After killing at least 6 bushy 36 inch trees bought before the current craze for about $35 each in Florida and hauled back in my car over the years with my 8.2 pH city water I'm trying again. Caliper of this tree was about 3/4 inch which takes a LONG time to grow. An example of my handiwork:


I ordered and received 2-3 gallon trees from Pine Island nursery this week. They turned out to be moderately bushy and about 16-20 inch tall for $60 each. I noticed the plant mix is pretty heavy on the ground pine bark.

I bought a couple smallish trees from a local wholesale nursery a few weeks ago and noticed nice new growth on them with good green leaves with no tip burn on them. Haven't seen that before.

The three small stunted seedlings I grew from dozens of seeds that are at least 5 years old and less than 6 inches tall defoliated this winter. Today I noticed that one of them is sprouting new growth! One died and I have hope for the other one.

I was so encouraged by these little successes that yesterday I ordered a 20-24 inch tree from Ethan Bradley for $99. We shall see.

What I'm doing different this time:
water frequently
rainwater only
coffee grounds as fertilizer
potting mix is peat moss and pine bark fines
no solid fertilizer

I'm going to try is bloodmeal, bone meal and rabbit poop for fertilizer. I'm also going to try to make some 4-5 pH water to water them with using muriatic acid. I bet that helps. I'm thinking about getting some coffee grounds from local coffee houses to use in the plant mix.

Funny how single minded about plants I am sometimes!

A friend bought one of my trees from Pine Island nursery a couple years ago and he had great luck. Mine died a slow death!

His recommendations:
For what it's worth:
Soil recipe that seems to work for me.
Using a 96 qt container (24 gal)
In a wheel barrow: Mix the following
4 bags Azalea soil mix (You can purchase at any Garden Center )
3 shovels Peat moss (Not sphagnum peat moss—the other type of peat—
the dark reddish brown powdery/crumbly type---Purchase at any Garden
Center )
2 shovels of Perlite
5 shovels of sand
3 shovels of coffee grinds
3 shovels of well decomposed pine bark mulch

Mix well, add to container, plant tree/bush (spread out root ball and
cover with 3-4 " of well decomposed pine bark mulch.

I watered in well after planting with a mixture of 2 gallons water +
2TBS Super Thrive +2 TBS Root stimulator mix.

I fertilize once every 3 months with 14-14-14 (Osmocote).

I Foliar feed with Fish Emulsion every 2 weeks and alternate with
Seaweed the other 2 weeks.

I protect when temperature gets anywhere close to 34F.

I keep the plant in an area that gets full direct sun for about 5
hours a day from about noon-5P the rest of the time it get filtered
shade.

I drench the plant with 3 gallons of water with 1 TBS Super Thrive
every 3-4 days.

Interesting that miracle fruit has not behaved for you. I have mine planted in peat moss, I fertilize it with Osmocote about twice a year, I just let nature water it when it rains unless we have a super drought (like last summer), I keep it in all-day dappled shade, and I get many fruits every year.

Over the winter it got some freeze damage while it was in the garage, but it is recovering nicely.

Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) do best in partial shade from my experience. Mine has done very well and I have had it over 5 years now. I keep the soil moist & use Vigoro slow release fertilizer. I also water it three times a week with the left over coffee from the pot mixed with water. I also throw the used grounds on the surface of the soil. My soil mix is the cheap stuff from walmart Perfect mix / expert mix.

I'm convinced I killed the trees with the 8.2 pH city water and wrong/too much fertilizer. My impatience is to blame.