The Tropical Fruit Forum

The one plant that has been hardest to grow for me is miracle berry. I have killed 10-15 plants. I have been trying to crack the code for growing in California.

I'll use this thread as a way to take notes and show progress.

So far I have reached decent success with my current regimen.

Seed:
Start from seed. I don't recommend getting a full plant from Florida. If grown from seed, it will grow adapted to California dryness and maintain its own working leaf to root ratio.

Soil: many recommend peat and perlite. I decided to do something a little more inorganic. I used 80% decomposed granite and 20%perlite. I don't think peat is a good long term solution. If I were to repot, I would add pumice as well.

The top of the soil (1-2 inches) should be organic matter. I have noticed miracle berry love organic matter on top. I would do a mixture of compost, coffee grounds and cottonseed meal.

Watering: Do not use tap water. Use rain water if you can. If not, use distilled water. I acidify the water every other watering. Here is what NOT to acidify with:
Vinegar
Citric acid
Aluminum Sulfate
Phosphoric Acid

I went with what blueberry commercial growers use: sulfuric acid. You have a couple options. Lab grade acid which is weak. Or battery acid refills from car places. The Lab grade is more pure, but way more expensive and will not last as long. Battery acid is strong, cheaper, but more dangerous to handle and may not be pure.
I add acid to the watering can until the acid strips show a 2 or 3 ph.

I water often enough to keep the top organic matter moist.


Fertilizer:

I use 4 different things to fertilize.

Mainly cottonseed meal
Hollytone acid loving fertilizer
Chelated Iron
Azomite Rock Dust (not convinced it does much)

Climate:
Bring it in during colder months: night temps below 50.

Light/Shade:
If outside, keep in full shade.
If inside use grow lights.
I keep mine inside from October to April, and outside for other months.

Here is my 1 year old plant from seed (planted March 2024):




This one is doing excellent with constant flushes. It has not stopped flushing for like 8 months.

I am also experimenting with growing one in ground, but am not hopeful at all. The one is ground is right next the the house so it stay warm during winter. It is also in total shade. We shall see.

Now is about the time to plant ube. I have a bunch more than I need. This variety is the darkest purple I have collected.

I have large pieces and medium pieces.

$10 per large

$6 per medium

I bought C-35 rootstock seeds and grew them for 1.5 years. I have way too many extra seedlings (like 15 extra).

I don't entirely understand CA quarantine law. If this is not allowed, that is fine. I live in Moorpark, and grew them from seed.

I am looking to trade or sell. I am interested in just about anything that is tasty!

I have a couple different seeds that I have heard take a long time to germinate:

Yang Mei (non-cracked seed)
Duguetia lepidota (yara yara)
Ilama

What should I be doing with them until they decide to sprout?

Should I just hold onto the seeds in a dry area and plant them next spring?
Should I just stick them in soil and forget about them?
Should I be making sure the soil is watered regularly? (Constantly damp? Damp, then dry, then damp...? Skip watering during colder winter?)
Should I leave them outside exposed to the elements, or keep them indoors, temperature controlled?
Should I use a seedling heat mat to keep them warm the entire time?

I just wanted to share my excitement as I finally had success with grafting scion wood onto seedlings. I used cleft grafts.

The things I learned to ensure success based on my failures:

Time of year; I tried in the spring time and it didn't seem quite hot enough to get the juices flowing. I tried early July this time and each one took.

Grafting tape; I originally tried some crappy stuff from amazon that was basically cling film plastic. I dished out the big bucks for buddy tape and man is it 1000x easier to use and more successful.

Grafting blade; I recently learned how to sharpen knives. With my new grafts, I used a freshly sharpened knife which makes the cuts cleaner and straighter, which helps with not having gaps in your graft union.

Rubber band; I just started using a rubber band to TIGHTLY wind around the union to ensure good contact.

Sunlight exposure: I am not sure how much this affects it, but I did not cover my graft with aluminum as often (only about 1 week) and let the grafted branch be exposed to sunlight more. I feel like I saw a video where that seemed to signal to the tree to push out growth.

I am looking for a (older than a year) miracle berry tree ideally raised in CA. I have ordered from Florida and the shock killed the tree even after babying it.

I have some mango saplings I planted in the yard. If I end up getting frost, do the freezing temperatures kill the trees because the roots get too cold, or because the foliage/branches get too cold or all of the above?

I am wondering because I have them heavily mulched which does 2 things to keep the roots warm:
1. Insulates the roots from the frigid night temps.
2. The microorganism activity breaking down the mulch produces heat.

I am wondering if I need to cover the foliage with something during the colder nights, or if the roots are the most important thing to keep warm.

I am interested in buying sweet tart mangos. Or I can just buy seeds if that is only available.