Brookings Master Gardener Donating 50 Apple Trees to Local Youth

A Brookings-area Master Gardener is donating 50 apple trees to local youth for the fourth annual Fruitful Children Project.

The project is sponsored by SDSU Extension Master Gardener Perry Johnson and provides an opportunity for children and youth to experience the benefits of planting and caring for an apple tree. 

Qualifying youth will receive a bare-root, semi-dwarf Honeycrisp apple tree. Distribution will be from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on April 25 and 29, 2024, at the Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center. 

A key part of the project is its requirement that the youth recipients accept responsibility for caring for the trees. There is a mandatory 30-minute orientation at distribution. As part of their orientation, youth will learn age-appropriate information about apple trees. 

After the orientation, the child will receive a tree, a motivational story to read and a Honeycrisp owner’s manual. Local Master Gardeners also will be available at distribution to answer questions.

To qualify, children must be 6 to 12 years old and have an adult sponsor to help them plant and care for the tree. Youth are also encouraged to name their trees. Johnson said the trees will grow to be 12 to 15 feet tall and should start producing apples when the youth are in high school. 

Reservations are recommended to ensure availability. To reserve an apple tree, the adult sponsor can email perbar4@swiftel.net with which distribution date they will attend and the youth recipient’s grade level.

Since its inception, the project has distributed 150 trees in the Brookings community. It is held close to Arbor Day, which is on April 26 this year. Like Arbor Day, the project hopes to instill youth with a lifelong passion for planting trees.