Space Cherry

Space Cherry

The Space Cherry. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

I don't know if you have heard the story of the space cherry tree or not but it has sure been making its rounds in the national media. Cherry producers here in the northwest have been amused by this story as well. So let's set the correct mood. Cue the weird music...(music) It seems a cherry seed that was flown aboard the International Space Station has been stumping scientists due to it's incredible growth, blossoming and petals. The seed is from an ancient 1,250-year-old cherry tree in Japan. The tree has shot up to about 12 feet in height and has blossomed after only 4 years...and the really strange part is the blossom on the original tree have around 30 petals per blossom whereas the space tree only have 5 petals per blossom. Weird..right? Some speculation is that the seed was bombarded by space rays. But most experts are not all that impressed with these unusual characteristics. The whole point of sending up about 265 seeds from this tree in the first place was to get Japanese school children excited about space and science. And at this point it has sure done that.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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