So happy I came across this video. I’m praying I can save my vanilla bean orchid by propagating it. Idk if that’s even possible but this is definitely a great learning opportunity.
Saving plants isn't always possible. It depends on how far into death they have gone. In the case of vanilla, if the leaves fall of the plant will generally die. There are plenty of vanilla vines for sale, try, try again.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you for replying to me so early. Thankfully, there is an exotic plant nursery locally and they have some in stock currently so I’ll just pick another one up from there. I’m very happy I found your channel. 🦊😌
@@foxst.germain The term "exotic plant nursery" scares me, sounds like a mark up. Some of us consider vanilla a farm crop not an exotic. No one sells the vines as cheap as I do for customer walk ins but I see the internet is loaded with sources. You might price around depending on the local price. Somewhere in the mid $30 is typical.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 $30 even seems like a “steal” compared to the $80 that I spent on that plant. when I called today they gave me the pricing of $62 and $70. I’ve seen them online for upwards of $139. And I absolutely agree with you regarding the terminology.
@@foxst.germain I see vendors on Amazon starting at $13.99 and $15.99. This is pretty low. Thirty bucks is about right. I charge $20 if you pick up on the farm. They are very easy plants, culture is simple and they are not rare. High prices are just someone with an attitude.
Thanks a lot, man. I just accidentally had 6m of vanilla delivered and I didnt even know they were an orchid. This video is exactly what i needed to see.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Theyre not doing too good. Lots of black on the stems and a few bits just really went limp like a burst waterballoon. I'll give it another go now that I have some good growing media ready before the plants turn up. I read about the harvesting process and if i do manage to grow some I think it'll just be for the aesthetics not the crop :D
@@scox7748 That's too bad about the stems. Black from sun scald isn't too awful but black from bacteria is bad. If it doesn't work out, I sell vanilla cuttings and plants. Here pollination and harvest seasons are fiesta time. Home cured vanilla is incredible. We fight over it in the kitchen.
@@MissyR2538 Yes, too many of them. The interest in vanilla because of the world price increase has wiped out every plant I had in the nursery. I will get more plants produced in time but this the wrong season. Right now vanilla is coming to flower. All I do with the vines between April & July is pollinate the flowers. Growth, pruning and propagation takes place late summer to fall. Whether I can help you will depend on where you live. Shipping live plants from HI to CA, AZ, TX and LA is prohibited.
enjoyed your video. wish i can visit your location and see for myself. i'm really interested in growing vanilla plants. thanks for this info. very helpful.
Excellent video . I also have been looking for normal instruction ;) to work with. Yours ranks No. 1. Definitely you have taught me a lot of how to and very practical, simple and valuable tips and information. Thank you again. I currently have one vine for 3-4 mos, now I know what to do with confidence. Thank you.
Hello Bill, thank you for your video. It is very clear and it helps me a lot of to understand Vanilla orchids. I live in Italy and I cannot find informations about this plant. I am lucky to see your video and learn more about it. Italian climate is cold during winter and I really want to grow up vanilla, but it's very hard for me. I 'd like to ask you more advices and share experiences. Thank you to pay attention to my comment.
Vanilla in Italy would require the shelter of a greenhouse. The orchid is too large to work as a house plant. The year round temperatures should be over 10 c. It doesn't need root space but it will require a rather large support trellis. Aloha
I just bought two flowering size vanilla orchids. Here's hoping I don't kill them! Thanks for the awesome video. Growing these in a sunroom in my house. Hopefully letting them grow along the ceiling. Who knows lol. So far we're growing jackfruit, vanilla, coffee. And about to be chocolate, too. In Tennessee. It's a grand experiment! 😂
I wouldn't call this an experiment. None of these crops will ever find a home in Tennessee. They are tropical and TN is temperate. Under good conditions it takes vanilla about 5 or 6 years to flower. The vines are huge at that point. They must be trained sideways and have the tips pruned at the right stage in order to build carbohydrate for flowers. The flowers are good for about 2 hours at dawn and must be hand pollinated. Not your typical house plant orchid! Good luck. And keep the vines where you can reach them.
