Anyone have experience with these. Last year my plant was loaded with fruit, this year it has produced only three fruit. It has flushed new growth like crazy, but only three fruit. Do these plants alternate bear like other fruiting tree's ? I lowered the PH to 5.0 as Malcolm Manners stated that they like a very low PH. Any ideas ?

Odd that you bring this up. Mine flowered continuously for about two years and only got a few fruit to develop. All of a sudden no more blooms at all for a good long time. It's just recently started flowering again. Mine always had new growth coming on while blooming. This last stretch however, there seemed to be much more new growth when there was the lack of flowers. Maybe something signals the plant to have a big growth flush and that's where all the energy is going. I don't think I did anything any different.

Ours flower and fruit several times per year. I've not noted pollenators on them.

Hello everyone,

I am a Neuroscience student at the University of Rochester. I am starting a project regarding miraculin (active ingredient in miracle fruit) and it's neuromodulatory effects on perception. I would love the chance to chat with some of you who are experienced and/or well-versed with the fruit. Also--it seems extraordinarily difficult to obtain some of this (not even mentioned on Sigma-Aldrich--the company that sells chemicals, etc. to scientists). Would any of you be able to send me a few fruit (or direct me to somewhere where I can obtain it)?

Please e-mail me at agulati@mail.rochester.edu

Thanks!

Arch, I would try some folks from Florida. Seems like a lot of them have this plant and doing well with it. If mine was producing more berries, I would send you some. It is a real surprise and pleasure every time you experience this oddity. It's even more fun to see the reactions of family and friends.

Archdeluxe,
I received a note on Gardenweb.com that you were interested in Miracle Fruit berries. There's a lot of discussion about them on that forum (in both "Tropicals" & "Florida Gardening"). Another valuable forum is miracletaste.com. If you're looking to purchase a Miracle Fruit bush, I highly recommend Jene's Tropicals here in St. Pete, FL (and they offer shipping)www.tropicalfruit.com
I live in St. Pete and purchased my bush from Jene's about a year ago. Currently, the bush is about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Right now I have about 10 ripe red berries on it. If you've never tasted the taste-altering effect, you're in for a surprise.
Another good site to check out which deals a little on the history of the miracle fruit is.........www.quisqualis.com/mirfrtdmc1b.html
Sue.

Hello Sue,

Thanks so much for the links. I also responded to you on the Gardenweb forum.

I have looked into the requirements to grow the fruit, and unforntunately, this task seems well out of my time-frame. In any regard--for my study, I will only need 2 or 3 fruit since I am dealing with very small concentrations and the analysis that I will conduct will not require a very large sample size.

I was wondering if it would be possible for you to ship 2 or so fruit to me (I will, of course, cover the shipping charges) so that I can go on and conduct the study. Do you think this is possible?

In any case--thanks so much for your help. Look forward to hearing back from you. You can contact me directly, if you wish, at agulati@mail.rochester.edu

Thanks!