Well if you can minimize the transplant shock so it doesn't look like mine, I'd love to hear what you do. Like I said, my first one is SLOW and I mean SLOWly growing tiny new leaves, but I don't know what's wrong with this one. The only thing I can think is that it needs so much water to it's leaves/humidity that transplanting sent it over the edge since it cannot supply enough to the leaves without established roots.

The one thing that I think has helped a little with my other pretty much bald tree is giving it a tiny pinch of Humic Acid when I water it every other day or so (if it doesn't rain). I know people here aren't big fans of organics, and maybe it's a coincidence, but when I started that is around when I started seeing the tiny little buds on it.

I'll be very interested to hear how yours does since you'll probably be facing similar challenges to what I have here in NJ.

You may want to add a little more peat than normal to whatever mix you use also. That may help with the moisture issue with this plant. A theory I have about mine is that more moisture is evaporating from the leaves than the roots can supply, so they are drying out. Even with the high humidity we've been having lately. I heard a story about a nursery that had one of these plants that grew really big compared to the rest and later they discovered it had a pot with defective drainage holes and was barely draining at all.

Well, we will see what I actually end up doing with it, but most likely I will not use peat at all. I will probably treat it much like a citrus tree and in this case alter the pH of the water to be around 5.0.

I see that most regard acid conditions as mandatory and say the tree uses lots of water. I will look into it a bit more before it arrives (hopefully).

Sounds like a tree that might enjoy living in a self watering container.

Hey c00rdb ,

I was going to email you, but you don't have that option enabled in your profile. Click my username and send me an email through GW if you like.

My tree just arrived today and I thought you might like to compare notes pertaining to what I am doing with it and how it turns out.

I think that in the end, that you'll be able to maintain it w/o hovering will prove significant. From previous posts & this, I think there may well be some over-nurturing tendencies on C00rdb's part that came into play.

Al

JaG,

My plant doesn't seem to be doing any worse. My theory is that its very water hungry and so it just has a tough time being barerooted since so much moisture escapes through the leaves. For this reason some people recommend keeping it in a humidity bag until you get a new leaf or some new roots. In any case mine have stabilized I hope, but we'll see. Did yours arrive bareroot? I bet it wasn't cheap lol these aren't because they grow slowly. Let me know what method you're trying. I'd prefer to just continue posting here in case anyone down the road decides to search and see what works if you don't mind. I'd keep it out of the sun for a while at least to prevent too much moisture loss, but obviously try whatever you think will be best.

Al,

The second one I got I most definitely didn't over nurture. I stuck it in your 5-1-1 mix and left it for itself. You can see from the pic what happened to it. This is when we've been having a lot of rain too and high humidity. If you'd like to try this plant, I'd love to see the results because it is not the easiest thing in the world to acclimate it seems.

C00rdb,

I am fine with continuing in this thread.

Mine arrived looking like this:

{{gwi:39541}}

Upon opening the box the tree appeared healthy enough. It's not particularly evident in the photo, but all of the leaves have minor interveinal chlorosis which isn't a concern to me at this point.

What did alarm me was when I unwrapped the root ball. It was well packaged and about the size of a softball, but completely fell apart as I was handling it (it was mostly very fine peat and a little perlite). Very little in the way of roots on this tree. As I have never had this tree before I don't know what normal is, but I suspect this tree had some root issues before arriving. You said yours were bareroot so I wonder what kind of root mass yours had?

I also noticed in your pics that yours have much more leaf mass than mine does. There is also no leaf growth on any branch except at the tips of each branch which further leads me to suspect root issues with this tree before I got it. There are plenty of marks on most branches were there used to be leaves.

Anyway, it is in my care now so it's past life doesn't really matter much.

I put it in a 10" pot with mostly pine bark and a little Turface MVP in it. I debated a bit about using a faster draining/less water retentive mix, but the fact that this plant flat out dies when pH goes north of 7 and it's reputation to use a lot of water resulted in my trying the bark based mix for this year. My 'plan' is to let it sit for 2-3 weeks or so indoors as a houseplant and unless it needs more water (seems really unlikely at this point) I won't be touching it until I see some new growth. At that point the over night temps outside should be OK and I will transition it to a shady spot outside until the weather is no longer favorable for it.

We shall see what happens.

Mine actually had a pretty good root system. The roots looked like a little white wreath underneath the foliage. I think mine arrived in better condition than yours just judging by the amount of foliage. Was yours shipped internationally? Mine were from Thailand I believe, but that also meant I had to pay for a certificate to get them into the country. I think your plan is a good one, possibly what shocked mine was putting them outside too early. Also I hear that plants in the ground being bare rooted suffer more shock but I'm not sure if I believe that since it doesn't necessarily make much sense.

Like I said earlier, mine appeared to respond best to using a little humic Acid and kelp with each watering. I know you're not a big fan of organics but take it for what its worth. Maybe it just served to lower the PH though of the tap water, who knows. Honestly I'm doubting a little bit know much the soil mix really matters compared to other factors. Anyway keep me posted on your results. If yours doesn't have any shock I'll be impressed and award you the title of master gardener lol.

