In March 2015, my 11-year-old daughter’s birthday wish was to harvest strawberries in our apartment. 🙂

It would not be a hard wish to grant if we were living in a temperate climate region, but we are living in Singapore, a tropical country.

Right from the start, we were met with disbelief and skepticism when we told friends what we wanted to do.

They all thought I was crazy!!!

Our impossible mission began in March 2015, after watching a few videos on how other people grew strawberries from seeds.

Most of these how-to videos were from Europe or the United States.

There were none from South East Asia, at least not the English speaking ones that we could find.

The first strawberries seeds germinated on April 4, 2015, from a packet of seeds from Far East Flora, a local nursery near home.

 

Strawberry Seeds in Singapore

 

It took 10 days to see our first strawberries seeds sprouting!

There was no going back after this point.

 

Strawberry seedlings from seeds in Singapore

 

A week later, we decided to see if we could harvest seeds ourselves and germinate seedlings from store-bought fresh strawberries.

We discovered that matured seeds from ripe fresh fruits had a faster germination rate of 2 to 5 days instead of 10 days.

This was my daughter’s first video for our blog on how to choose the matured fresh strawberry seeds for germination.

 

 

 

However, in late December 2015, we were advised by American growers that harvesting from fresh strawberries was not a good idea.

All our supermarkets’ strawberries are hybrids, they would not grow true to parent plants.

Our own experience with these seedlings showed they did not last long.

Most of our seedlings from fresh strawberries died in the 5th month or after they were transplanted to deeper pots.

 

Harvesting ripe seeds from strawberries
Kids are harvesting mature seeds from ripe strawberries 🙂

 

I hope this excitement of discoveries and the spirit of learning led them to research in fields of their interests when they grow up.

We created our group on Facebook, ” SG Farming in Apartments“,  to share our experience on May 1, 2015.

More pictures on how we began to harvest day’s posts were pinned at the top of this group.

Our link is at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/866039746800973/

 

Please follow our post “How to Germinate Strawberry seeds” on how to start seeds.

 

By mid-May 2015, we had 60 strawberry seedlings thriving in our bedroom.

The kids and I were thrilled to pieces.

We felt we were now strawberries “farmers”!!!

 

Grow strawberry from seeds in Singapore
Thrilling! 

 

EXCITEMENT!

From these tiny sprouts, more leaves appeared.

They were such pretty seedlings, and this was the first time we saw strawberries’ seedlings.

The question of whether our strawberry plants can really bear fruits troubled me constantly.

I told my daughter we would take them as far as we can, not wanting to disappoint her with false hopes.

 

Strawberry seedling
1-month-old

 

Strawberry seedling at 3 months
3 months old – an emerging crown

 

As we would be away during the June holidays, and not wanting to bother my elderly parents too much, we decided to give half of our 60 seedlings to seasoned gardeners in Singapore.

 

Strawberries seedlings shared with Singapore gardeners
ALEX NG – Grapes Grower

 

Due to over-watering, pests had invaded our soil when we returned home after our June break.

We decided to change the soil instead of applying pesticides and took the opportunity to look at strawberry’s roots.

 

strawberry plant roots
3 months old – emerging crown + long taper roots

 

Strawberry seedling has long roots
First look at roots

 

Please follow the post on “How to Transplant Strawberry Plants” for tips!

By the 4th month, strawberry plants became hardier.

They are drought-resistant and need less water.

At this time, the soil should be more acidic.

Yeh Gerald from Urban Farmers (Singapore) Facebook’s group, advised adding used ground coffee to the soil.

 

Strawberry seedling stages
4th-month old

 

Strawberry plant length at 4 months
Strawberry plant at 4th month is 29cm

 

As the strawberry plants grew, space to grow them at my only sunny window in the apartment was running out.

 

Strawberries from seeds
Crowded Tabletop

 

For us, with limited sun, our best solution is to climb upwards!

All our vertical towers are recycled from used plastic water bottles and painted white to reflect heat away from the plants.

 

 

Strawberry farm in Singapore bedroom
Strawberry vertical DIY garden

 

I am guessing that my daughter is the only kid in school who can say she is sleeping and studying in a strawberry garden in tropical Singapore!

On September 20, 2015, when the strawberries were five months old, flower buds were found on our strawberry plants.

A couple of days later, these flowers bloom.

