Variegated vanilla leaves completely lacking pigmentation
 

Has anyone else encountered this? I have a cutting from the Missouri Botanical Garden's vanilla planifolia variegateata. A new branch is completely yellow, no green whatsoever. It is very slow growing and the leaves are small, maybe an inch and a half in length. I don't have a picture (posting pics is such a drawn out process with a slow Internet connection...). But the rest of the plant is growing in it's normal fashion. What's the deal? Mutation?

Can you tell us something of how much light it is receiving a day, watering schedule, fertilizing schedule and strength and soil you are using and temp and humidity conditions.

looks like you have an achlorophyllous leaf mutation. all yellow means that there is no photosynthetic pigment and thus it probably cant make sugars and why it grows very slowly.

It is now under lights, 62F night temp 82F max day temp, 70 - 80% humidity constant, spray/ mist daily with weak fertilizer, water when it gets almost dry. At the time of the emergence of this particular shoot it was very hot and bright in my shadehouse last summer, growing alongside catasetums.

with all variegated plants, sometimes a shoot pops out with no pigmentation at all....its fairly common....you can leave it as interest, or snip it off, whichever you choose....

And as I written elsewhere, it's reversible.