Oh yeah, aren't you excited to try the fruit? If it has the effect that people say it does, I can't wait to try it!

Was yours shipped internationally?

No, I got mine here. Maybe it just served to lower the PH though of the tap water, who knows

Could be. From what I understand humic acid has the ability to chelate most of the minor/secondary nutrients as well so that may have helped. Since my tap water is highly alkaline I will use water with a dash of vinegar added which has pretty much become standard practice for me these days.

And yes, I am curious to try the fruit. Should be humorous to give to friends right before they drink a beer ;)

I don't have any real experience growing miracle fruit but have tried germinating many from seed(a friend has a nice plant in his greenhouse). While they seem to germinate easily, I have lost quite a few to getting too dry and messing with the roots. They grow a long root rather quickly that don't like being messed with.
JaG- I can tell you from experience that 1 MF will absolutely destroy the taste of beer for up to 2 hours (I consider that a really bad joke).
Kyle

JaG- I can tell you from experience that 1 MF will absolutely destroy the taste of beer for up to 2 hours (I consider that a really bad joke)

Why do you think I want to do it? ;)

What does it make beer taste like? A Zima?

Not sure if this will help or not. I have 5-6 varieties of asian / sub tropicals in 511 (using garden lime though) which are doing very well. Grumicha, loquat, strawberry tree, figs, barbados cherry, blackberries, blueberries and a few other and all in containers. All of the plants are doing OUTSTANDING in 511 mix, way better then I ever expected. Not sure if it is soil or fertilizer, maybe both.

I have been using for all of these plants / trees a Controlled Release Fertilizer for Citrus. Down in Miami you have allot of growers and allot of them use / recommend Citrus ferts.

1. Is it possible it is not getting enough sun?

2. Where are the prevailing winds, maybe with high humidity plant is expecting wind (fungus problems)

3. Can you move it away from the house?

JAG-

Any update?

Here's my first tree, the one that lost all it's leaves. It's rallying a little, hopefully once the leaves get full size maybe we'll see some fruit! I guess it's had a lot of root growth but I don't know for sure..

{{gwi:39542}}

Here's my other one, previously shown with the leaves drying up. It's stabilized and done pretty much nothing for the past few weeks. Again, I hope it's growing some new roots.

{{gwi:39543}}

Both still just getting a pinch humic acid and kelp with every watering which is every other day. They are getting close to full sun.

JAG-

Any update?

It's been outside for awhile now, in the shade. It still has all the leaves it came with, but some have shown a bit of discoloring, not really chlorosis or browning, just a discoloring. I would have to go take a pic as I can't describe it well, but it's raining outside right now.

Besides that it would appear to be doing fine.

I regret putting it in a bark based mix instead of a more gritty mix. I thought this plant was going to use water rapidly from what I had read and perhaps eventually it will, but I have only watered it twice since I got it. The second watering also contained a dilute dose of Foliage Pro.

It has put out a tiny amount of new growth.

Overall, it's just kinda sitting outside doing it's thing ;)

Hey hey.. just got a miracle fruit the other day... how is yours doing

I have 2....1 has lost all its leaves and done absolutely nothing all winter. It's in some type of suspended animation. I just repotted in gritty mix and cut it pretty much in half as a last ditch effort to revive it.

The other one has put out some leaves this winter by the window. Unfortunately I put it out a few nice days this spring and it got sunburned and lost about half. I was hopeful I'd actually get some fruit sometime after the next set of leaves came. The good news is it still appears to be putting out a few new leaves.

Some advice...be very patient with it when you first get it. Keep it out of the sun for a month while it gets established! (assuming you got it bare root). Then SLOWLY move into full sun. They are slow to react to anything, so if you make the mistakes I did you'll keep losing valuable leaves. Take it easy on the fertilizer, it gets along pretty well without much at all. I switched to just a pinch of humic acid (to lower PH) and a pinch of kelp with every watering. It seemed to appreciate that combo- I took it as advice from someone else who was successful. I'd stay away from chemical fertilizers for a while since it is VERY sensitive and easy to over fertilize. Even then go with just a couple drops per gallon. Also I use a spray bottle to try and boost humidity whenever I walk past but I'm not sure if that makes a difference; I think it might.

How's yours look? Where'd you get it from? It seems the norm that they don't have much root mass for the amount of top growth.

i have a miracle fruit plant that i've had for about a year. its about 16 inches high and until February was in excellent health. its grown in a 5 gallon container that is a 50/50 mix of peat and perlite. i live in eastern kansas which usually has a very high humidity. in february the leaves started changing colors. i read online that this could be caused by low humidity (mine was in a bag so i dont think that was the problem) or a buildup of water impurities. i followed their directions and rinsed my plant till the water ran clear, then re-fertilized it with an acid based fertilizer. i still havent had any change. there are no bugs, no scales on the trunk like you described on your site. do you have any ideas on how i could fix it? i've heard super thrive might help. i'm just worried that something like that would cause it to grow very tall and thin. any ideas are greatly appreciated