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

[Manu]

I added a Vanilla planifolia to my collection in the spring. I'm growing it under lights alongside my other orchids and am really surprised with the growth rate. In the last 4 months, it grew over 4 feets and shows no signs of slowing down even with temps a bit lower with fall starting. It has an insane amount of roots, it's very well established and is growing quicker and quicker. Leaves are also starting to get bigger. It even started a second vine from a node.

I read they can start blooming at 10 feet in length. I also read they can take 3-5 years before blooming. So, will it bloom once it reaches 10 feet or does it need to get older as well..? At my growth rate, it should be 10 feet before next summer... 30 feet+ in 3 years. Once it reaches a mature size, can I cut the growing end to keep its size manageable and propagate it and still have it bloom?

Anyone grows and blooms these guys successfully? I've seen people post about it, but don't recall seeing any in bloom on the board.

[Leafmite]

Mine has decided to grow on the hanger for the lights instead of staying under the lights so I am not too hopeful for blooms. Crazy vine. I have heard that the thicker the stem gets, the faster they grow.

People usually say that these cannot bloom indoors but I am finding that under my T5HO lights, many full-sun plants bloom and fruit so I do not see why someone could not also get a vanilla to bloom with artificial lighting.

Most of what I grow is grown outside in warmer climates or in a bright sunny window. I find very little information on growing my plants under lights. The same would go for Vanilla. Just because no one has done it, does not mean that it cannot be done. Good luck!

[Manu]

Thanks for the reply, I'm sure it can bloom under lights... If it grows well, I'm sure it can flower. Based on orchid species .com they don't require that much light.. I'm giving about 2500 to 3000 FC and it seems to enjoy that level...

I need to keep tying it down or else I have the same issue where it goes above the lights... I'm growing it on a horizontal mount so I need to keep tying it down and training it to go where I need anyway. It will definitely get out of control in a year or so. I'll need to switch to vertical eventually... It's already over 6 feet long total.

So anyone knows if it can actually bloom once it reaches 10 feet in length or is this misinformation? Stem size? Any other factors?

Anyone here successfully bloomed V planifolia?

Look at all those roots!! It loves the damp moss... I noticed if I don't keep it wet enough the roots stop growing and dry off. You definitely can't treat it as a regular epyphite! Roots enter the moss and disappear and peak back out few inches away.. there's actually roots that entered the large bamboo stakes and came out 1 feet away! The growth rate of the roots is really impressive!!

[Subrosa]

Any flowering plant can be flowered indoors.

[SG in CR]

I planted some cuttings at the posts of a large pergola around 3-4 years ago and the one that I left about 6ft long bloomed after 2 years. Most of the rest haven't bloomed yet, the one other that did was the one with the thickest stems, about 3/4" in diameter. Both flowers were on vines that had reached the top of the pergola and had started to grow downwards, hanging from the support. From what I've been told this is typical of vanilla and it will continue to grow with out flowering till it's reached the top of whatever it's growing on. Only when it's developed a pendulous vine will it develop flowers.
Here in Costa Rica it will grow fairly quickly during the rainy season from about July to February, during this time they seem to like full sun but will do fine in the shade too. When the dry season starts growth slows and the plant will flower if it's going to. During this time full sun will burn the leaves. I found they like a compost of decaying bark and leaves that they can send their roots into. The plant will send roots down to reach the compost.
If I were to try this indoors I think a floor to ceiling trellis on top of a big pot of composted bark with a strong ceiling mounted light above might be the best bet to get flowers.

[Ray]

Certainly maturity plays a role, as does culture, but I don't think there is an hard and fast "10-foot rule."

In my experience, maturing vanillas will flower once they have climbed as far as they can, and begin to cascade down again. I had one in my greenhouse that grew laterally, then up, so was about 18' in length when it bloomed, but I have seen others bloom with as little as 6' of length.

[estación seca]

They start out on the forest floor in dense shade. But they don't bloom there. They only bloom after the stem has emerged into full tropical sun and is bending down. In a greenhouse they grow to the roof, bend over and flower.

There are a number of other vining plants that will not flower, or not flower much, until the shoots turn downwards. Aside from Vanilla, this is common behavior in Passiflora (passionflower) and Cobaea (cup-and-saucer vine.) This might be related to plant hormones produced at the upright apex of the plant inhibiting flowering. Once the shoot turns downwards the flowering inhibition is ended.

The trick indoors would be to have the plant grow to the right height, then let the top of the stem fall over, just under the lights.

Many people are unable to allow plants to flop over at the top, or grow sideways. They have an uncontrollable urge to pinch and train plants into rigid, upright forms. Vanilla is not for such people.

[Manu]

Could it be that when it starts growing downwards it's simply reached a mature size and is ready to bloom? Or does it really need to be pendulous to flower?

I have it growing in a fair amount of light horizontally about 10 inches below the lights. My problem is it reaches the bulbs in about 1 week as it obviously grows vertically towards the light. So I tie it down to the mount, let it grow upwards and when it gets too close to the bulbs I tie it back down. My objective was to have have it grow from one end to the other of the mount a few times until it became unmanageable and then switch it to another location or vertically under the same lights. I thought that would take a few years but at the current growth rate I'll have it measure over 10 feet in a few months, it's currently growing a few inches a week and crazy amounts of roots. I understand 10 feet is not a magical lenght where it's guaranteed to bloom, but more of a minimum lenght at which it might be mature enough to produce flowers. I don't mind letting it grow wild upwards and back down, but am thinking once it reaches above the lights it will have close to no light and was afraid growth would stall, or perhaps it will just go back downwards which might not be a bad thing afterall... I noticed this week that if I didn't tie it back down, it was naturally curving away from the light once it got about 2 inches below it and seemed to want to go back down, but am thinking it was trying to get away from the higher light source..I'll see how it goes, I was expecting to kill this plants but so far it's growing amazingly well so couldn't be happier with it.

[estación seca]

It's the bending down that matters. I've seen Vanilla flowering at 6 feet high on a post, 12, 20 and 25 feet high in greenhouses, and 30 feet high on top of a tree in a jungle. In each case it flowered where the top reached the limit of upward growth, and bent down.

[Manu]

Originally Posted by estación seca

It's the bending down that matters. I've seen Vanilla flowering at 6 feet high on a post, 12, 20 and 25 feet high in greenhouses, and 30 feet high on top of a tree in a jungle. In each case it flowered where the top reached the limit of upward growth, and bent down.

Ok thanks I'll keep that in mind. I'm afraid that when it starts to bend down it will lack light as it starts to grow further away from the bulbs... I might need to switch this one to natural light.

Does it bloom only on the portion that bends down?