Hello, I have an opportunity to buy Vanilla Orchid this weekend. I heard that this plant is very difficult to care for. Is it suitable for indoors? Please, share your experience.
It's the vining aspect of this epiphytic orchid. In our dry nothern houses, we increase the moisture available to the roots by growing orchids in bark (or other media). Watering can then be done ~1/wk, misting when we remember, and they don't shrivel up in the meantime. With the Vanilla orchid, it grows as a vine with roots providing anchoring at every segment. Growing it in bark is therefore not very practical. If you can mist it every day, give it high light, and reasonable humidity (>60%), it will do fine. If you can grow Vandas successfully and you have the space for a vine, Vanilla will work out.
Vanilla planifolia is a highly tropical species from Panama and neighboring countries. We've never found it difficult to grow provided you give the orchid species what it craves which is good indirect light and plenty of humidity and water. I sometimes chuckle when I read people suggesting orchids should only be watered once a week. I guess it can be done, but the question is are you really trying to keep the plant happy and growing? If you are, you'll likely try to match its surroundings to the place it grows naturally? Shortcuts rarely work for long periods of time. The rain forests of Panama are among the wettest, muddiest in the world. The vanilla orchid tends to grow above the cloud line where it stays humid and damp all the itme. It's wet up there! An associate of mine owns an orchid nursery in Panama and he suggests watering them almost daily, especially if you ever want to see it bloom. He has one specimen in his nursery with vines over 15 feet long! If you want it to grow vanilla beans you'll have to do some research. The orchid requires one particular species of bee to do the pollination work. No bee, no beans. However, it can be pollinated by hand if you are willing to take the time to learn how to do the process nature incorporates the bee to do in the rain forest. Most successful growers keep the species in very high humidity. If that is a problem where you live then try a decorative pan of water filled with pebbles sitting beneath the plant. Growes who grow it well often use wooden orchid baskets fllled with sphagnum moss. When you water, and misting is excellent since it raises the humidity around the plant, then the excess water will just drain into the pan of pebbles. But during the day the pan of water will evaporate and create a micro-climate which will bathe the plant in humidity and make it feel as if it is back in the rain forest. We keep the roots of our plant packed with damp sphagnum moss which helps hold moisture for the roots. That simulates the epiphytic habit of the plant of growing on the side of a tree. Here's a little tutorial for would-be orchid growers: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/caringforyourorchids.html By the way, ever wonder why they call a rain forest by that name? It rains almost every day of the year, not once a week!! And the orchids love it!
Thank you very much for your answers! It is a very interesting plant and I'm looking forward to get one!
I have a large one in my home and I have it growing on a moss pole and it is doing quite well. i place it outdoors for the summer to get extra humidiyt and it seemd to be growing like crazy. So the can be grown indoors but they need ot be at least 10' long before they flower and produce fruit.
Usually you can find Vanilla beans in the baking section of the food store but the beans are cured so the seed is probably not viable. I think Clouds Orchids has them in but as you can see from previous posts it's not a easy houseplant. Shaun
You won't be able to do it from a bean; as Shaun points out those are normally cured and therefore nonviable. However, Ecuagenera has three species of vanilla available and they're a very reliable company. V. pompona will produce pods suitable for use in the kitchen, but I personaly prefer V. odorata because it makes my orchidarium smell great when it blooms. (as other people have said, it takes about 10 feet of vine for the orchid to feel comfy about making flowers, but it's well worth it.) I grow mine up an Erithryna tree that I incorporated into the shadecloth portion of the orchidarium. But then again, I live in the tropics.
