photo above: nearly ripe miracle fruit from Danielle's May garden .
Tips and tricks:
The bush needs to be planted in an acidic, rich, well draining soil. Use a soil additive to increase the acid and get a pH tester so you can determine how acidic or alkaline the soil is. The plant needs lots of peat moss, and requires a constant supply of micronutrients. It is one of the slowest growing plants I have ever grown. It likes warm temperatures, and high humidity. I usually get two harvests per year here in zone 10. I have the plant under a tall palm tree, so it gets filtered light. It can't take the full sun position I used to have it in. It also couldn't take the shady moist spot it used to be in.
Interesting Note:
As I was writing this post, I had on a show called Future Foods in the background. Their whole episode tonight was about miracle fruit. They want to solve world hunger by enabling people to eat nasty tasting local foods while on a miracle fruit trip. Remember...the miracle fruit makes your tongue think sour food id sweet!
I wish i could grow it up here! I've read lots about it too and have also wondered if it could be used to at least help world hunger. I suppose that the money it costs to grow would probably outweigh the benefit unless they can synthesize the effect.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what your meaning was by - "Remember...the miracle fruit makes your tongue think sour food id sweet!" Are you saying that Miracle fruit is sour but tastes sweet? Or you eat MF and then all other sour foods taste sweet? Sorry. Also, why was it that there were shows about ending world hunger with this fruit? Especially if it is difficult to grow (by needing micronutrients added throughout its slow growing process)? For someone who is NOT a very good gardener, is this one that I should hold off until I have had successful harvests? Or is it worth the planting? Thanks for your input. ~Terri
ReplyDeleteTurns sour food sweet for the eater for some short amount of time. :)
ReplyDelete