According to Wiki.......
Groot first appeared in Tales to Astonish vol. 1 #13 (November 1960), and was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Ayers. He appeared again, 16 years later, in The Incredible Hulk Annual #5 (November 1976), alongside five of the other monsters from the early Tales to Astonish issues. 21 years later, in Sensational Spider-Man #-1 (July 1997), Groot was featured in a nightmare that the young Peter Parker had.
Groot reappeared in 2006 in the 6 issue limited series Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, and appeared in the Annihilation: Conquest and Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord limited series. Groot went on to join the Guardians of the Galaxy in the series of the same name, and remained a fixture of the title until its cancellation with issue #25 in 2010. He appeared in its follow-up, the limited series The Thanos Imperative, and, alongside fellow Guardian Rocket Raccoon, Groot starred in backup features in Annihilators #1-4 (Mar-Jun 2011) and Annihilators: Earthfall #1-4 (Sept-Dec 2011).
Groot appeared in issues #6-8 of Avengers Assemble as a member of the Guardians. He will star in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, a part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groot
Seems like a stretch, 30 years between Hulk Annual #5 and Fury's howling commandos, and it sounds like two different characters but we are talking funny books here.