Growing Vanilla Inside? - Orchid Board

emilywilson54 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 02:08 PM

Hello,

I have been growing orchids for four years with varying degrees of success. Now I am thinking of purchasing a vanilla orchid. I will have to keep indoors most of the year as I live in Toronto.

Will vanilla grow well indoors?

What sort of trellis should I make (size, material)?

Any other tips?

MuscleGirl'sHobby · #2 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 04:23 PM

Bumpity bump!

I'm interested to the answer to this as well. I'd really like to give vanilla a shot, but have no idea what its culteral requirements and quirks are.

cb977 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 04:30 PM

Vanilla gets to be a VERY large vine! Mine is trained on a 6 ft pole with 6 ft of tree fern totem attached to it...and it grows up and then turns downwards. It must take at least one turn before it will bloom. When I was researching mine, I found info stating that it had to be 15 ft tall with at least one turn to bloom. I've found that the size listed there was incorrect (in my case, anyway) but the turn downwards was necessary.

It gets bright west sun for a number of hours every day and it is heavily misted every day.

emilywilson54 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 04:42 PM

Thanks so much for the information. I have a west facing solarium too, so I hope it will grow as well as yours.

cb977 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 04:44 PM

Good luck!

Keep us updated

kinknstein · #6 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 05:42 PM

Awesome Vanilla Susanne!!!

MuscleGirl'sHobby · #7 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 06:37 PM

What an awesome vanilla Sue! And that room looks like a little slice of heaven

How long did it take your vanilla to get that large? There's a nursery about 30-40 minutes from here that often has vanilla, but they're just in a 4" pot and maybe 12"-14" tall max. I do have a couple SW windows that it could hog up.

camille1585 · #8 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 06:40 PM

Sue, your vanilla looks great!! If it keeps growing like that you're going to wrap it up and down the pole several times!

Have you had any blooms off of it yet?

kavanaru · #9 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 06:53 PM

wow, Sue that's a verys nice Vanilla... Congrats

as per size, the can become giants!!! The growing at the house of my parents is at least 10 m tall (about 30 feet) climbing a huge Mango tree... and I have seen similar in the forest in Venezuela too... however, you can train them on a pole as you are doing it.. and if itbeciomes to large, just cut a piece and let it root: you will have a second plant

They can also do pretty well indoors with enough light, however, they will not be easy to bloom, as they normally need high humidity...

cb977 · #10 (**permalink**) 03-12-2009, 07:06 PM

To answer Nichole, Camille and Ramon

I got mine as an 18" cutting about 2 1/2 yrs ago. We started it on a 2 ft tree fern totem and along the way we've had to add two more 2 ft pieces to it and mount it to a 6 ft pole for support.

It has bloomed twice in the past, both times giving 2 or 3 flowers which only last about 12 hours!

A few months ago, there were at least 6 clusters of buds but with the crazy weather we've had, a number of them have blasted. Right now, there are 2 or 3 clusters, one of which has about 8 buds

Here's a pic from a previous bloom:
Vanilla pompona

When I went on a tour of RF Orchids in Homestead Fl, I saw a GIGANTIC specimen! It was fully engulfing a huge tree...

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...209&ppuser=293