The vanillas, growing the spice orchid - Orchid Board

ThevanillaGrower · #1 02-12-2017, 09:25 AM

For the past few years I have been growing Vanilla planifolia with varied success until recently. I started with one cutting of 8" form a seller online on eBay for $11 in 2011. It took two weeks to root, four months to start growing and three years to get the conditions right. Surprisingly, V. planifolia or at least the clone I had was almost unkillable. Apart from leaf burns in the summer and spring causing set backs the plant did very well.

I added a new vanilla to my collection in early 2016, V. pompona. It grew from a mature 6" two node cutting that rooted quickly but literally did nothing for seven months. Only in October did it start to grow. It has yet to stop.

This year I added a new vanilla planifolia to my collection, a five foot long vine that has as good thickness. I purchased it for $30 at a local orchid show. It is in a small 4" pot wrapping around 3 24" bamboo poles. I want to re-pot it so i can give the roots in the pot some more room to grow. I know the aerial roots are important and the plant is a hemiepiphyte but i think 4" pot is still quite small.

Also, does anyone have any good ideas for natural organic fertilizers for vanilla orchids?

wintergirl · #2 02-12-2017, 12:25 PM

You should share some pictures of those orchids. They sound great.

ThevanillaGrower · #3 02-12-2017, 04:49 PM

One of my vanilla planifolia

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003 vanilla [/url], on Flickr[/IMG]

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This is the larger Vanilla planifolia i got at the orchid show a few days ago.

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001 vanilla old photo [/url], on Flickr[/IMG]

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The pompona

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002 vanilla[/IMG]

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Sorry about the quality and size.

wintergirl · #4 02-12-2017, 05:36 PM

Nice ones, thanks! I love the one with the 3 stakes and how you wove the plant up.

ThevanillaGrower · #5 02-12-2017, 05:51 PM

Thanks.

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I am experimenting with organic fertilizers and potting media. Coconut husk and sphagnum moss 1:1 mix works well. I try to water them with rain water or compost tea ect. They respond with amazing growth of several inches a month. Half the plant in the first picture grew within a month. In winter they grow better for me ironically, because it is only then that they can get full sun. In the summer I almost always get set back from morning to afternoon sunburn. Made a shaded area for them this time. So lots of growth expected this year.

My goal at the moment is to get a healthy specimen that has a thick mature stem. This will open up many other very good possibilities....

charlesf6 · #6 02-12-2017, 05:55 PM

fantastic! now I want some thing vanilla.

thanks for the

's

ThevanillaGrower · #7 02-12-2017, 06:10 PM

Ebay should have some good deals on vanilla just by from sellers in the states for ease of mind when it comes to shipping.

Subrosa · #8 02-13-2017, 06:58 AM

Can you put them outside weather permitting? I would think you could reliably get a couple months with night time low temps in an acceptable range. I don't grow Vanilla because I don't have the space to bloom one, but they like bright conditions in the tropics. With proper acclimation I suspect they could take all the sun you could give them and more. If I did grow them I'd grow them with my Vanda which are out whenever nights reliably stay over 60°F. After a couple weeks of gradual acclimation they get unobstructed sun from just past sunrise to around 230-3 in the afternoon all summer long in front of my house which is almost dead on 40°N. And they grow like mad.

ThevanillaGrower · #9 02-13-2017, 08:18 AM

Yeah, you can grow them outside when the temperature allows it but they will need some dappled shade. At least, from my experience they will burn in in direct sun. in early to mid winter you can give them direct sun. The sun's rays are weaker at this point but be cautious when winter is changing to spring. From spring through the summer, starting them in full shade then moving them to dappled to partial shade should do the trick. No late morning to afternoon sun for these guys.

ThevanillaGrower · #10 02-13-2017, 11:30 AM

This year I am going to try to get as many of my vanilla's to a stem diameter of 1 to 2 cm. I think I can get the one the trellis to 1+ cm because it is nearly there and the pompona cutting new growth is being fed by a nearly 2 cm thick and 7 inch long mature cutting.

Next year I will go for vine vigor and length. The end goal is to get the pompona to 8 ft at 1+ cm thick vine because pompona flowers easily. The common planifolia will have a goal set at 14 ft with 1+ cm. Space is not much of a concern because you can grow a lot of vine on a few feet of trellis. Just so you know the image I posted with the vanilla planifolia on the trellis is already nearly 6 ft.

Also, just to clear things up, when I mentioned the goal lengths and thickness it means for that duration of the vine it will be at that thickness. Does not include thinner parts of vine.