Well,

I see that you're from SE Texas. My main concern would be the humidity. These guys love constant humidity above 70%. They also don't like temperature much below 65 or so or else they will start to slow down growing even more. Bigger more established trees can take it a little cooler but they like it hot and humid.

They also really like good draining soil and I think you should have that covered with the perlite. It sounds like you've got the acidity good enough with the peat moss but a quick ph test never hurts.

Do you fertilize and how often? They can't handle too much fertilizer. I would also put them in a bright spot but not in direct sun. I put a little plant in full sun for a couple of days and some of the leaves got crispy real fast.

The big one you have is pretty impressive. I'm sure it will bounce back if given a chance. I hope you get it going because it takes quite a while for them to get that thick.

Maybe you can make some sort of small greenhouse on the side of a shed or something? I'm growing three plants now outside but in the winter they will be inside in a type of greenhouse setup I have for my orchids and other plants.

Good luck. I hope you get something worked out with them.

The above was on the mark. Humidity is crucial to these plants. I've had one in a greenhouse for over 3 years now and was kept mostly in shade. It did poorly. I would get new growth but would lose a lot of leaves as well. Blooming all the time but very rarely produced an actual fruit. I recently moved the plant into full sun and there's been a complete turnaround. New, lush growth and no leaves dropping. I'm even getting quite a few berries forming.

On the Yahoo forum, there's been talk of this plant requiring more water, even water-logging, than previously believed. Most of these guys are now watering to the point of flooding and leaving them very wet. I've begun to water more heavily but not to such an extreme just yet. I found that some leaves started to turn yellow again and drop. So I believe there is a happy medium to these plants needing a lot of moisture but not to the point of being water logged.

Something you might try is setting up a misting system or enclosing your plants in plastic. I believe your plant may recover and boosting the humidity to 100%+ will certainly aid in it's recovery.

Also, don't count out the value of the plant or the berries just yet! The miracle fruit fad is in full swing. Berries and plants are being sold for small fortunes right now. Check out some of the plants on Ebay. Some 2-3' plants have gone for over $300! I was told that Pine Island is completely sold out. Soon, nothing more than a seedling will be available.

Actually SE TX should be very humid, same as Louisiana or FL I'd think. True Mr. TX? Your potting mix sounds somewhat acid which should be good. Not sure what else could be the problem. They are extremely slow growing, especially when small.

Gary

Humidity hovers around 100% year round here. They have been grown in partial shade.

Well, that's good.

When was the last time you changed the soil? I know after a while it can compact and that would stunt your growth. Most people grow miracle fruit in a 50/50 peat/vermiculite combo and that usually does the trick.

I would really think that after 4 yrs those seedlings would be at least around 4 times bigger than they are.

Keep us updated and Good Luck

I have been growing miracle fruit plants in Katy, Tx for about 3 to 4 years now. I mulch with coffee grounds. All of my plants are potted in miracle grow potting soil. They are blooming and producing berries without any trouble.

Thanks,
Ed
Katy, Tx

Here is a link that might be useful: Miracle fruit plant

I recently bought a small one. I have it planted in Al's coarse mix with peat added. I have only had it a few weeks but it is already putting on new growth. How cold does it get where you live? What is the coldest temp that your plant experienced last winter?

I bought a good size Miracle Fruit recently (about 16" tall and very bushy!)
I kept it inside for awhile in a sun dappled window with a clear plastic bag over it and it seemed happy, but I kept getting white mold on the peat from keeping it in the bag. I decided a week ago to give it a day on my front patio since I'm in Florida and it's so muggy outside you could swim. My patio is covered so it only gets direct sun in the late afternoon.
Well, BAD IDEA! When I got home that evening the poor thing was fried! I lost about 90% of the leaves (still attached, but obviously dead). I rushed it inside and soaked the roots in tepid water for an hour, then back to the window under the plastic tarp it went. This was a week ago and I still haven't seen any new growth. I know these plants are notoriously slow growers, but when can I expect to see even one new leaf? My poor plant looks so sad!
I've left many of the dead leaves attached since they protect the healthy leaves from being jostled when I put on or take off the plastic bag. It can't afford to lose any more leaves!
Thanks for any advice!
-Piri

sounds like you completely shocked the plant, i.e. you need to harden them off until you can move them outside. You have to give it time until it can recover, and you might have really set back the tree.

