Learning AOSP, Balcony Growing, And Now -- Hydroponics!

 14-Jan-2026

So for those years when I was quiet, or not writing anything, life is going on.

2020, it was the pandemic. I was hired back by my first company here in Singapore, and I stayed for another 3 years. It was around the 3rd quarter of the 3rd year that I got a message from one of my former colleagues who asked if I want to be doing PROMIS again. We worked together back in 1997 in ADI Philippines doing, guess what? Yes, PROMIS. So our past experiences going back full circle. Work, that is.

I thought about it, the skillset is familiar, and we're good at it, so I thought about the financial side. There's an increment which is considerable. I did not expect that amount, really. Which I learned afterwards that my full work experience was considered, which is at least 3 decades. Around 17 years was on doing PROMIS. So yeap, that gave me some leverage to catapult my base pay.

And that additional amount was needed. Praise God for his wisdom! At the right time, I was offered a job with an increase that was going to be a big help. Kids continue studying, taking higher education, kids leaving the nest and going independent, trying out life on their own. This disrupts the economy at home. And with an extra buffer, that minimized the impact of all these happenings.

So now I find that I have some extra time on hand with my new job, so I was doing a couple of things, then I focused on learning AOSP. Went on for at least a year. Then one time, while working from home, I happened to look out the balcony, and oh, the overgrown plants! Well, mewife has been telling me now and then to upkeep my plants, or altogether throw them away. The gardener that I am would just ignore that command. And on days when I'm not around, mewife would take the scissors and trim down the plants. I'd find them with less leaves and stems when I come back, say nothing, then grow them back again. Or, here's the good part, when she sees a pot that she likes, she'll ask me to move it in the house to a spot that she thinks is going to look nice, add to her interior decoration.

This time, I saw many things. Tomato growing but not fruting. I mean I have 5 or 6 tomato plants in one pot. Chili have long stems, but no fruits. The same thing. Many chili plants in one pot. What's worse, I thought that inter-cropping would be beneficial. Just that I am doing it wrong. Why is that? I mixed plants in a pot. And this is not only one pot. I have several pots that has lime and chili, ginger and chili, lime and tomato, and chili and tomato, etc. A mess? Yes, a mess!

Then I thought about it. Searched about it. I even used chatgpt.com to check why. Oh, I have used chatgpt.com when I got serious with my AOSP self-study, as I moved from app development to system development. In the long run, I wanted to be doing the OS that runs the Android phone, not simply developing apps. So I resorted to free chatgpt.com when searching the web yielded different results that did not help in setting up my laptop for AOSP development. That requires Unix, or Linux, specifically I used Ubuntu Linux 2022. The latest version then was 2024, 2025, and they just aren't suitable for doing AOSP development.

Done with the dual-booting of my laptop, installing all necessary dependencies, etc., etc., and vacations and all, then my focus shifted.

I looked out at the balcony, and thought about it. Is there anything that can be done to make these fruiting plants and ornamental plants grow, and grow healthily, productively, not simply survive, or grow vegetatively? And chatgpt.com replied resoundingly, 'Yes!'

That started me first 'killing' the plants that are already past being productive, specifically the tomatoes. And separating the plants, lime plants to their own pots, chili plants to their own pots, Hami melon plants to their own pots, taking out other plants from the ginger pot, pothos, fern, rubber tree, corn plant -- everything -- to their very own pots, and the hard part -- thinning down my plants!

I'm very sentimental. I can grow plants so easily and I find it hard to let go. But for the betterment of me and my plants, some things simply have to go. And away they went. From around 30 or so pots, I removed a lot, and ended up with 20 pots. I have a lot of snake plants and pothos, so these are most reduced. I packed the snake plants dense and ended up with just 2 pots, with pothos the most getting reduced. I cut up into small pieces all the plant parts that were taken out, roots to tip, and put them all in the emptied pots and covered them in soil. Hopefully, in time, they will have been composted so they will serve a new purpose.

