Miracle Berry not doing well.. :(

Help.. My miracle berry is not looking too good nowadays.. I got a small plant back in May.. It was fine for a while and actually put out two small leaves.. But since then, the two small leaves have turned greenish brown and stopped growing.. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.. Anyone with knowledge, please help me save my little plant.... :(

Icosden, try giving it some diluted acid plant food. I've had a bush now for about 10 years, it's planted outside here, and it is a constant struggle to keep its acid needs satisfied. Even now, it has kind of sickly yellowish green leaves, but it flowered and fruited like mad over the summer. I was more diligent with the acid type fertilizer, rather than regular fertilizer. I'm hoping when it sends out new growth in th spring , that the leaves will be solid green!
Cathy

I'm so jealous.. :( Mine is plant's still only a foot tall.. I only use acid fertilzer.. Wonder if it needs to be more acidic still.. I know that when I put the plant outside in the middle of summer, I gave it stronger acid fertilizer.. Humm.. So, I thought it wasn't humid enough indoors.. The plant is more brownish green than yellowish green.. Is that the color of your leaves??

Mine look more like psychedelic pale green and yellow. I can try and take a pic and post when I get home tonight. The poor thing looks really pathetic, but it fruited like heck, probably 100 fruits over the 2 main flushes. So I guess I really have to be on a regular time frame with the acid fertilizer. I also planted a couple of things right behind it to give it more shade next summer. I removed a tree nearby in the spring, and I think if I hadn't watered and fertilized it monthly, it would have expired.
There were actually several self seedlings, but the 40's we had last week killed them. I have not been very successful in transplanting them either. Grumpy little buggers.

LOL.. They are definitely grumpy little buggers.. I learned the hard way that they like some shade.. Fried the crap out of some of their leaves when I first put it out.. I know that if you put it outside, you need to strengthen the acid fertilzer cuz the rain water will dilute it.. Learned that from my blueberries.. And my leaf color is more of a dark greenish brown.. I can't believe you have fruit and seedlings.. **sigh** If my grumpy little bugger doesn't make it, I might have to beg you for a seedling if there's any left.. :(

The three that I transplanted a couple months ago looked pretty good for a while, but I think they can't handle the 40 degree temps as babies. The cold snap in November wiped them out, and the 2 or 3 that popped up since then look like they are on their way out after the last two nights of 40 degrees. I'm going to add some more mulch and hopefully some more babies will pop up in the spring and survive. I tried starting seeds, soaked, not soaked, but so far no germination in the seed trays. GRUMPY!
I'll cross my fingers for more babies when it's warm again and would be very happy to send some to you. Hopefully yours will pull through too!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my little baby plant survives.. And I heard that the seeds are hard to germinate cuz they are only good for a short short while.. But to germinate some said to soak twice then germinate in paper towel before potting up.. I guess whatever the mama natures doing works or you wouldn't have had seedlings.. :)
I can't believe that down there in FL you got 40degree temps.. Here I was going nuts with zone envy and you're telling me that you get those cold snaps too.. At least your cold snaps does go down to the single digits, I guess..

We're back to 76 for the high today, only 50's for the low tonight, yay! The cold doesn't usually last too long, but for some things, one night is all it takes :-(
Here's a pic of one of the seedlings, it still looks OK.

Here's the other seedling that looks like it may be on its way out... One leaf is all shriveled from the cold dry wind.

A pic of the tie-dye leaves. I've given this poor baby all sorts of supplements, maybe someone will see it and suggest something else.

Here's a not very clear pic of a dried seed still hanging from a branch. I just let them fall when they are ready and then they sprouted when it was their time. I have no idea how long they take to germinate. These seedlings could be from seeds that fell in early summer.
The bush is about 10 years old and about 4 feet high.

My blueberries do that too in the spring when all the extra rain fall dilutes the acidity level.. Just use the acid fertilizer more often.. That's what I do.. Think you can use tea or coffee grounds to help acidify the soil too..

But my leaves aren't that bright green/yellow color.. It's more dark greenish brown color instead.. I'm wondering if it's dormant or dying.. :( I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow..

Icosden, what sort of mix do you have it in?

I don't have one, but it is on my wish list and I have read about it. You need 25-50% peat in the mix, from what I have read. And that's not from a peat-based potting mix like Promix...the Promix has a lime charge to bring the pH up to 6.5 or so.

My notes say 2:1 pine bark:peat, but I have seen 1:1 peat:perlite also recommended, in order to get the pH to 5.0-5.5 range.

A pH test kit could be valuable.

Do you think it's pH problem?? Cuz my leaf color is more dark greenish brown than the light greenish yellow.. I thought leaf color would indicate pH problem.. And answer to your question, I have it in miracle grow potting soil with Miracid fertilizer every other week..

