Rootless Vanilla polylepis - Orchid Board

Silje · #1 09-05-2012, 05:08 PM

Hello

I received a carefully selected and eagerly anticipated box with orchids today.

Now and then, way too seldom, I get to order a box of orchids from South African nurseries, and today one of these boxes of joy (and endless opportunities for mistreatments and near death experiences) found its way to the farm I live on. It's Christmas and New Years and a whole bunch of birthdays all rolled into one.

In the box is an almost rootless vanilla polylepis. It got aerial roots (that come out at each leaf) that are nice and green and clearly alive, and it got roots that have been in the growth medium that look like rotten phal roots.

Now...how do I help this plant to make roots? That's the question.

I've been playing around with noid rescue phals in plastic boxes and sphag n' bag and all that with varying success, but I find that one thing is to fiddle with nameless phals that you can get in the supermarket, it's something entirely different trying to rescue a wishlist plant. I don't want to play around with my polylepis. I want it to survive.

Heeeeelp!

Leafmite · #2 09-05-2012, 06:47 PM

If it is like my vanillas, it will make new roots from the joints without any trouble. Keep it humid, give it good light, keep it warm, and soon, new roots. The larger the cutting, the sooner this will happen, it seems. Good luck!

Silje · #3 09-05-2012, 07:01 PM

Humidity, good light and warmth. Got it. And I should be able to provide it with all of that.

I need to head out into the bush tomorrow to find a suitable branch or mount for this plant to climb on. I see it's eager to cling on to something.

Leafmite · #4 09-05-2012, 07:21 PM

The man who gave me my vanilla cuttings suggested growing them on wire hoops so they could be contained in a smaller area. He grew them in a large greenhouse.

ASP · #5 07-12-2013, 04:11 PM

Hi Silje
how is your V. polylepis out of interest?
I have been attempting to grow one in the Uk for about 2 years. It has been a green stick for all that time but I have noticed today a small green nub, so I am hopeful that it may become a slightly more interesting green stick!
I think the growth is due to the humidity and "heatwave" we have been experiencing.

lepetitmartien · #6 07-14-2013, 11:27 AM

(s…t got to write for the third time the server doesn't like my expired token…)

ASP : keep it warm (25-30°C), just wet mix, wet air, in full sun or near. If it's medium is bark, move to a terrestrial one. I'm using coconut husk/hemp/bark/sphag/perlite/cork at the moment.

If the cutting is dormant (not the active last bit growing on the mother plant) or if planted upside down, it'll be slow to take up.

Guys with polilepis, I'm jealous ^^

ASP · #7 07-17-2013, 05:26 PM

Hi thank you for the tips. I have been keeping it too dry and cool - it arrived with some bruising that turned to rot. I had to cut a lot of it away and it has been stable ever since - just not growing.
It is in a mix of African Violet compost with bark, shredded coconut fibre and perlite with a layer of spag over the top. It is sharing a large terracotta pot with a V.imperialis and V.crenulata growing up a coir covered hoop.
The V.imperialis developed some black rot after we moved to a much colder house so I had to cut it back and it how only has one aerial root in the spag - it is dormant too.
The V.crenulata has always grown well and seems much less fussy.
I hope it puts out at least a leaf before the winter comes.

Discus · #8 07-19-2013, 01:25 PM

Silje - I wonder if hitting it with some Kelpak might not stimulate further root growth?

Silje · #9 07-19-2013, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discus

Silje - I wonder if hitting it with some Kelpak might not stimulate further root growth?

True! Good idea, Discus. And talking about Kelpak... that might also be the culprit and cause of all my basal keikis on the NOID phals.

It's been a while since I wrote the initial post in this thread and the polylepis is actually doing pretty well. It's growing and climbing up one of these small plastic trellises that one can buy in all nurseries. I'm kinda winding it around it back and forth. It's growing roots and leaves and have established itself now.

Of course it's still going to be like 2 meters and a decade before I can hope for flowers, I suppose, but hey...it's vanilla! It was one of those plants I HAD to have.

lepetitmartien · #10 08-09-2013, 11:26 PM

With proper medium and conditions they grow FAST. My planifolia since last repotting a bit more than a year ago has grown about 1 meter per month… That's the tropical pace. My aphylla went from 30 cm to a bit more than a meter between november and june, doing so mostly in winter in front a window facing north… (I really did not expect this)

Don't expect tons of roots, Vanilla is not a very rooty plant anyway, but at least a strong one to start is good.

If you have a rot at work, cut largely, eventually let the living bit dry a day or two, and put it to root again, in sphagnum or vanilla mix, kept just wet. I root all my cuttings in plastic bottles, cut in two to make a little GH, with 3-4cm of LECA at the bottom for water reserve, then sphagnum (rescue) or vanilla mix (multiplication), about 5 cm. Kept around 25°C, it's a vanilla rooting factory (remove the top once the cut is strong). And after one to 2 years at most, it can be repotted and face the world.