Any synsepalum dulcificum expert??

[guma53]

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I already heve a question for you guys,
I have bought 1,5 year Miracle Fruit plant from thailand, at first it have been indoor in a plastic bag for 90 days, now its like 3m from eastern window for about 1 month, it has no direct sun light or very little, but it is in a quite bright place.
Soil is a mix of peat moss and perlite 1:1, ph is about 5.8 - 6.0, recently I've bought a sulfur granulate to lower ph cuz I think it is a little to high. I water my plant with rain water or distilled water, not so often becouse soil is moist, I think becouse of ultrasonic humidifier, which I use to raise humidity near MF (now its 60-75%).

And now what is trouble me that my plant haven't grow even a millimeter (or inch ;p ) from a day MF arrived to me, and now couple of leaves are turning a little yellow, and look like they are druing out ;/ I don't know why, temp is from 20-22 celcius (I live in poland, so I think its 68-74 F in your scale ;p ) ph is not that bad (or maybe it is), you guys are more experienced so pls tell me what can I do more to grow better this plant and to achieve my goal - to taste a miracle fruit berry

oh I forgot about one thing, yesterday I did add a fertilizer for acid loving plants 4-6-6,
and what do you think about humidifier? I wonder... maybe that steam coming from ultrasonic humidifier directly to leaves is to cold?
(sorry for my english )

[imafan26]

Wow, you are doing a great job and you have done your research well.

Miracle berry is notoriously poor to germinate about 24% and very slow to grow.

Miracle berries like acidic soil like blueberries in the pH 4.5-5.8 range. Peat moss and perlite works for that. Peat moss has a pH of around 5.5.

They are very slow to grow. We have one miracle berry that we have been trying to propagate. It is in a pot under 47% shade cloth. So it is not dark, it gets good light. It has been in the same pot for years and has hardly grown maybe an inch a year. It is not uncommon for long lived plants to be that way.

The nursery gets watered daily, but it is in a shade house so humidity is high and air circulation is good. It is not being grown indoors. We do not get frost here and the temperature never reaches freezing so it stays in the shade house all year. The plant should be watered when the soil is almost dry, but should not be soggy or dry out.

We tried to layer the plant and tried with seeds. So far, the best luck we have had germinating seeds has been to plant them with a companion.

Your leaves look a little yellow and soft. It may need a little more light and make sure it is not over watered. We supplement with Miracle grow for acid loving plants a.k.a. Miracid. It contains micros and is an acidic fertilizer.

[guma53]

thanks but I've lost another 3 leaves, they are drying out, don't know why maybe you're right about light, I've ordered grow led light, so I hope that this will be enough, and I wonder, maybe I should rise temperature? I can buy a heat mat, and put it under the pot, heat mats are cheap and maybe this will be useful Another thing what I am afraid off its root rot, but I read that this will cause to leaves go brown at the tips, not to yellowing and drying leaves, but who knows. synsepalum is so sensitve :/ one thing can bring down whole plant :/

but your plant.. an inch a year? thats so slow! but at least your miracle fruit is ok I wish you luck

[guma53]

ok, I think my miracle fruit has root rot, leaves turning yellow and are drying out :/ what can I do now? should I trim infected roots and repot to new soil??

[imafan26]

If you have root rot you have no choice but to try to cut out the dead roots and repot. Dip the roots in a fungicide that works in the soil. You will need to read the labels for ones that work on phythoptora. The only one I know of is subdue but it is very expensive and you need to get a license for it. There may be others around.

I do not like decorative pots. They do not breathe. It is hard indoors to control soil moisture. I don't think you need a heat mat. If you are comfortable in your home and you have the thermostat at least 65 degrees your plant would have enough heat. The lights close up also generate heat.

[guma53]

ok, thx for info, I'll try to do this tommorow. LED lights don't generate heat so I'll try them.

[a_gatek]

Hello,

I have another problem.
My synsepalum arrived about a month ago. First I keept it under foil, but recently I have put it into the terrarium.
I have stable temperature 24-27 C and humidity 75%-90% PH 5,5-6, not full sun. Soil is a mixture 1:1 acid peat and perlite. I use airpot.

The problem is that some leaves are getting yellow. Not full yellow but, they have green spots and rest is yellow. I haven't found on specialists website anything simillar. I aslo use heating pad, - like for terrariums. I thought that maybe this is a reason, but leaves that are away from it also stated to change its colour. The top leaves seems to be fine.

Any ideas what this could be ?

[imafan26]

Looks like fungal or maybe mites. The terrarium may have too much humidity.

We grow miracle berries in a shade house under 50% shade. Temperature ranges from 70-90 year round. Shade house humidity is around 80%-90%. It is also why no one really likes to work in shade houses in the middle of the day. The bench it is on is watered daily, but the shade house gets good air circulation and is located in a relatively dry part of the island.

Miracle berries are notoriously slow to grow. It was hard to germinate seeds and seedlings are 6 inches high after 8 months

[a_gatek]

Thank you for this suggestion, maybe air circulation is a problem here, but humidity is for sure good, as I see current measurement on display.

I'll try to force air movement and check the results, but I'm still open to other ideas

[Leblanca]

I am having issue where some leaves discolor to white but strangely stay alive and in good shape, I use fertiliser once a month for acidic soil, its in perlite pear moss mix and hasent been repoted recently, its a green house at 70% humidity and 25c, only gets watered when soil start to be dry, other leaves are growing but some old leaves discolor, also my new leaves grow purple than turn green after, is it normal?