And where are you at that you are able to grow them outdoors like that? That sure is a beautiful orchid you have there. Mine are beautiful also but they're indoor. I'm having trouble getting them to flower it should be flowering anytime now but due to a move I'm going to have to propagate everyone down a notch so that they will fit in my truck. They are about 4 ft tall now. Great job very great video thank you so much for all the detail
I live in Hawaii. Conditions here are tropical and perfect for orchids of all sorts. We raise several hundred different types. It takes about 5 years under tropical conditions to get flowers. It will be 10 years before there are enough to worry about. They must be hand pollinated. Some people are good at this, I am not.
Aloha, thank you for that! We bought a house on Kauai with this vanilla orchid that is 8 feet tall and growing all around the greenhouse. Now I know how to share it. Mahalos!
What you don't propagate you can just loop in circles closer to the ground so you can pollinate the flowers. We do not have a bee in HI who can enter the flower so it is up to use if you want the pods. Buzz...
I am still watching but ty. My vanilla is growing great wild on a screened in porch and on the screen. Hurrican Matthew is hitting us here is south FL so I am securing the yard.. now I am going to get some cuttings of some plants. I did not know the plants were acrid, thanks for the heads up. Copper is also good as an anti fungal. I would think you could toss in a few pennies in a pot. Since im running out of time, I do not think I can root them ... I have a bag of potting soil but I just want the cuttings alive until I can pot them after the hurricane. It sucks cutting them but I wantthe right soil mix when I do. I wonder if I can put them in water for a few days during the storm like any other cuttings. I have a few outdoor orchids but I had to take them in. I read I could keep cuttings in wet paper towels. I would like your soil mix.. mine seem to like it here in south east florida but struggle. I like to mix my own soil mix depending on the plant.. then there is the soil ph thing, sun / shade and water.. Thank you for this video. Hmmm a bee? And hummingbirds? I would think grow it in red hummingbird attracting flowering plants maybe?
Since the Vanilla orchid is an epiphyte it doesn't actually need soil. If you use a medium for the cuttings make sure it is inert and very porous. The cuttings will wait for you just sitting in the air you don't need to put them in water. Water would be more dangerous than air to them. Healing the cuts for a few days in the air is actually good. Just put them in the shade some place and deal with them after the hurricane passes. Good luck with that by the way. Bill
Hello, thanks for the great informative video. I live in Eastern Europe and I’m growing vanilla orchid indoors. Its been around 3 years and the plant is growing pretty good, it’s tangled but seems to be more than 2m long. I had just transferred it to a slightly bigger pot but wanted to ask if anyone knows, when is a good time to take cuttings???
A 3 year vine is usually too young to flower so there is no harm taking cuttings when it is convenient. If you have a controlled space like a heated greenhouse then there are few limitation but in Northern climates it is usually best to strike cuttings in spring and summer. In Hawaii I usually take cuttings in late summer and fall after the vines have produced considerable growth. I have to pull the vines from the surface that they attach to and often break a few in the process. The broken vines become my cuttings. Pot size is irrelevant to vanilla orchids. The only reason we change is to replace with fresh media. Here in the field I only use pots to get the plant started on the growing surface. In time the plants go fully epiphytic and produce the roots in the air, not at the ground. Most of my vanilla is no longer connected at the ground. Note that the tangle as you put it is required for flowering. We take down the long straight growth and loop it to the trellis. The bending causes the vines to flower.
GreenGardenGuy1, thank you for your fast reply!!! Very valuable information you gave me! Its very interesting that your plants are not connected to the ground, this gives me an idea to have the whole plant mounted on some sort of trellis on the wall, without any bulky pots. This plant seems a lot more resistant than I previously thought. Thank you again and wish you good luck with your plants !!!
@@janytt In a natural setting the plant is quite tough and forgiving. It is one of the more durable orchids. I have seen it grown in greenhouse at South San Francisco exactly the way you describe. Under good conditions this vine will grow up to 6 feet in 6 months.
Great video wish we could grow vanilla outdoors here in the Uk, anyway just bought one for my greenhouse to share with my masdevallia orchids. Thanks for sharing, Happy growing.
