Vanilla planifolia, do they really bloom once they reach 10 ft?

[estación seca]

Yes, it blooms from just the tip.

[Manu]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Yes, it blooms from just the tip.

Seems like a pain in the a$$ to grow vanilla under lights... Lol

I guess I'll stop training it and let it do it's thing for a while see what happens... I'm thinking that switching it to vertical would probably be best at this point.. I'll rething it's setup.

Thanks

[estación seca]

Vanilla is one of those things everybody thinks they want until they find out how much trouble it is for not much reward. Like dating a supermodel.

[ThevanillaGrower]

If you want the least stress when growing vanilla, grow it in a 10 inch pot with 30% coconut husk, 40% 1 cm pine bark and 30% long fibered sphagnum moss. Place it in a location where it gets sun in mid winter and bright indirect light in summer. The last thing you need to do is get an old weathered (very important) wooden trellis and stick it in the pot.

[Manu]

Originally Posted by ThevanillaGrower

If you want the least stress when growing vanilla, grow it in a 10 inch pot with 30% coconut husk, 40% 1 cm pine bark and 30% long fibered sphagnum moss. Place it in a location where it gets sun in mid winter and bright indirect light in summer. The last thing you need to do is get an old weathered (very important) wooden trellis and stick it in the pot.

I don't thing that method would be efficient with my setup, but thanks.

Being a vine it needs something to attach it self to, my setup has it growing and attaching itself to the bamboo stakes which our covered in large amounts of moss. It has a massive root system and is growing at a very impressive rate, 1 to 2 feet a month right now. The stem is getting constantly larger, leafs longer, it's getting exposed gradually to higher light levels. I have no doubt in my mind that my setup and growing conditions are yielding the best possible results in a setup like I have. I'm seeing some nodes starting to swell, so this thing could very well start blooming soon (or send out secondary growths)

I've read in a book from Bruce Rogers "The orchid whisperer" that the key to flowering them is a good root system and that they can bloom as short as 2 feet... I have my doubts on that but if the key is a good root system I'm on the right track..

[orchidsamore]

Vanilla are one of my favorite plants. I have one that is growing in a pot up and down a trellis. Stretched out it is probably 40 feet and the vine is almost 1 inch thick. It has produced up to 200 flowers in a season. Flowers are about 3 inches.

Growing tips - they are a low light plant. They only grow for a couple of weeks a year. Mine has grown 12 feet in 4 days once. Then nothing for the rest of the year. (Aside -- it is the inspiration for the fairy tale Jack and the Bean stalk) - flowers only live about 6 hours in the early morning, but keep opening more like a day lily. There is no insect to naturally pollinate the flowers they must be done by hand. Beans need to be kept of the plant for 7 months and then processed. Too much work for me, just grow them for fun.

A customer who is a real expert (he has gotten 3 or 4 AOS awards for different varieties of Vanilla (which is a difficult project since you can have 200 flowers on Friday and none on the Saturday judging and 200 again on Sunday). He advised me to get as many roots as possible into the pot or ground rather than to allow it to grow vertical.

I have been doing this for 2 years and the results are amazingly better. Also lay a new cutting flat on the ground or pot rather than the too often recommended vertical potting. This allows the plant to root and grow out of any of the nodes. A vertical planting grew only 8 inches in 18 months with only one root whereas laid down they usually give be 20-30 inches of growth in 6 months.

If you want it to grow on a tree start it in the pot and after a good amount of roots are in the pot, place the pot next to the tree to allow it to grow up the tree without removing it from the pot. .

The 10 foot rule seems to be more of a minimum guide rather than a guarantee. They can also be fussy. I got only 2 flowers this year after 200 last year. But then I got new growth from 6 different sections of the plant 6-10 feet each

---------- Post added at 09:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------

I had not read all the posts before my first comment.

For some of the questions -

they do not need to bend down to flower nor to they only flower at the tips. Mine flowers from 10 inches from the pot to the vertical growth 10 feet up.

I pot in 100% potting soil but they will grow in just about anything.

I grow new divisions in a basket that is about 20 inches circular. I wrap the vine around the handles of the basket and then into the soil again and again. They are so popular like this I have never owned one over 3 months so I do not have any first hand experience as to total length and flowering.

no one mentioned that flowers can emerge out of any node where the leaf meets the vine.

As to light levels they seem to adapt to a wide variety of light like most orchids Mine gets full morning sun on half (it was too large and heavy to move further into the greenhouse) and 2-3000 foot candles on the rest. They full sun portion looked terrible the first year and now is growing well into the high light.

[Manu]

Originally Posted by orchidsamore

Vanilla are one of my favorite plants. I have one that is growing in a pot up and down a trellis. Stretched out it is probably 40 feet and the vine is almost 1 inch thick. It has produced up to 200 flowers in a season. Flowers are about 3 inches.

Growing tips - they are a low light plant. They only grow for a couple of weeks a year. Mine has grown 12 feet in 4 days once. Then nothing for the rest of the year. (Aside -- it is the inspiration for the fairy tale Jack and the Bean stalk) - flowers only live about 6 hours in the early morning, but keep opening more like a day lily. There is no insect to naturally pollinate the flowers they must be done by hand. Beans need to be kept of the plant for 7 months and then processed. Too much work for me, just grow them for fun.

A customer who is a real expert (he has gotten 3 or 4 AOS awards for different varieties of Vanilla (which is a difficult project since you can have 200 flowers on Friday and none on the Saturday judging and 200 again on Sunday). He advised me to get as many roots as possible into the pot or ground rather than to allow it to grow vertical.

I have been doing this for 2 years and the results are amazingly better. Also lay a new cutting flat on the ground or pot rather than the too often recommended vertical potting. This allows the plant to root and grow out of any of the nodes. A vertical planting grew only 8 inches in 18 months with only one root whereas laid down they usually give be 20-30 inches of growth in 6 months.

If you want it to grow on a tree start it in the pot and after a good amount of roots are in the pot, place the pot next to the tree to allow it to grow up the tree without removing it from the pot. .

The 10 foot rule seems to be more of a minimum guide rather than a guarantee. They can also be fussy. I got only 2 flowers this year after 200 last year. But then I got new growth from 6 different sections of the plant 6-10 feet each

Thanks for sharing your experience Jerry.

Mine grows constantIy, I get about 2 feet of growth per month right now. Just came back from 8 days in the Carribean and it grew about 1 feet while I was away, without any of my daily waterings!! The way I "mounted" mine, it has some good amounts of moss to dig it's root in and I have a massive root system. I keep training it as there is no way around it in my setup. People I spoke to that grow Vanilla planifolia commercially said it can and will very well flower while trained, they actually train it in commercial plantations... I see many nodes fattening up and am very excited to think it might flower anytime now. I've now reached the 10 feet mark, so my question is not really relevant any more. It started growing in June or July and made it to 10 feet just now. I was expecting this to take years!! At this rate it will grow another 10 feet in half that time.. I have a few side vines starting also, I'll be able to propagate this one for friends and family.

Happy holidays!!

Manu