Close the Crop Cycle Properly: Don’t Waste the Plant

Today I did something that felt a little brutal at first.

I terminated my pineapple plant.

Not because it was “bad.”
Not because it failed.

But because on a balcony, space is limited — and every pot is valuable.

And I needed that big pot for something else.

That’s part of real growing: sometimes you don’t “keep everything.”
Sometimes you choose what stays and what goes.

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It’s Not Failure — It’s Reallocation

When people see a plant removed, they assume something went wrong.

But farming doesn’t always work like that.

Sometimes a plant is removed because:

• it takes too long
• it occupies too much space
• it blocks other crops
• it doesn’t match the current season
• it no longer fits the plan

In other words:

A plant can be healthy and still be the wrong plant for the system.

And a balcony is a system.

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The Hidden Harvest

While clearing the pineapple, I discovered something I didn’t expect.

Inside the plant was the ubod — the tender inner heart.

In the Philippines, ubod is food.
We eat coconut ubod raw. It’s crisp, fresh, and clean.

And yes — pineapple ubod is edible too.

I didn’t plan to harvest it.
I didn’t even know I would.

But there it was:

A bonus harvest hiding inside a plant I thought I was “throwing away.”

Bonus harvest: pineapple ubod — reclaimed from a plant I was about to discard.

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A Crop Cycle Isn’t Just Growth

A crop cycle is not only:
Seed → Plant → Harvest

It is also:
Plant → Decision → Removal → Recovery → Next Crop

That “removal” part is often ignored, but it matters.

Because if you end a crop badly, you carry problems into the next one:

• pests
• diseases
• depleted soil
• bad habits
• wasted space

But if you close a crop properly:

• you learn
• you harvest what you can
• you reset the pot
• you upgrade the system
• you move forward cleanly

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The Balcony Farmer Mindset

Balcony farming is not about having many plants.

It’s about making each pot count.

Sometimes the win is not:
“Look at my harvest.”

Sometimes the win is:
“Look at the space I reclaimed.”

And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get both.

I cleared the pot.
I got the ubod.
Quid pro quo.

Still a win.

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Next Project: Strawberries 🍓

This pineapple pot is now being repurposed for my next balcony experiment: strawberries.

I’m preparing a proper soil mix and also testing hydroponics methods (Kratky / DWC) to see what works best in Singapore’s heat and humidity.

If you’re following along, the strawberry updates will be linked in future posts here on LeChaim Farm.