It is one of the easiest orchids to grow but it need a lot of space. Ours grows about 6 feet in 6 months. I keep pulling it down from the coffee and looping the vines at eye level. The looping appears to stimulate flower production. Hand pollination will be required but otherwise the plant is simple. We have just finished curing last years bean crop and are still pollinating this years.
Hi Bill! Just stumbled across your channel and subscribed. I have a very small cutting compared to those thick vines you are propagating! I'm in Canada, so it's indoor only for this plant. Thanks for taking time to post info for all us amature growers! 🙂
I do not find that smaller bits of vine are easy to propagation with vanilla. I would probably use a rooting hormone, bottom heat and either mist or a jar over the cutting. It should be possible to root small bits but it isn't easy. Big pieces are like planting potatoes. Every simple.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks for the reply! It came in the mail, rooted in a tiny pot and I put it right into a glass canister I had on hand, pot and all. It's done well so far but I believe I'll have to re-pot it very soon to get it out of the moss and into something it can get a little more airflow. Hope you're having a great day, I hope to visit Hawaii again, most beautiful place I've ever seen!
@@lindam9018 I use pots and media in the nursery for vanilla but that is just for transportation of the plant. In the field the plant is an epiphyte and grows in trees with little or no soil contact. Transplanting is done only because media is decomposing. The root system is across the entire plant, not in the soil.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you, Bill! I wish I could plant it like you but I live in British Columbia 🇨🇦 and we get snow in the winter months, so it will have to be inside for at least that time period. I plan to use a mainly orchid bark mix in the pot and use a bamboo ladder or wooden stake. Who knows, I may not even get a flower on this thing, never mind a vanilla bean but I wanted to try. Thanks again for your help! 🙂
@@lindam9018 Prepare for a vine that will eventually weigh several hundred pounds. Vanilla is the largest orchid I've ever grown. Mature they cover many square feet.
I got some vanilla orchids from the forest. I live in the Seychelles. I have made some cuttings &put them in pots with coconut husk chunks. Seem to be doing fine. I also have one cutting in just water for the past 2 months seems to be thriving. I see that u do not put a lot of husk chunks. Thanks.
I only use media in the containers to anchor the plants. They are actually epiphytes and do not require soil to grow. I use either professional growing media straight or media with coconut coir. This allows me to feed the plants with time release fertilizers in the nursery. Once the plants are attached to the growing surface the container is no longer required. I remove it eventually once I have good growth on the orchid. Aloha.
Can you propagate vanilla orchids in water? Similar to pothos. I’d love to set up some of their roots in my aquariums/ripariums/paludariums if it’s at all possible. And how much should you water them?
The only thing I ever propagate in water is water lilies. Water makes water roots, they are not useful in soil or on tree limbs. Review Growing a Potted Pineapple, 4 videos back for more info on water culture. Vanilla are epiphytes. Because they naturally grow in the air on trees, water would be the worst thing you could do for them. Since I always use media instead of water on terrestrial or epiphytic plants I have little information about vanilla orchids in water. I have a friend on Oahu who tries to grow vanilla in her aquaponics setup. Last I heard it wasn't doing well. The stems would rot and die.
I see you are in Hawaii now. I just ordered 2 plants online and plan to grow them indoors in Texas. I noticed when I ordered that the seller in Texas, Steve’s Leaves, doesn’t allow shipping to Hawaii. Are you still growing vanilla orchids in Hawaii? Great video! Thank you!
Sand would be one of the last media I would consider. It might work because it is inert but it has few air spaces when used alone. It is generally blended with materials that have larger aggregate. Consider that the vanilla orchid is and epiphyte not a terrestrial plant. I nature it sits in the air hooked to tree bark and hardly ever touches soil or sand.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 ahh thank you - I'll try with the orchid bark & coir as suggested . first time with vanilla as its rare here in New Zealand. I do all my propagation in builders sand on heat mats and do my epiphyllum and succulents in it , but wasn't entirely sure if it would be ok for vanilla . I appreciate the advice !
