Vanilla Care Question(s)
Hello, hello!
Please bear with me, I'm both long winded, a newbie to this forum, and a novice-- a terrible combination when it comes to any topic!
So, I'll start by saying that I'm a gardener as a hobby. It started as a way to get me out of the house and into the sun, which is important when you are freelance and work from home. Specifically, I like growing things with edible results. Having a practical goal is an automatic way to get my brain "full ahead, Mr. Sulu, maximum warp" invested. Which is great! You know. For a lot of things.
Fast forward from my first vegetable garden to now, and I've got a pretty good collection of edible plants that produce fairly good results. (I still have my fingers crossed for my camellia. She's not big enough to begin harvesting leaves from, but I have the faith of a proud soccer mom.)
Recently, I started craving something new! A challenge! Growing a citrus tree in the PNW wasn't enough of a steep hill! I needed something I could use in tandem with my other hobby-- baking! (Yes, people in the audience, this is going exactly where you think it's going. You may take this moment to laugh if you like.)
So I do some research, and you know, as I said-- I love challenges and I'm fully aware of the commitment it takes to growing a vanilla, and the fact that my efforts may not bear fruit at all, depending on the environment.
I'm going on about a month now with a lil vanilla vine in my care, and so far it's not a horror movie. My biggest concerns are with the basic care; I like to refresh myself on my plants' needs frequently, but I've found that different places either give different information entirely, or mention care practices so vague that I might as well be shaking an 8-ball. And... I figured that actually asking a board dedicated to orchids might be the best place for concrete answers.
I just have a few questions, and if anyone can answer them or point me to where I can find the right answers, I'm sure both myself and my vanilla will be very appreciative!!
1. IS there actually a potting medium that works best? I've read that it needs to be all sphagnum moss, a bark and perlite mix, coconut coir, bark and sphagnum moss mix-- lots of options! Would making my own mix be better than anything else?
2. Since I don't get a lot of (read: any) real sunlight indoors, and it's still much too chilly to be outside, IS a 13w, 5000k CFL bulb adequate?
3. Can a vanilla, hypothetically speaking, transition to living in a terrarium?
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