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Miracle Fruit Growing Tips |
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I'm new to growing Miracle Fruit,
so most of this information is from what I've found online. As I gain
experience growing my own, I'll be able to add more info. Looks like the
three main things you need to control to grow Miracle Fruit is the
medium it is grown in (soil), water, and the amount of sun they get. I'm
leery on adding information about fertilizer until I know more about it. |
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Soil |
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The medium your plants
are grown in is very important to the success of the plant. If you
use the wrong medium, the plant could die, or just not grow very
well. An acidic soil is a must, with a pH of 4.5 to 5.8. Apparently
these plants thrive in a pot, and like to be root bound, so let the
roots fill the container before transplanting your plant into a
larger container. |
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Water |
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Water you plant every
three days or so, but be sure that you do not over water, or the
roots will rot. Make sure the pot the plant is in has holes to
drain, and use something to aerate the soil so water does not
accumulate and just sit there. These plants like humidity (even
extreme humidity), so if you have them in a very humid area, you
will have to adjust your watering schedule. Misting the leaves also
helps. |
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Sun |
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As these plants
originated in a rainforest environment, they thrive under warm
temperatures and high humidity. If you can imagine a rain forest,
there are a lot of trees that are a lot taller than a Miracle Fruit
plant, so they evolved to use less than direct sunlight. A
greenhouse is probably the best way to go, but be sure that it is a
filtered greenhouse, not clear glass. If the plant is in your house,
again, keep it out of direct sunlight. I wouldn't recommend planting
a Miracle Fruit plant outside, unless you are in a climate that is
warm and humid year round, and does not get cold enough to frost.
Frost will most likely kill your plant, unless it is an older plant,
and it only gets a quick frost that doesn't last long.
Having said all of
that, I've read several articles on growing Miracle Fruit that say
they prefer bright sunlight, such as in a well lit window. The
majority of articles I've read say they need shade, or indirect
sunlight, or filtered sunlight. The plants we are trying to grow are
in a filtered greenhouse, check my blog to
see how they do. |
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Fertilizer |
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As I stated above, I'm
a little nervous about jumping into the fertilizer topic until I
have a little more experience. The soil we are using for our plants
has a 2 to 3 week "starter" fertilizer, so we don't have to add
anything yet. I'll leave it to Diane to come up with the best
fertilizer after 3 weeks, and I'll post the results here or on the
blog. My only experience with fertilizer was
a couple of years ago, when I got some tomato plants and planted
them nest to my garage. I purchased some Miracle Grow, and the
plants started growing like crazy. After a month and a half, I had
to attach some trellis to my garage to tie them to, and they
eventually got to about 8 feet tall. The only problem was, I only
got a handful of tomatoes from them. I asked Diane about this, and
when I told her the fertilizer I was using, she said I had used the
wrong thing, whatever I had used made them grow like crazy but not
produce fruit.
Having said all of
that, here is information I've found online, please use it at your
own risk:
Fertilize on a regular
schedule. Use a 20-20-20 soluble plant food; 1/4 tsp. in a gallon of
water, applied while watering every other week. Fertilize more
frequently during the summer months than you do during the winter
months. |
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