Taste Test - Start To Finish

On 10th Sept 2014 this plant I allow the flower to develop to see what happen, whether it can bear fruit in this hot lowland. 

To get the plant flowering is great news for me since as a known fact that Strawberry will have difficulties in flowering if exposed to temperature of greater that 28 degrees C.

On 21st September 2014 it form fruit and I was anxious to see its progress.

Not as large as the highland but to get it fruiting is a joy to see on 25th September 2014

Slowly changing color to a reddish pinkish Strawberryish.. :)

And finally today 28th September 2014, pick it for test taste.

Nice and firm, but should have waited another couple of days before picking.

 Not the usual Strawberry shape, may be due to this particular cultivar it is like that.

The flesh is firm and not watery as most Aquaponics, what ever it is I am overjoy for this and can't wait for next year when the plants are fully ready to bear fruits.

So it took 18 days from flower to picking time, more or less.

Equatorial Lowland Strawberry Project - Journal 27th Sept 2014

Looks good so far these Strawberry, finished making shades to the second and third growbed. The forth I left it temporarily vacant since I decide to put more plants within each growbed. This require me to let some of the plant to developed runners into young plants for the vacant growbed.

This time I use the electrical conduit PVC, they are cheaper and since the frame doesn't require much strength to hold those netting, it's okay.

Apart from direct intense sunlight it is good for heavy down pour which if not protected from will damage plants. Those that are not familiar with Equatorial weather, what we have here is either very hot sun with high humidity or very heavy rain which pour cats and dogs. Either way you're screwed.. if no shades provided as protection.

It's time for one of the runner to be cut off from the mother plants, it has form much needed roots and should be able to survive on its own.

Cut the umbilical as close as possible to the mother plants so that she don't waste much of her energy trying to repair what is not important anymore.

Make another cut as close to the young plant, this plant can be left where it is. However in this case I need the space for another fresh pot since there is another runner developing and I want that to form into new plant.

That new plant I transfer to a nursery growbed, here the water level is adjusted to be high so that any new plants will have a head start in this hot weather. Once it has formed more roots I can then move it to the 4th growbed as a permanent home for it.

The mother plant was in the old plastic pot, changing it to the slotted pot will ensure better growth as roots formation is found to be better if there are more exposure to air. Before letting it produce another plant, it is best to get the pot change.

It's a quickie job and not much stress on the plants since we are doing it the Aquaponics methods. This is one of the original plants from the highland, so it's good to see that it had survived the heat and even producing runners as above.

Back in its place, and one fresh pot standing by to catch the runner. I will need to trained it to be somewhere within the pot, using pots it is convenient to rotate the plant positioning the runner to a good landing. If this plant is directly in the growbed it will then be difficult to do.

One lone Strawberry is turning red, this is the one plant that I let it to fruit. Most of the flower I just clipped away but this plant I let it be. Just to see what developed from this experiment, 1st year plants need to get their roots strengthen first before they are allowed to flower other wise it may not be strong enough to bear fruit in the hot Equatorial climate.

Titbits- 26th September 2014

Not much happening this last few days, just tidying up and get few plants reorganized to other growbeds. Kuchai (Garlic Chives) plants has to make way for the Strawberry project experiment, and all pots has to be placed in the back part of the house.

Harvest all Kuchai and remove the pot from this growbed. Quite a lot of Kuchai and gave it away to neighbors.

The Ornamental set metal stand is ready and I am testing it out before making more to sell.

Unfortunately the pots are from different manufacturer, hence the color difference. Oh well it still function same and I'll wet run this for another couple of months then let one set as a test piece and permanently get it going to see if any problem arise after prolong usage.

The strawberry plants still producing runners, I clipped most of it to let plants grow stronger. There are still a few that I let grow into plants and use it for new growbeds. I'll replace those older plants that originally obtained from Cameron Highland.

The older Strawberry plants never stop flowering, most of it I clipped too. Only one or two were left to develop into berry.

This one fruit that I let grow, okay it's not as big but at least it a good sign that we can have strawberry in the Equatorial lowland.

That's about it today, still a lot more to do getting the setup organized and tidy.