I just started putting coffee grounds around it last week, I sure hope it will help over time. I stopped fertilizing a few weeks ago, didn't want any new growth that would just get burnt during a cold snap. Once we get through February, I'll start back on its "acid diet." Boy, that sounds scary, doesn't it!
Thinking good thoughts for your baby lcosden!
Stressbaby, if there are happy baby Miracles in the spring, you are welcome to one too!
Cathy

lcosden--can you post a picture of your plant? It could be something other than a pH problem. Svplantingfool's picture is a very good example of what can happen when your pH is too high--the plant can't absorb iron anymore and then the leaves turn yellow but with the veins still green.

Thanks, SV, sure!

Icosden, the Miracle grow potting soil is peat based, but I'm pretty sure that, like Promix, they put a lime charge in it. I don't know that it's your problem, but I'm guessing that with the Miracid you are pushing the pH south from a starting point of 6.5 or so.

I know a guy with a great, healthy, containerized, fruit-producing plant in his GH in OH. If he is still signed up here, I'll drag him over and see if he can post.

Stressbaby, will you send me a d-mail, so I don't lose this thought!

Ecrane3, I will get a picture up tonight or tomorrow since I'm not home right now.. I will get home this afternoon/evening though.. I know that during the summer when I had it out and it grew new leaves, the leaves were a bright green like svplantingfool's plant. It's just turned greenish brown since I moved it in for the winter..

This is the plant before I placed it outside this summer.. Doesn't look like this anymore.. :(

This is what it looks like now.. Didn't know the poor thing didn't like direct sun. Some of it's leaves got a bit sun burnt.. :( After I moved it to a shadier spot, it sent out two small leaves but those also went greenish brown.. :(

Here's another picture.. Any ideas why it's unhappy??

I have a feeling it may be overwatering, possibly combined with other things but I definitely think watering could be a factor. When you put a little teensy plant in a big giant pot, there aren't enough roots to take up the water that's available in the soil very quickly, so you end up with soil that stays wet for a lot longer and that makes it very easy to overwater and make the roots start to rot without even realizing it. In the summer while it's outside in the heat you may get away with doing that for longer, but once you get cooler temperatures it can catch up with you and cause problems. I'm not an expert on this particular plant so if someone else recognizes this as a different problem I'd trust them, but that's my suspicion based on the symptoms and the size of the pot relative to the plant.

This is OJ's advice:

I think ecrane is right. I managed to kill jasmine with a little too much H2O kindness, and when I inspected the carcass, the roots were rotted. Its leaves looked a lot like this.

I definitely need to work on some more additives to the surrounding soil to reduce the pH even more for my baby.

Will re-pot to see if it helps then.. Thank you!! :)

Icosden-I don't know this particular plant, but I have some thoughts that may help. First, I think ecrane may be right that you may be overwatering it. A smaller container-like a gallon size would be better, and I would definitely remove the mulch on top so the dirt can dry out faster and you can see if the plant needs watering better. As the soil dries out, it will lighten up and makes it easier to not overwater.

When a plant is said to need acidic soil to grow in-6.2 or so ( which is what the peatbased soil mixes are, like Promix) is considered acidic. Using an acidic fertilizer will also help drive down the PH a few tenths of a point. That may be enough for this plant. If you find out that it needs a lower PH of around 5.5, then I would go out and buy battery acid (sulfuric acid-its about 35% so not that strong) and put a few drops in the fert mix ( I am assuming that it is a liquid fert that you are using)every time that you fertilize. That is the quickest way to bring PH down-assuming that you need to.
Looking at this plant, I think that you are going to find damaged roots and it may already be dead. You can wash the roots with a 50/50 mix of hydrogen perioxide and water and then repot-dont let it dry out all the way, but definitely keep on the dry side, and cut your fert strength in half until you see new growth.

Using straight peat is not a good idea, imo, because straight peat has a PH of about 3.2-3.5 and that is very low. I don't know of any plant that can grow in PH that low. It is much easier and safer to use the lime charged peatbased soiless mix that has a PH of 6.2 or so and bring it down 7/10's of a point with acidic fert and sulfuric acid then to try to raise it a few points by using straight peat.

As far as propagating them, they need to be planted immediately. I planted 3 that went from my mouth into the miracle Grow planting mix. 2 out of the 3 are growing. They are now about 4" tall with 3 leaves. I water them every 3 days with a weak mix of MirAcid. They are in the morning sun in a screened-in porch. I will take them inside if it gets below 50.

I just repotted the little plant into a smaller pot. A lot smaller pot. The roots are fine and the soil wasn't overly wet or dry.. I wonder if it's just not warm enough or there's not enough sunlight for it right now.. Hopefully the little plant will recover.. As far as watering, I think I will test the pH of the soil. I've been using diluted acid fertilzer but I'm not sure about the pH still..

Hibiscus5, thanks for the heads up on propagating by seed. Next year I will eat and plant! Luckily, my plant is older and established enough that I don't have to baby it any more. It handles the 40's and occasion 30's very well.