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dragwood

Miracle Fruit Tree trouble shooting

Dragwood
10 years ago

So i have a miracle fruit tree thats almost 3 feet tall (from a cutting) it has produced many fruits since i have had it about 5 months ago. Over the past 3 months the new growth has stayed a light green and never matures into the dark green. The tree continues to produce fruit but i worry the continual light green leaf is a signed of health decline. I have it in a 7 gal container with a mix of perlite and peat moss. I water it with rain water with ph of about 5.5 to 6.0. I fertilize with dynimite 13-13-13 slow release. I apple a weekly dose of compost tea with liquid sea kelp and fish fert totaling NPK 6-2-2. I have had it in a shaded area on my outside covered patio since i got it. I think its also important to note that i have another miracle tree that i got at the same time that looks very healthy with dark green foliage. On the flip side this one has only fruited 2 berries in the 5 months i have had it. The healthy looking one seems to have no flower buds as apposed to the "unhealthy" looking one. Sorry for the long post but feel a vivid description would help understand the situation better. Im wondering if its not getting enough light or fert?

Comments (4)

  • fabaceae_native
    10 years ago

    Sounds like it is getting plenty of fertilizer (maybe too much?), and lack of light would not show up as yellowing leaves. It still sounds a bit like chlorosis, although you are taking the appropriate steps to avoid that. Usually with chlorosis you can clearly see the leaf veins turning yellow before the rest of the leaf. If this is the case, add some soil acidifier with iron and see if it greens out in a week or so.

    On a different note, I wonder about any signs of drainage in the pot, or pests and disease. Could you be over watering it?

  • Dragwood
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the reply. I all of the light green leafs have a dark green vain. Only 3 have yellow tips but those seem to be old leafs. I have had it in Lamberts organic potting mix that seems to dian well. Since my post i got a bag of Promix Bx with mycorrhizae. The bag says it contains about %25 prelite give or take. By visual observation it appears to have substantially more perlite then the lambert potting soil. I transplanted it into a new 7 gallon nursery container with the Promix. I will take your advice and cut back on the fertilizing. I did have an issue with some kind of worm attaching to the ripe berries. I'll post a pic of that as well. I have been using neem oil to try and rid them.

  • Dragwood
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is a pic of that worm

  • sf_rhino
    10 years ago

    I thought at first you were having a similar issue to what I've been dealing with but your unhealthy plant looks like my 'healthier' plant. I have heard that they don't like much fertilizer so I'd agree with that assessment. I have also heard that low light does make the leaves yellow, but I could be wrong and Fab seems to disagree.

    I have two plants both from seed that are about 3.5 years old. They are both about a foot tall and grown indoors in 1:1 perlite:peat. They don't enough light, they don't get enough humidity, and up until recently I didn't know they were sensitive to chlorine so they used to just get tap water. Now I use tap water left out overnight with some vinegar to drop the pH. So far no fruiting, but they are just now getting around the appropriate size so I am hopeful.

    My problem is also pale leaves, however mine are usually bright yellow with dark green veins. I haven't had them grow this way lately, but old yellow leaves are still there and they occasionally put out new ones. Does this sound like chlorosis or is it a nutrient deficiency of some sort? Mine get the occasional extra dilute foliagepro. Fab, you indicated chlorosis would give the reverse to the coloration that I see. I also have a problem with new leaves drying/dropping off on occasion. They are stable once they mature but the new growth is not super robust. I just figured it was a humidity issue. Any thoughts?

    drag, please keep us updated if you resolve this.

    ryan