Here are some directions on how to grow Miracle Fruit from one of the members of our Texas Rare Fruit Growers Club:

I know a lot of us have been trying to grow Miracle Fruit. Bill
brought berries to our last meeting and has a very beautiful bush
growing and producing berries. I ask him to share with us his
methods. So here they are below:

Ed,

For what it's worth:

Soil recipe that seems to work for me.

Using a 96 qt container (24 gal)

In a wheel barrow: Mix the following

4 bags Azalea soil mix (You can purchase at any Garden Center )

3 shovels Peat moss (Not sphagnum peat mossÂthe other type of peatÂ
the dark reddish brown powdery/crumbly type---Purchase at any Garden
Center )

2 shovels of Perlite

5 shovels of sand

3 shovels of coffee grinds

3 shovels of well decomposed pine bark mulch

Mix well, add to container, plant tree/bush (spread out root ball and
cover with 3-4 " of well decomposed pine bark mulch.

I watered in well after planting with a mixture of 2 gallons water +
2TBS Super Thrive +2 TBS Root stimulator mix.

I fertilize once every 3 months with 14-14-14 (Osmocote).

I Foliar feed with Fish Emulsion every 2 weeks and alternate with
Seaweed the other 2 weeks.

I protect when temperature gets anywhere close to 34F.

I keep the plant in an area that gets full direct sun for about 5
hours a day from about noon-5P the rest of the time it get filtered
shade.

I drench the plant with 3 gallons of water with 1 TBS Super Thrive
every 3-4 days.

Keep in mind that the attached tree was previously robbed of over 150
fruit a few days before this picture was taken. You can see small off
white blossoms already forming next generation fruit load while
current fruit load is still on the tree.

This is the second crop of this year for this plant. The plant has
been in this container for just about 3 years.

Look for a picture of Bill's miracle fruit under photos.

Bill Arendt

Houston, TX

Z9a

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Fruit Growers Club (mainly rare)

Yeah i know this is 6 month old now but please reply anyway. I got a miracle plant from malaysia about 9 days ago, and when it arrived it looked nice and healthy. but 2 days after i could see that it was not as green as before, and today the leafs is falling off, and the leafs is extremely dry, all of them. in the start i just put it in the windowsill like any other plant, but when i read that it doesn't like direct sun i took it a little a way from the sill. I come from Denmark where we have a pretty normal humidity. though i know that it neats very high humidity so i have tried to spray it with water 6 times a day or so. I have tryed to mix spaghnum soil with soil from the garden to get a good PH. Now i have pruned it and covered it with a plastic bag. What is the problem? And is it already dead as all the leafs is extremely dry?

The bare rooted plants from ebay (assuming that's where you got it) are tough. I bought one that looked great when it arrived even after two weeks in transit. Mine had similar issues to yours. I was able to save it eventually, but I ended up losing about 90% of the plant. I think the only reason mine made it was because I was able to get it outside before it totally died in the house.

Does anyone know where I can buy a good miricle fruit tree? I live in utah. Is there any reputable online places?

I got one from epots on ebay and it arrived safely and with no problems at all. They ship in plastic pots instead of bareroot or rootball. I've had my plant for about 4 months now- it is a 2 year old cutting about 14 inches I think. It hasn't grown that much taller, but has had good new growth. No blooms or fruit yet, but I'd say I got a healthy plant with strong roots and quick shipping. They are in CA so it should be even closer for you. Mine had to come to the other side of Texas. Oh, and I liked that they did very well communicating. (not offiliated with company...just had really bad experience with another and good with this one)

This is my first miracle fruit plant. I tried to order another online from overseas- but that was trouble and I never got a plant or a refund.

I got a beautiful plant from http://www.ethanbradley.com/ without any problems. I got a healthy plant with strong roots and quick shipping. the price was very reasonable and It already have fruits on it. The miracle fruit experience is amazing you should try it.