@@bubalugs I know some of the old timers I learned from who were born in the 19th century used to use sand for cuttings. You can still see it mentioned in older books. For the most part it is no longer used in the USA. We have a lot of materials that work better today. Horticultural foam or milled sphagnum with perlite and vermiculite work much better than sand. Keep the vanilla orchid away from anything that looks like soil. Originally I started out by planting the things in the ground. It didn't take long to figure out that is a great way to kill vanilla.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you ! Ive ordered some spag moss and perlite . Im new to gardening , inherited a relatives heritage garden three years ago and use her books to teach myself , along with videos like yours . has been lots of trial and error , but I've gone from never having gardened to being addicted to it and am loving it so much .
Vanilla is not grown from seeds. The only person who might try this is a plant breeder trying to develop a new race of the plant. Vanilla seed is like dust. It is grown under lab conditions in flasks or petri dishes of nutrient agar. It is more like raising mushroom spores than growing plants. We eat the seeds of the vanilla plant but harvest the pods and cure them before the seed is ripe. You would have to ruin a harvest of pods in order to raise the seed. Last year the pods were worth hundreds of dollars per kilo. Since the pods are valuable and the vines grow well from cuttings, no one uses seeds.
Will you write down your recommended potting mix? Did you make it yourself? Coconut shells? I imagine you beating shells with a hammer or did you buy it that way on the Big Island? If you layer separate potting mixtures, will you describe what they are?
I usually pot vanilla orchids in either coconut coir or pine bark nuggets. Both are commercially available by those names. Coconut coir comes in many configurations, I usually use the medium grade size. If I layer materials I will sometimes use a few inches of Pro-Mix HP in the bottom. As long as it is sterile and drains fast almost any media will do. The vanilla orchid is not a terrestrial plant, it is an epiphyte. The roots are adapted to clutching tree trunks in the air, not growing in soil. Once my orchids limb into the tree I usually remove the container they grew in.
Thank you for the instruction video. Can I ask when you apply fertiliser, would it be from start of spring till end of summer ? I'm growing mine indoors in a pot, it is several years old, a few metres tall but I haven't had any blooms. It's fussy where its roots like to attach, it prefers my painted wall to its plastic climber pole and tree branch I put beside it
It took me five years to get flowers outdoors in Hawaii. It takes even longer if the vines are not turned sideways as they grow and the tips pruned prior to flower season. We might get around to feeding our vines two or three times per year. they don't need too much but some food is good. Mine are all hanging in coffee, avocado and cherimoya trees. Vanilla roots that reach the earth pick up fertilizer from the trees they hang in. Otherwise I spray orchid food or fish emulsion on them.
Thank you for your video I've been wanting to grow some and it has been very helpful. If you can give me any advice on a good place to purchase cuttings or plants please share your opinion. I have found with buying orchids online can be tricky. Thanks again, Aloha!
If you live in Hawaii I have the vanilla orchid for sale. If you live on the Mainland you would have to find a certified grower able to ship. Akatsuka orchids are just up the mountain from my farm. They are a very good grower, certified to ship out of state and they produce vanilla orchids. If you are local here in Hawaii you can contact me for plants at greengardenservice@yahoo.com for more info. Bill
GreenGardenGuy1 : I use to like in Hilo. I planted lots of orchids around my grandmothers house in Keaukaha. I live in Kapolei (leeward side of Oahu). Do you think vanilla orchid will grow on the leeward side of the islands?
Hi I am from Sri Lanka .kandy v nice place growing Vanila.so I am relly interested to make a company with some one who gona joined with me.make Vanila framing.hope let me know.this my mail id. dushadam@gmail.com
Since the vanilla orchid is too large to use as a house plant you would need a heated greenhouse to grow them in Michigan. Perhaps one of these days you will live some place where the plant grows in the garden. Bill
I would say it is a pretty good bet they would d fine in the in the very southern end of the state where freezes are rare. Further north an unheated greenhouse would be advisable. If you can grow Cattleya, Dendrobium or Oncidium orchids outdoors the Vanilla will grow too.
The vanilla orchid is perfectly fine as a houseplant. Yes the vines get long, but it's not that difficult to come up with a solution to keep it in an orderly fashion.