And what do you know? One of the snake plant pots came up nice and clean and lovely. I guess you already know what's gonna follow. Yes, mewife, she told me to bring it in. That's a winning favor, and also, clearing up more space in the balcony. That pot is quite big, and it sat nicely next to the black fridge. Surprisingly enough, which is a confirmation for the snake plant's physiology or genetics, they need heat to survive, not the sun, but heat. After a month or so, new shoots came up, very whitish green, giving the snake plant a pretty appearance next to the black fridge.

A pot of snake plants beside the fridge.

For a while, my train of thought was broken here, I was writing this post, then we had to go out, to my daughter's school. Today is O Level results and we had to go to school to support her. Well, she passed, and she got accepted in her Early Admission Exercise (EAE) application to Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Which means she is assured of her slot in the school for her college education. And after three years, on to her degree course of her liking.

So after the separation of the plants, to each its own pot, and placed according to sun requirement, and watered as per plant requirement, the response and improvement was immediately visible. Fertilizer feeding was now introduced. Before, I just watered anyhow. I even have plates under the pots to collect excess water. Like, well, all these plants need water, and water excessively I did. Even for fertilizers, I just applied when I feel like it, and excessively, too! No method, no knowledge, nothing.

When I asked that question, "Can these plants improve?", I searched and researched. Specific to the plants that I have. What's with the sudden interest in doing all these? I kept on seeing hydroponics, and I got interested. But I don't want to just jump on this bandwagon. Nothing new actually, but hydroponics and aeroponics have been ongoing for years now. And it seems to be the future of farming. Which now includes producing for your own consumption. So there's the appeal (to me) at least.

So there's improvement after the separation of the plants into their own pots. They also were placed in full sun, or sun and shade locations. The leaves got less and less burn. And the plates under the pots were removed to drain our excess water. That was all in November of last year. And when December came, and we planned for a holiday of more than 2 weeks, I thought about auto-irrigation.

I have tried the passive device, the stake type, which is driven into the soil, with the other end stuck with a bottle of water. What can I say? Forget about that. It's almost useless, water spilled out without control and running out in hours. From that experience before, I now focused on solar-powered auto-irrigation, and yes, there were kits that are not so expensive. So I got 2, one for the ornamental group, and another for the fruiting plants. Tried them and they worked. So I have peace of mind by the time we walked out the door and into the airport.

Before that date, where I already saw improvements on the soil-based potted plants, adding only the auto-irrigation device to take care of watering the plants while I'm away, I have started my first hydroponics system. When I knew our flight date, I estimated the dates, and I said that the hydroponics can be started. Which I did. Sow seeds to hardening, that takes about 10 to 14 days. Since I'm able to get the seeds within that window, I started seed sowing, to hardening. And a day before flight, I transferred the plants to the full Kratky system. I hit the pH to just a very nice value: 5.5. Window says it should be 5.5 to 6.5. Everything in order, we went on vacation.

Fast forward to 17 days later. Auto-irrigation did its job. Plants are okay, and leaves were growing and I have a greener balcony. How about the hydroponics? Well, I sowed J lettuce and xiao pai chai (pak choy, or pechay). Today, the lettuce are growing tall. Even the pak choy. Which confirms that the nutrient solution was correctly formulated. 

I have continued my study, observation, search and research, video watching in YouTube, and for what I am learning, I am documenting. I have also started my own documentation channel in YouTube, just like most growers, and even a new blog as the learning is tremendous. See them here:

LeChaim Farm YouTube Channel

LeChaim Farm Blog

J Lettuce and Xiao Pai Chai growing in my first Kratky hydroponics.

Lettuce harvest is due in 3 days, Pak choys in another 10 days. But unlike most growers who dispose of their produce after 45 days, leaves, roots and all, I will do a harvest-regrow-harvest-retire process for the lettuce plants. They retire when they start growing flowers. The 45 days is on the leaves, not on the plant. What to know more, read my blog. We learn and grow together.

I am targetting for my next project, and this is an experiment, as the plants will be grown on soil and using hydroponics kit -- strawberries. Yes, strawberries! I have done some research, and there are growers who also sell seedlings, and what I have found is a good one: Australian Tioga Strawberries!

I've written a long post already. I'll stop here.

Till then!