VANILLA ORCHID GROUND ROOTS? Propagation
 

Aloha, I am Nalani K and live in Kailua HI. I rented my home here for 3 years. During this time the renters cut my vanilla orchid off near the base. I tried to re-root the stem/vine to no avail. After 2 years of trying to make it the vanilla lost all its leaves. I have pulled the vine out of the tree and trying to re-root sections of the vine. I am getting ariel roots but do not know how to get roots that will go in the ground. Do I just plant the ariel root? I currently have the 9 sections with both ends sealed in New Kiyonal pruning sealer. I have had them all in water for about 2 weeks. Several white ariel roots are emerging. The longest ones are about 1.5". I transfered half of the cuttings into damp sphagmum moss in a clear container, near a window with some airflow possible. The other cuttings are still in the water. I don't know what to do from here. Again, no leaves but healthy stems that are producing white ariel roots. I do mist my orchids and stems daily. PLEASE HELP and ADVISE.

I have no experience at all with vanilla planifolia, but I believe all you need to do is keep going as you are with your cuttings placed across the damp sphagnum moss and guide the roots into the moss as they continue to grow. This will train them to be in a medium, and then you can eventually plant them out in pots of sphagnum, or perhaps change the medium at that point.

Happy for anyone with more experience to step in, but if you're getting new aerial roots it seems you're already on the right track!

Thank you so much. I do appreciate your advice.

I've had good luck tying vanilla to a wooden post with the bottom of the cutting almost touching the ground and then piling up organic mulch (leaves, bark, wood chips) around the base so that at least one, or better two, nodes are covered by the mulch and at least 2 or 3 nodes are left above the mulch in bright light.
Since you rooted them in water, I'd expect those roots are going to have to be adapted to drier conditions slowly or they might just shrivel up. I would mount them to whatever support you want them to climb with the new roots completely wrapped in sphagnum moss and pile mulch around that. Then make sure that the moss ball/roots don't dry out in the next few weeks as the roots adapt to the new conditions.

Thank you, thank you. I will try this. Much appreciation.