We were really happy to see them.

Fruiting seems possible at this stage.

 

Strawberry plant flowers
First time seeing a strawberry plant’s flower

 

Two-legged bees were put to work, pollinating these flowers with a paintbrush.

A friend from our gardening group, Ms. Regina Fok, send us a link with information on how to do this.

Summer presented a video in YouTube to show how we pollinated ours.

 

 

 

In Singapore, because of high humidity, we cannot rely exclusively on natural elements like wind or bees (which we don’t have in our room) to pollinate strawberries’ flowers.

 

Self Pollinate Strawberry flowers
Human Bee Shona pollinating strawberry flowers in Singapore

 

The best chance to see fruits is to lend a human’s helping hand.

When pollination is successful, the petals dropped within the day and its bald head started to face downwards.

Strawberry’s petals will darken and looked bruise before shedding.

 

Self pollinated strawberry flower
Sept 21 2015 – Day after pollination

 

Two or more flowers may bloom on the same stem, although the rate of successful pollination was not uniform.

 

Self pollinated strawberry flowers
Self Pollinated strawberry flower on the right  has shed all petals,begin to fruit.

 

stages of strawberry fruit growth
On the right, flower has shed all its petals and begin fruiting journey. On the left, a fruit becoming more developed.

 

Fruiting process starts as soon as petals are dropped and the flower’s bud drooped down.

This happened within a week instead of months as we expected.

The Strawberry plant baby is really ugly!

 

First stage of strawberry fruit development
First stage of strawberry fruit – flower lost its petals, head drooped downward

 

Second stage of strawberry fruit development
Second stage of strawberry fruit development – flesh and seeds are green

 

Third stage of strawberry fruit development
Third stage of strawberry fruit development – seeds began to redden

 

4th stage of strawberry fruit development
4th stage of strawberry fruit development – seeds redden further while flesh remained light green

 

5th stage of strawberry fruit development
An unexpected surprise – strawberry fruit flesh turned from light green to white while seeds remained red

 

6th stage of strawberry fruit development
Pink blush on strawberry fruit’s white flesh overnight

 

Last strawberry fruit development stage
A recognizable red strawberry fruit at last!

 

From the beginning, we love to use only natural fertilizer to feed our strawberries, even making our own KELP fertilizer . 

This story shared on TEDx stage on May 28 2016. 🙂

Thank you, TEDxPickering Street for the honor to share our story.

 

 

All the videos here are written and presented by children, using their own words.

Summer was 11 years old and she is our spokesperson for the English communities. Shona was 8 years old, and she usually represented in Japanese (the Year 2015).

Our story in a 2018 article by Eudora Chua on this experience with the children’s voices.

We looked back on how we began this journey and what life goals achieved and joys it brought us.

The children enjoyed making these how-to videos and sharing our experience.

We hope you enjoyed them too.

 

August 7 2016 – We harvested our second variety of strawberries.

The children and I love these Heirloom Pineapple strawberries even more than the red variety!

Check out why they are so special at the above link.

 

Grow strawberries from seeds in Singapore
2017 Bedroom Gardens

 

 

WORKSHOPS and Heirloom strawberry seeds are available for consideration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 thoughts on “Strawberries’ Overview – From Seeds to Fruits :)”

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  3. Hi,

    Does the flowering di done naturally or triggered by some cold treatmean, either air or root temperature during your kids experiment? thanks

    1. Our strawberry plants are grown like normal plants, with one exception, they are in air-conditioned rooms at night with us. Nothing was done to trigger anything, because we like plants that are grown as naturally as possible. When flowers come along, the kids pollinate them because we have no bees in the bedroom and kids learn about flowers’ parts first hand.

      1. Hmm cold night temperature by air conditioning..no wonder.low night temperature known to induce flowering..btw how low you usually set the room airconditioner temperature at nite?

  4. Hi Vic, thank you for your wonderful workshop on growing strawberries! I enjoyed myself and went home with lots of useful tips on growing strawberries at home! Very informative and would recommend this class to anyone who is keen to grow strawberries in our tropical weather!

  5. I learned to grow strawberry in a workshop today conducted by Victoria. I learn valuable skills in planting, repotting and pests control. Victoria was detailed, systematic and clear in her explanation and shows sensitivity to her participants. Thanks, Victoria!

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