Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-27388204-20160114100744/@comment-26172435-20160114104314

I agree with this basic thought. Kudo!

The growth mechanism for dates and banana is however well thought-through and doesn't need any improvement in my opinion.

As for the other fruit trees, I'd also propose to use the berry bush growth system, but code it in such a way that only the bottom of leaves blocks carry fruit. In principle, this should be possible to code, as it only requires a check whether or not an air block is connected to the bottom side of the leaves block.

A pity that the intended seasons mechanism has been disbanded (as I read elsewhere, I think) ... fruit and crop growth could be nicely simulated to move along with the seasons if that was an option. If not, I'd propose to just use vanilla crop growth mechanics requiring the proximity of a player and the fruit tree wood, as suggested in the OP.