Strawberries grow in the highland of Malaysia where the temperature is averaging 20 degrees C all year round. They grow well in the sunny but cool area of Cameron Highland located about 200 kilometers from where I live.
So last month I made a short trip up the winding mountain road, this time I drive not on the bike since I'm taking the kids to see and treats themselves to Strawberry Desert.
Looking for young seedling but all I could find are old retired veterans that almost like those time-ex battery chicken. Well something is better than nothing. I got myself a few and these will be the start of another trial.
Use my ornamental set to plant these and I am placing them away from direct midday sun, slowly getting these to adapt and hope they will produce new runners and then I can try with young plants.
Not an easy thing to do this Strawberry Plants, trimmed most of the leaves leaving it to recover from transplant and climate shock. Hoping to see new leaves for a start, but it is very slow progress.
So far it had survive a month in lowland where temperature can reach 40 deg C, watering is not a problem because of the aquaponics set take care of that. I will try adding supplement to get it to grow. Never had any experience with this plant and it is a steep learning curve for me in Aquaponics.
Obtain few Strawberry Plant from Cameron Highland Malaysia today 5th June 2014.
I am embarking on a 3 year project to try and plant Strawberry in the equatorial lowland using the Aquaponics and soil planting method. It is never successfully done before and I am inspired by Mr. Leonardo Libreja from the Philippines that manage to grow Strawberry in the lowland after years of trying.
In the highland of Malaysia mainly Cameron Highland they do grow a variety of Strawberry plant, I will use this variety to start my project.
I will try to do it Aquaponically and not sure what to expect. I had already attempted planting but to no success. It is doubly difficult to do it in Aquaponics since it will need to be able to stand the lowland heat here in Malaysia.
These are my initial start : Here
I will try to do this in three phases
Phase I - Propagating
- To get as many new generation plants as possible from runners or seeds, getting them to get use to Aquaponics and basic fertilizer. This may involve making specialized shades and protections.
Phase II - Climatization
- To get those new generation plants to gradually use to the lowland heat.
Phase III - Fruiting
- To get the Strawberry plant fruiting
