Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum Dulcificum) Seedling - Turns Sour to Sweet by Ethans Garden

I ordered 1 plants and 3 seeds last year. The plants arrived but the seeds didn't. I followed the directions that came with the plant. Misted it everyday, used bottled water since my tap water has a high Ph, put the pot in a larger dish that was filled with stones and water for higher humidity..and kept it warm. The plant lasted about two weeks, then the leaves turned black and it died.Not to concede to failure, I ordered three more plants. What I did this time was buy a 29 gallon aquarium setup. I planted each plant into an 8" pot using 50% peat moss and 50% perlite. I put two 12" long 6" deep pots upside down in the tank and put enough bottled water into the tank to come within a couple centimeters of the bottom of the pots. I added liquid African Violet fertilizer to the water...about 1 teaspoon per gallon.Reading more about these plants, in it's native environment,they get rain everyday. I put in a water pump, the kind used for table fountains and ran it to a 3-way air valve that you can pick up at any petstore. I then ran a tube to each potted plant, that I set on the upside down pots. Using a timer, the pump turns on for 15 minutes, 4 times a day. The tubes water the soil, not the leaves of the plant.When it cold (I keep the plants in the basement), I have an submersible heater to keep the water temperature around 80. I added a gro-light to the aquarium cover and a mist maker into the water for 100% humidity.It's been about 8 months and I have three very large, healthy shrubs. One is about 16" tall with several branches. another is about 12" tall with 4 branches and the last is about 10" tall with 3 branches. All I do is change the water every 2 months.I'm working on building a larger greenhouse for them using 3' tall plexiglas as a cover and some sort of tray for the bottom. It should make changing the water much easier and give the plants much more room to grow.These plants will never be placed outdoors. I've seen videos of people with 2-3 foot plants and acting as if they grew them that size, put them outdoors and fry their plant. These plants should never have direct sunlight. If you have a gro-light above it, there is no reason to even try it.I hope my ideas gives some of you a direction to go with on growing these plants. Good luck.

I received the plant with its roots wrapped well in paper towel, and the rest in a plastic bag with the whole thing in a standard shipping envelope you'd get for a CD or DVD. When I received it, it was rather cold out, maybe only 40-45 degrees out, I was concerned the cold would damage the plant. Everything worked out well though, it's been a few weeks and the seedling has transferred well and has begun sprouting new leaves. The size was only about 5-7 inches long including the roots.UPDATE: It's been more than a year later, and sadly I tried a couple of times to get this plant to thrive in zone 6, but I kept having problems with the plant surviving even with special lighting, soil and heating just for it alone. The only thing I didn't do was place it in a super-saturated CO2 environment. Continuing, it requires indirect sunlight most of the time unless it's a considerably more mature plant and if you place it in direct sunlight, you will burn the leaves and kill it. Additionally the plant also requires special soil requirements. I can grow just about anything, and have been for years, but this plant just dies too easily outside it's native environment, certainly not recommended for someone with little or no gardening experience. This plant is native to zone 10 or higher, outside of that, good luck.

SSSSLOW GROWTH: HIGH MAINTAINANCE and suicidal?Psychological trip when you run out you weight comes back and your blood glucose (and your bro in law who you shared them with also a type 2 diabetic) turns into confetti and helium ballons!If tou try buy a few extra test strips and count calories?SEE A PRO OR TWO; TOO!

For whatever reason, I didn't think I was getting just one seedling, but shame on me for not noticing. That said, That's about all I can review on because the plant is dead. It looked alright when it got here, but something got to it and ate it. Shipping seemed fast enough, wrapped in bubble wrap and a moist paper towel.