Sapling

Saplings are newly planted trees. Players can plant saplings by digging a hole and then placing the sapling inside. All tree saplings take four days to fully grow, and contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to water them. Saplings also must be placed in an appropriate spot; the sapling should not be adjacent to any object, including walls and other trees, and the sapling must be grown on grass or dirt, not the beach (except for New Leaf, where banana and coconut trees can be cultivated on the beach). If these requirements are not met, the sapling will not grow, and until New Horizons saplings will deteriorate and die.

Saplings can be bought from Tom Nook's Store (from Wild World onwards, the store must have upgraded to Nook 'n' Go or above), the Garden Shop in New Leaf, and Nook's Cranny in New Horizons. Saplings cost 60 Bells ( 640 Bells in New Horizons), and players can plant multiple saplings in one day. There are two kinds of saplings: oak tree saplings and cedar saplings, the latter of which only grow in the top two acres of a town (except in New Horizons). When the player works for Tom Nook, one of the player's first tasks at Tom Nook's Store is to plant oak tree saplings around his shop.

Survivability

Depending on which Animal Crossing game is being played, certain conditions must be met for a sapling (fruit-bearing or not) to grow into a tree. For example, in Wild World, the following conditions must be met, or the sapling will simply die the next day:

Each 16×16 square acre may only contain a maximum of 24 trees.
Each quarter square acre may only contain a maximum of 6 trees.
The sapling must be planted on grass or dirt. Sand will not suffice.
All 8 squares adjacent to the sapling must not contain any unwalkable structures (e.g. buildings, cliffs, water, rocks, signs, and other trees). Certain walkable structures (like flowers) should not hamper the sapling's growth.
The sapling must not be planted on a square that the game has reserved as a walking area for villagers. Determining these infertile squares can be a trial-and-error process.
Certain saplings will only grow in certain areas of the town (i.e. cedar saplings up north and coconuts for palm trees near the beach).