Miracle Fruit

[Leandro030821]

Hey everyone I just joined and didn't even head to the introduction part yet, I need some quick information.

I'm planning on getting some Miracle Fruit plants growing at a farm that my uncle owns here in Brazil, and I just wanted to know a little more before I buy everything.

If anyone here has any experience it would be great to hear any kind of tip or hint to get the best yield.

Here are my questions:

1) I'm going to test the soil on the ground to make sure that its acidic enough for me to just plant them on the ground. But what I am thinking is that, if I am there at the same place for more then... let's say 5-10 years the plants are going to get bigger and bigger. If I were to plant on the ground and it worked out, how lfar should I plant them now in the beginning so that I don't have to uproot and move them afterwards.

2) I've heard around that the plant doesn't do to well with direct sun, but here in Brazil where I am going to plant it's a little hard not get them a lot of hot sun light. If I had a sprinkler system set up, would that work?

3) How much water does a plant need in a day?

If I have any other questions that didn't come to mind at the time I'll edit them in. But really any information would be great. I've read around quite a bit and I've learned a lot but I can never get enough information .

Thanks ahead of time!

[JONA878]

Afraid all I have heard about this one is that it needs a soil of around 4.5 - 5.8 ph.
It takes around three years to come into crop.
As a native of West Africa I would guess it is pretty tolerant of heat and it will not take any frost.

The fruit sounds very interesting as it has the perculiarity that if you eat it you can follow it with a raw lemon and the lemon will taste sweet.

Sounds like my missus...gg

[Leandro030821]

If I do choose to plant them in the ground but the soils' pH level is a little how, what should I do to lower it? And is that a good idea?

[JONA878]

Hi.
Lowering ph is always harder than raising it.
Dressing with peat...mulching with pine needles or soil from under pine trees and dressing with sulphur. All will help to get the ph lower.

[Leandro030821]

Yeah I heard that pine mulch was good but I'm not 100% sure that there are even such things here in Brazil . I'm going to be going to a gardening store in an hour or two I'll ask around there to see if there are pine trees here.

Even if there was, would it work by just putting pine tree stuff on top of the soil? I would have to mix it all up with a bob cat or something right?

Also I heard that sulfur is a little hard to control. It lowers the pH over time. I'm scared that it might get too low. Does it eventually stop and steady out enough to check and rely on that?

[JONA878]

It's not to difficult to raise ph...limeing will bring it up very fast.
On the lowering side.
Watering in Sequestered iron will reduce ph and a little dosing of sulphur will gradually bring it down to the level you need.
Do it gradually and don't forget that your trees roots will not be that deep to start with so the top foot or so is all you have to worry about.

[Leandro030821]

Thanks a lot for the help it's helping a lot.

Also I'm about to look at the land that I'm going to go plant them at and I want to know just around how far away of each other I should plant them.

Even if you aren't 100% sure, I just want some kind of idea so that I can measure it out.

[JONA878]

Well..from what I can find out they grow in the natural state to around 20 ft or so. However they say that in ordinary garden positions they should get to around 12 ft or so.
This would equate to a fairly standard fruit tree so I should say somewhere around a 15 ft planting distance to allow good airspace around the mature tree.

Interested in the thoughts of others on this one though.