3 Miracle Fruit Seeds - End your dependence on sugar! - Synsepalum dulcificum

To start off, I am not the Ethan of Ethan's Garden. I am just a hobbyist who shares a name and interest in this plant. This is probably going to be excessively lengthy, but I wanted to take readers through the my experiences and provide the findings of my scouring the internet for information. I have been wanting to try growing these for a while, but never seriously looked into it until fairly recently. While the seeds were a bit more expensive than some that I had found on a certain internet auction site, I didn't feel like spending money on seeds of questionable quality when any google search reveals just how finicky these seeds are to begin with. The other reviews all indicated that Ethan's Garden provided good quality seeds and great customer service, so I decided to go with them. The seeds arrived very quickly, just a couple of days after ordering. The package actually contained 4 seeds when I had ordered 3 (whether it was an extra gift or just a slip up, I thank the seller). The seeds appeared to be quite fresh based on what I had seen on the internet, and the seeds were packaged moist but not soaking. This is important because miracle fruit produces recalcitrant seeds (they can not survive drying out). It was about this point that I realized that the gibberellic acid (GA3) that I had previously bought almost exclusively for this purpose was still in my college dorm room, about a 7 hour drive away. The gibberellic acid is a plant hormone that (among other things) can be used to break dormancy of seeds and should help to increase the germination rate of these stubborn seeds. I have read concentrations of up to 1000ppm used (I know, not a particularly good scientific unit of concentration, but ppm seems to be pretty standard when it comes to GA3 for some reason). After accepting my mistake, I decided to go for sprouting these seeds au naturel. I decided to begin germinating the seeds without soil. I placed them on a damp paper towel in a petri dish (paper towel in zipper storage bag or sealed plastic container should work just as well). Supposedly coffee filter paper is preferable to paper towel because the roots don't get as easily entangled, though I had no issues. I placed the petri dish in an incubator at 30 C (86 F). The incubator is likely unnecessary, but I hoped that it would help speed up the germination. Within a few days, I had black mold growing on the seeds. In order to prevent this, when handling the seeds I probably should have washed my hands more thoroughly or worn some rubber gloves. To reduce mold, I very gently wiped it off using a paper towel (probably not the brightest course of action, but it seemed effective). I have read that you can spray seeds with a 1:20 dilution of 3% hydrogen peroxide (resulting in a 0.15% solution of peroxide) to help keep mold at bay. In one week, the first of my four seeds was beginning to split open at one end and a small root was beginning to protrude. Make sure that you keep your seeds wet! I had a scare where I thought I let them dry out too much, but they turned out to be okay. At three weeks, two of the seeds had a root about 1-2cm long (about 0.5 inches). As per my research, I transferred these to pots at this point. I used a mixture of 50/50 sphagnum peat and perlite (sterilized), a mixture that seems to be ideal for miracle fruit. I gently transferred the seeds (being very careful with the roots) to the soil and just covered them over. I made sure the soil stayed moist by using a spray bottle. Also at three weeks, I noticed that the other two seeds were just beginning to crack open and produce roots. It seemed some were significantly slower than others in germination. I wonder if a very delayed sprouting in some seeds may contribute to the low reported germination rates (i.e. people are not persistent/stubborn enough). Within a week or so, these had grown to a decent size root, and I transferred them to pots of peat and perlite. Today is one month since I received the seeds in the mail (one day short, actually). Today, my first miracle fruit sprout broke through the surface of the soil. I feel so proud of my little seedling. In theory, another sprout should be a couple days away, and the other two should be a week or two off. Now, the waiting game begins. So here is the review part, I guess: Yes, I recommend buying seeds from this vendor. They ship quickly, and I can vouch for their freshness and quality!

Bad seed. Never germinated. Don’t bother.

This is a wonderful plant that I am eager to grow as an inside overwinter plant. The seller originally sent me 4 seeds which took some time to arrive, but were still on time and in good condition. Product came with a "how-to" manual, with helpful information on how to plant the seeds. I know these seeds can be difficult to germinate through my own research, and true to their reputation, the 4 seeds I had didn't germinate after a few weeks. I contacted the seller who was kind enough to send me 6 seeds that had already germinated. I am still waiting on these to grow, but the seller has already earned my 5 star rating. Thanks!

May 3, 2010 "i have no problem with the seller, they even sent me some more seed to try to germinate but they just wont grow! i did as instructed, placed in towels, kept moist, used filtered water and its been over 50 day with no signs of sprouting!. do wast your time, buy growing plants! update- 9/10/2010. after seller and i have been through hell and back we got some seeds to start but only after Ethan at Ethan's Garden ( a very determined seller) sent me some seed that had sprouted already and after fighting the squirrel's. have not leafed yet or transplanted from starter pot's but going OK so far. will update when (IF!!) i see fruit! still recommend buying plants unless you are a VERY determined person.

The plant itself is amazing, but the seeds I received were burning up in the mailbox and never sprouted. I followed the directions perfectly...

From what I had read on different sites it was clear that the seeds were stubborn in terms of germination rate, but I was determined to get this plant. I soaked three seeds overnight in a solution of Gibberellic Acid (GA3) and two seeds in plain tap water. With in two weeks the GA treatment seeds germinated (and are now about five inches tall with five healthy leaves) while the water soaked seeds took about four weeks to germinate (presently only two inches tall). I guess the seeds are viable, but it seems they need an extra boost to germinate faster. Normally I don't like to give chemical treatment to my plants, but as you'll find in all the reviews about growing this plant, the seeds are stubborn. If you buy these seeds, I'd suggest you to keep some Gibberellic Acid with you for quick germination or do it old school and try for patience for a month or so. And mind you, your patience will be tested either ways because the plant is excruciatingly slow growing. The GA3 treated seeds germinated about seven months ago but are still only five inches tall. Side note: When the seeds germinated, the first pair of leaves to emerge had the most brilliant dark maroon colour.

Seeds would not germinate, no growth at all. Not blaming the company, everything was packaged great. I might have just gotten a dud of the batch

I received my seeds on 7/7/21. I have been germinating them ever since. Not sure but I may see a slight sign of a root on one of my seeds. They say in the instructions that they may take a month so I am still optomistic. I have read that these are a challenge to grow, so it's been only 9 days. I hope to see signs of life soon.