Vanilla pompona/planifolia help.

[orcdfrk]

I got one each of these back in october and have them in a sphag & bag treatment to get the roots going. Pompona is doing fine and roots are about 3 inches long growing into a moss pole. My question is anytime I unbag it for an extended period of time the roots start to shrivel; I know this is due to lower humidity in my grow room(about 60%). I have heard the term 'hardening off' applied to seedlings and i'm not sure exactly what it means. Maybe for my vanilla's it means gradually removing the bag so it gets used to the room humidity or are they doomed to life in a bubble?

[Wendy]

I'm not positive but you may have to gradually remove the bag. Can you mist the roots a few times a day while it is out of the bag?

[christina waines]

" Hardening off" is the term used to accustom seedlings to life outside the sheltered environment of their humidity domes. When plants are in such a Humid environment they have no cuticle which is a covering that protects leaves from being dessicated in a drier environment. To harden them off you crack the lid a little more for longer periods each day until the plant grows a cuticle. The same would apply to your Vanilla roots. To go from 90plus % humidity to 60%is just too drastic. plus my experience with Vanillas is that they do best in humidity greater than 60% I would say 70 is best. but they can tolerate lower during the day if you can raise it during nighttime. My greenhouse drops to as low as 30% during the day but I get it consistently to 75% or better (preferably) at night. Hope this answers your question.

[orcdfrk]

That helps christina, thanks. Yeah I'm pretty sure the humidity gets up there at night.