Hi Bill, I have been trying to grow 1 vanilla plant and after watching your video I see why it is not a happy plant :( I have transplanted it but am not hopeful :( Do you know where I order order a healthy Vanilla vine that could be shipped to Canada?
Amazon has a bunch of vanilla vine vendors. I suspect some of them ship to Canada. Consider the issues with this orchid though. It will take 6 to 10 years to flower if your conditions are right. Expect to build a 4' x 8' trellis to support the plant. Outside of the tropics it is a greenhouse specimen plant. Aloha
How is your vanilla doing? Are your established plants producing crops of beans yet? I heard on the news that there is a shortage this year due to some devastation in Madagascar.
The vanilla is doing great. Harvesting and processing the beans is another story though. Because vanilla has no natural pollinators outside of southern Mexico and Central America most of the global vanilla crop has to be hand pollinated. I do not find myself very good at filling in for the bees. My partner Ellen bothers to take the time to pollinate and we have some pods forming. This is the middle of the flower season right now. My direction with vanilla is to propagate and sell the vines to others rather than produce the pods. Nursery is my primary focus on the farm. Harvest with some of the peripheral crops is only a bonus. When it comes to pineapples, oranges, cabbage and onions i get really serious about a good yield.
This is a topic that is very difficult to discuss in text. Much easier to see it done. There are a lot of videos on youtube that show vanilla pollination. Ben an Jerry's has a good one. I have used it to educate myself but there are many good ones if you search. Basically we do not have the bees that do this work anywhere except for southern Mexico. Everywhere else vanilla is grown the farmer has to act as a bee. The pollen is in the front of the flower but the ovary is behind and below the stamen separated by a bit of tissue. You have to fold the stamen over and press it in contact with the ovary. This is much easier to see on a video though. There are plenty of them. You have plenty of time to study because the orchid only blooms once per year in May after growing fro about 4 to 5 years. Right now harvest is approaching instead of bloom season.
Many thanks I can now go a head and propagate, didn't know about the sap! I'm in Queensland Australia in the Subtropics and we have had our first crop of fairly large beans, how long should I leave them on the vine? I have read you can leave them there for 8 months till they start to turn brown or ripen yet others say pick when green and a good sixe them sweat them to ripen quickly.
It takes 6 to 8 months to ripen the pods here in Hawaii. In some climates they can be left to cure on the vine but not in Hawaii. We have to pull them down and cure them in felt or they would rot in our humid conditions. Here is an article from our local newspaper that might help you some. Thanks for watching. westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-features/curing-your-own-vanilla-beans-two-ways.html
The plant is an epiphyte, it doesn't need contact with the earth. I only grow it in a container so it can be sold and moved to the growing location. In the containers i use time release fertilizer. Once it is put to the growing surface the vine leaves the pot eventually and roots in the air. I feed with a liquid fertilizer from a sprayer at that point. The vines don't need a lot of feeding.
its amazing and almost unbelievable that the Melipona bee is the only pollinator. has anyone tried to bring them to Hawaii or elsewhere?? and what about Madagascar?
Yes, many years ago when vanilla was spread across the planet the problem of pollination became apparent. Introductions of the bee outside of Mexico and Central America have failed. The bee only pollinates vanilla at the rate of 10% to 20%. Even in the native range they hand pollinate for commercial production. If the hand work seems too much then vanilla is not your crop. It is light work but very tedious and you have to be an early riser or the flowers are wasted.
Hi! I bought cuttings and they only have a node or 2 on them, do you think they’re gonna make it ? The person who sold them to me said to put them in a glass of water so they make roots in about a month.
I never sell a cutting less than 2 feet long with several sets of leaves. I never start a plant in water unless it is a water lily. Vanilla is an epiphytic orchid and never spends any part of it's existence submerged unless the forest flooded. I am afraid your issues are between the you and the guy you bought these from. I am not getting in the middle of this. I have several other videos on growing vanilla but none of them match the data you were given. Good luck with this best wishes. ua-cam.com/video/n_TrykSPy5o/v-deo.html
The current world price is around $500 per kilo. The Hawaiian organic vanilla price is $15 per bean. The world price is higher than silver but the Hawaiian price is even higher.
