mCherry expression in bacteria
 

I have mCherry alone and mCherry fused to my protein of interest in a arabinose inducible plasmid. In E. coli, I can only see fluorescence if cells are grown for at least 8h (to stationary phase) with 0.02% to 0.2% arabinose. I would like to see expression in exponential phase and think the expression should be evident 2 hours after adding inducer. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Thanks for your input in advance.