Miracle Fruit Tree - quick info

[hstark]

Since several members had mentioned they were trying (or killing) Miracle Fruit trees, I thought I'd post an update about my tree I thought was dead. It took about 3-4 months of what looked like goner, but it's coming back, top to bottom. Just don't let them dry out, NEVER fertilize with chemicals, organics only, and they come back!! Look! See the RED new leaves coming in that look just like the dead ones? It's not dead unless the twigs snap at the touch. If there's ANY bend, it will put on new shoots if you keep it in the shade and watered (NO fertilizer).

[Figfanatic57]

Is that why its called "Miracle Fruit tree"?

[hstark]

No. It's called that because the berries make sour things taste sweet. This is really fascinating, but the sweet taste has a gross and distinctive aftertaste (think of the difference between real sugar and aspertame type sugar). But, it's a pretty miraculous effect that you can bite a berry, then eat a lemon wedge and think it's sweet and not sour, with no pucker. However, the plants are REALLY easy to kill, as you can see above by it's sorry state fighting to recover. That happened from just letting it dry out once.

[greenfig]

I read that they grow really slowly, is that true?

[hstark]

painfully slowly, I bought the above big tree already 16 years old (it was originally a very fluffy trimmed topiary style 5' tall x 2 1/2' wide, which is unusual outside their native environment. Gave it to my mom for her birthday last fall... and she put it in the yard and forgot it... at which point, it only got rain, and dried out and looked completely dead. I tried to save it because the stems were still bendy and not brittle/snappable. And look! 3 months after looking dead, it's alive again (almost, still lots of dead leaves). Oh. I repotted it (2x while 'dead').

First I tried miraclegro moisture control potting mix. It did nothing at all, and the tips started becoming snappable (dying). I panicked, and repotted it it in a lot of sandy mucky soil out of the ground 50/50 with composted bagged cow manure. Then watered it sopping wet, never let it dry out below a 50% moisture (per moisture meter), and it started coming back within about a month.

I am pretty sure it was the cow manure that saved it (I put about 1/2 a dozen eggs worth of egg shells on top, and coffee grounds too). I read that these plants do not like chemical anything, and I think it's response to the moisture control soil with fertilizer bits proves that (figs LOVE the moisture control soil). It's also recommended that it not get fertilized, so I've never fertilized (egg shells and coffee grounds don't really count). I may try some of the Neptune's fish emulsion tho.

[don_sanders]

Mine did the same thing. Started to flower around February and then lost all of its leaves before it could fruit. Been just sitting there looking dead for about 5 months while I continued to water the dead pot. Just started leafing out again a couple weeks ago.

[hstark]

Mine made lots of flowers... but nothing pollinated them. Nothing is pollinating my maypops and jujube flowers either, tons of flowers, no fruit. I don't know what's going on around here... maybe my neighbors are going crazy with bug sprays...

[don_sanders]

I'll have to keep that in mind and take a q-tip to mine if it flowers again.

[Txseppe]

I use an electronic toothbrush. Let it vibrate near an open flower brush side up and you can see the pollen start to fall out. As it hit the brushes it spreads around. If you gentile enough your can let a bristle or two hit inside the flower without knocking it off.

[Jamie0507]

Nice! So it's a "Zombie Miracle Fruit Tree" now! Back from the dead! Lol! So glad it came back for you Helen 👍🏼 I just got a tiny one from Ebay (supposedly a year old with 5 leaves lol) but I did read a bunch about its care.. Helen you hit the nail on the head! No chemical fertilizers & don't let dry out! Also it apparently loves acidic conditions too so rainwater really is best for it.. But ya don't always have that option lol so bringing your faucet water or bottled water's ph down by adding a few drops of vinegar will do the trick.. If you are on city water let it sit for 24 hrs in an open bucket to let the Chlorine escape before using it on miracle berry plants.. I also read they like to be planted in peat & perilite (50/50) because peat is naturally acidic.. But it seems like your mix is doing great too Helen, miraculously brought the miracle berry back to life! 😉Seems to be a lot like blueberry care though doesn't it? Anyway.. Maybe in 10 yrs I will get my 1st miracle berry! Lol

[hstark]

Hi Jaimie. Well, I need it to make berries now. It IS fluffing back out, but not nearly as bushy as it was before. There's a part of my gutter that is bent down... we should try to nail it back up, but what I did was put a big bucket under it, and when it overflows with our short torrents, it fills up, and I have rain water!

[quackmaster]

Someone was telling me that if you eat some of these miracle fruit and then drink alcohol you won't get drunk. I don't really drink any more so I'm not going to test it. Has anyone else ever heard this?

[efletche]

Glad I looked into this topic. I have a miracle fruit tree as well. It is about 4 feet high. Unfortunately, with my depression, I have difficulty going outside to water my plants (ask all my dying fig trees). Anyway, my miracle fruit tree not only went without water, but fell over. The temps have been very high here and no rain. All the leaves have turned brown, but don't crumble when you grab them. Will keep watering it to see if it returns to life. My Surinam and Barbados cherry plants and pomegranate came back from the brink, so I hope the miracle fruit tree does as well. Fingers crossed!

[ofon]

Mine went into this type of sickly stage a couple of weeks ago. I realized I had forgotten to drill a hole in the 4th corner of the bottom of the pot for drainage. I'm a bit more confident that it'll bounce back now...here's to hoping!

[AustinPermie]

Alkaline tap water from the hose can make the miracle fruit tree sickly. If that's a contributing factor, you might try using rainwater, ofon. Might also test the ph of your growing medium and adjust accordingly.

[ofon]

You know, I had only been feeding it tap water for years and it was fine. I think what happened is one corner of the plant's roots didn't have proper drainage. All of it's leaves look dead, but when trimming today, the center of many branches were green. I think it'll just take some time to bounce back like in the OP's picture.

That being said I'm def gonna collect some rainwater with a bucket here and there Thanks again man!

[Simongrow]

They call it Miracle Fruit because it will be a miracle for anyone outside of the tropics(excluding Florida) to keep it alive for more than three years, lol!

ive been growing MF for about the last 10 years and the first five years, I kept on killing my trees. They love acidic soil, warmth, humidity and Iron.

my trees used to only live about two years before they looked so bad that I just gave up on them.

now I use RO water pHed to about 5-6 and give them chelated iron supplements and they have been growing really well for me. I usually get about 200-300 fruit from my 5 foot tall tree.

the pH of the soil and water is one of the keys of keeping them alive.

Simon

[JCT]

I've had the same problem and am on at least my 4th scrawny bush. The second one did really well and lived for about 3 or so years and provided a lot of fruit. I think I overwatered it one summer. I've never given them chelated iron supplements, I'll have to give that a try.

[Txseppe]

Coffee grounds are a nice supplement to raise acid levels.

[FishingforFigs]

This is my miracle fruit, my second one. I managed to kill the first one fairly quickly. I got this one and it grew great the first two years. It was good size and I could usually find a ripe fruit just about anytime in the summer. I ignored it for a short time and it went down fast. I thought it was a goner for sure. It seemed like forever, it just sat there. I almost tossed it a few times but the trunk would always scratch green. Eventually a new shoot started and the old trunk died.