarf fruit trees and I came across something called a fruit cocktail or fruit salad tree. Supposedly, several different types of fruit can grow on the same tree. Is this too good to be true, or has anyone had success with this sort of tree?
They're hybrid citrus trees, called cocktail trees. They have 2-3 different type of fruit stems grafted onto a hardy root stock, usually it's a lemon stock or sour orange stock. Some are very successful for a few years, some are not and revert back to their main root stock, thereby you end up with a lemon or sour orange tree.
They're generally considered novelty trees. They were very popular a few years back but because of it's un-dependable success rate their popularity has dramatically dropped off.
There's different types. I've seen some that are different types of apples grafted onto the same tree, or apples, cherries, and plums growing from same tree, etc. No idea how well they perform, I've always been skeptical.
as long as the fruits are from the same family it should work. so "stone fruits" (peach, nectarine, apricot, plum), "apple" etc.
Cherry and plums on the same tree won't live.
On a side note, there is a site selling a tomato plant that has been grafted with a potato plant. It's the same plant family, so it works... and saves space.
Grafting is not too hard. You can probably succesfully create your own fruit tree. Just start with root stock that is healthy in your area.
In California (NW of LA) I had a "Dwarf" Citrus Cocktail tree. It was a Meyer Lemon Tree with Navel, Mandarin and Valencia oranges as well as limes grafted to it. It was still growing strong 9 years after I planted it and it was around 9 feet tall. The people that purchased my house loved it and I assume it's still there. With the heat and humidity, I don't know if it would grow in San Antonio, but if I had a place to grow one, and could find one here, I would definitely give it a shot again. I enjoyed having the variety of fruit.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I do grafting, and currently have an apple tree with 5 varieties, and an apple with pears on it. In the past I have done peaches and nectarines, apricots and plums. It's a fun process, every gardening enthusiast should try it.
I do grafting, and currently have an apple tree with 5 varieties, and an apple with pears on it. In the past I have done peaches and nectarines, apricots and plums. It's a fun process, every gardening enthusiast should try it.
I saw one artist in New York grafted 40 different fruit to a tree. Sound like fun, maybe I should try it.
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