An apple on "Newton's apple tree" at the Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden on July 19, 2023 (Photo: Lu Ting/GT)

After eight years of careful cultivation by Chinese horticulture engineers, a cutting from the famous apple tree in Isaac Newton's hometown is bearing apples outdoors for the first time in Shanghai.

There are currently five ripening green apples on this special tree at the Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden. Each apple weighs between 150 and 250 grams, according to the garden on Wednesday.

In theory, the tree could yield as many as 30 to 50 apples, said Yang Wanyun, an engineer at the garden's Horticulture and Landscape Department. To better protect and nourish several of the best-growing apples, Yang and her coworkers have removed the smaller or unhealthy ones.

"We call it 'green harvesting,'" Yang told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Visitors to the garden can get a close look at the apple tree and its fruit from outside the fence. The garden also has a 24-hour camera focused on the tree, allowing those who interested to watch a livestream of the tree online, said Zhang Zhe, an employee with the garden's Cooperation and Exchange Department.

The garden will collect the precious apples after they fully ripen. Yang said they will then discuss what to do with them. 

"We won't eat them," she added.

After blooming in early April, the tree started to yield fruit in May. The news excited many Shanghai residents who looked forward to seeing the tree produce fruit, with some joking that they wanted to be hit on the head by them.

This tree is a "branch" of the most famous and legendary apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor in the UK county of Lincolnshire, which allegedly inspired Newton to discover the law of gravity.

In March 2015, the Shanghai Science and Technology Association signed a cooperative deal with the UK's National Trust and brought five fresh cuttings of the original tree to China. The cuttings were grafted onto potted apple trees at the garden's greenhouse, which bloomed and produced fruit the following year.

In September 2022, Yang and her colleagues moved the hardiest grafted apple tree from the greenhouse to an outdoor area. They made detailed plans that enabled this temperate-zone tree to thrive despite Shanghai's relatively high temperatures and humidity.

The horticulturists planted the tree on a slope to keep its roots dry. For the hottest summer days, they built a shed to protect the tree against the burning rays of the sun. They will also make a different shed for the tree for Shanghai's upcoming typhoon season in August, according to Yang.

The "branches" of Newton's apple tree came to China for scientific research and cultural exchanges, Yang said.

"More importantly, we hope that they can encourage more young Chinese to learn the spirit of Newton and get interested in science," she told the Global Times.

A visitor takes a photo of "Newton's apple tree" at the Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden on July 19, 2023. (Photo: Lu Ting/GT)

 

Horticulture and landscape engineer Yang Wanyun takes care of an apple on "Newton's apple tree" on July 19, 2023. (Photo: Lu Ting/GT)