The One with Strawberries

Strawberry. Success!!!

If you follow us on Twitter (Shameless plug alert: Follow us @ContnrGardenPR) you know that we're very excited about our strawberry plant. Just thinking of being able to taste fresh strawberries makes us salivate. However, our excitement was subdued by the fact that strawberries are difficult to grow in the tropics (see The Holy Grail post). They are prone to fungus and root rot due to the high humidity of Puerto Rico. To avoid this make sure your plants are in a well-ventilated area and that during watering no water falls on the leaves. Strawberries may also be victim to the dreaded aphids (We don't have a solution for this one yet but we're working on one.)

Against all odds, and much to our delight, in December our little plant produced a few flowers. Excitedly (and a little compulsively), we observed each day (did I say we were compulsive) how one of the flowers started to become a green strawberry fruit. We cared for it by keeping the soil moist and providing a balanced fertilizer every week.

The time had come. After a few weeks it ripened to a bright red color. We carefully cut the fruit from the plant, washed it clean, and cut it in half (Jessy and I both wanted to taste it). Taste-wise our strawberry tastes slightly less sweet than a supermarket bought fruit. I was expecting a bitter aftertaste but I was pleasantly surprised that it had the flavor I'm used to. In terms of size a supermarket fruit dwarfs our little strawberry which was to be expected. And now we wanted more.

Mother plant sending out a stolon. 

One of the nice things about growing your own strawberries (besides that sweet fresh flavor) is that they're easy to propagate. The plants you buy at the nursery are called mother plants. They send out runners called stolons which produce multiple daughter plants. Daughters can be potted and allowed to root (or they could be removed to allow the mother plant to concentrate on fruit production). Keep the potting soil moist and they should develop roots in a few weeks. Once they are fully established you can cut the connection to the mother plant (much as you cut the umbilical cord from a newborn). Voila! You have a brand new plant. With this simple technique you are able to multiply your plants almost infinitely since each daughter plant will become a mother plant after one growing season. As always remember to #spreadthelove by gifting plants to your friends and neighbors. Finally, let us know in the comments section if you've had experience (and hopefully success) in growing strawberries in the tropics.

Propagation:Cuttings

Propagation of oregano brujo by cuttings.
Left:Take the top 4-6 inches, Middle: 45 degree cut, Right: New Plant

You know that plant you love so much. The one that's almost impossible to find. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have more of that lovely plant (Man, that really sounded like an infomercial!). Well there is a simple way to make your this possible. Propagation by cuttings.

The methodology is simple but the execution takes a few tries to ensure consistent success (Believe us, we know). First do some research (the internet is your friend) to ensure your plant can be propagated through cuttings. As a rule of thumb most herbs, such as oregano and rosemary, and woody ornamentals can be propagated through cuttings. Some plants that we've propagated by cuttings are basil, tomatoes, oregano brujo, and roses (currently in progress from our miniature rose). In the picture above we provided an example with oregano brujo (one of the easiest plants to propagate).

The best time to perform this type of propagation is early in the morning or late in the afternoon. (Editor's note: Joel and Jessica aren't morning people so they do their cuttings late in the day) Take your plant and make a 45 degree cut on the top part (3-6 inches) of a healthy stem. Remove flowers and lower leaves to reduce energy demand. This will help the cutting to direct its energy towards root creation. Let the cut heal for a day in the shade (very important or the cutting will dry out and die). Then place it on a well-draining high humidity soil (50/50 potting soil/perlite should work), or even standing water, to encourage the development of roots. Some plants need additional help to develop roots. To aid in this development you may apply root powder (hormones that encourage root development) to the cut. Roots will develop in 4-8 weeks depending on the plant species.

And there you have it. You are the owner of a brand new plant. Enjoy! Always remember that this is a good way to #spreadthelove by gifting some of your new plants to a friend or neighbor.

Sometimes neutral jing is your best option

Today's title is a homage to one of our favorite cartoons: Avatar - The Last Airbender (highly recommended for both adults and kids). In this cartoon there are jings which represent options for directing your energy. There is positive, negative and neutral jing. Positive = advancing, progressing, attacking; Negative = retreating, evading; Neutral = not doing anything.  A lot of times when gardening the best option is to do nothing. Just sit back and let nature take its course.

Remember those whiteflies we were battling (see Pests: Whiteflies)? Well, they're gone. How did we eradicate them you ask? To be honest we don't know. Here's what we tried. We bought some sticky traps and set them around our plants (negative jing). The traps caught every insect imaginable but very few whiteflies. We also tried to kill with our bare hands (oh, the humanity!) as many of the flies as we could find early in the morning when the flies are not very active (positive jing). None of these things were very effective. In the end we just let them be and nature took its course (neutral jing). We believe the whiteflies were eradicated by a combination of factors.

Biological: Spiders set-up shop where the whitefly population density was highest. They probably helped control the adult population.
Environmental: Temperatures dipped which normally results in less whiteflies. If true it means they might come back in spring or summer.
Luck: A highly likely candidate. Never underestimate the power of pure dumb luck.

So there you have it, our experience on how to control whiteflies. Do nothing and just enjoy your garden. Join us next time when we might actually do something.