Pardon me if miss something, but please let me ask how long it takes for the roots to grow? Im here in the Philippines and it's a rainy season and sometimes it gets suddenly hot humid...? I would appreciate your answer, thank you Sir.
These plants are epiphytes. They do not make a lot of earth based roots. The only reason I root the plants in containers is so they can be soil in the nursery. Many growers just lay the cuttings on the growth surface without being rooted. They usually have aerial roots at the leaf joints. I have never bothered to put a clock on the vines so I can not give you an answer to your question. Roots that form in the container gradually die away after the vine goes to the field.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Oh my, it's pretty challenging to grow a Vanilla from a cutting... but i sure appreciate your reply and info... God bless your channel man, Cheers!
@@AyameKana Actually I do not think I ever lost a vanilla cutting once I got the process down. They are actually very easy. Plant then right side up, use an inert media for rooting and don't over water. The vanilla does the rest.
At the 3 minute mark I describe the type of media I am using. Vanilla is an epiphyte so they grow on trees and do not grow in soil. In nature they will usually extend some roots from the trees into the forest litter but actual mineral soil rots them. I use a variety of media. Medium pine bark as used for most common orchids is fine. Medium cut coconut coir is also good. Some people here use black lava cinders. I sometimes add so pro growers media to the bark chunks but not always. They are not picky, even old tennis shoes, shredded to bits work too!
Bill,I just picked up a Red Malaysian Guava at HD.. $14 in a 5 gall. That's better then $$$ over ebay and those incredible shipping costs. They also had red strawberry Guava. I might go back for that..how is that? And what do you think of bay area results will be- think positive! Thanks,I appreciate your time.
YEs, I know Red Maylasian, LaVerne grows them. I used to sell them in the nursery back in Fremont. It is an okay fruit, a bit acid and the plant isn't as hardy as the pinks like Indian Red. Or tropic Pink. My favorite of LaVernes series is the Mexican Creme but that is one of the grafted and they don't come Cheap. The Island is over run with Strawberry and Strawberry Lemon Guava, I chop them down for trellis and spray them any chance I get. In California they have never become a pest so they are good landscape plants there. The plant is much hardier than the tropical Psidium guajava. It is the best choice of a Psidium for you. I used to grow and sell them in CA at the farmers market before they were easy to find in the nurseries. I actually prefer the fruit on the strawberry out of hand to the tropical types.
Some people planting in pot until vanilla bean come out and never move to the earth soil but may be quantity of vanilla bean not much.what do you opinion about this method?
Vanilla orchids are epiphytes, they grow on trees. If planted in soil they are generally attacked by organisms that rot the roots and stem. At least here in Hawaii vanilla planted in soil dies. The plants root system is huge but it is aerial, not terrestrial. I use containers and media only to get the vines started so they can be placed against their support. I use only inert non soil materials for this in the nursery. Pine bark, Fir bark, Coconut Coir or a professional growers media like Sunshine mix all work fine. Even in countries where the cuttings are started on the ground they are usually started in heaps of leaf litter, not in the soil.
I've become so fascinated with that orchid because of you and i just checked my favorite catalogue. He has them! (he pretty much has most popular food plants) I think i will order one over winter. ;) The growth is also interesting for an orchid and the flowers are stunning. I have had many orchids in Holland as house plants until i got tired of having all these large plants in a 26 sq.m. studio appartement. One should be doable. The lack of green here is disturbing to me. :D
So tell me, what does it cost to buy a vanilla orchid in Holland? If the price is right perhaps I should go into the business. The climate here is perfect for growing them. I get 2 meters of vine growth in 6 months here. The flower looks like small yellow Cattleya. I am finding that my eye sight is getting too poor and my fingers a bit unsteady for pollinating them. I have been encouraging my much younger lady friend to do the pollination. She is the orchid lady around here anyway. I find orchids of all sorts fastened to my fruit trees. Training the vanilla orchid is similar to how I train a blackberry. I pull the vines down once a year and coil them in loops closer to the ground. Enjoy!
They cost 10 euro a piece from the mail order company. Probably grown in small batches. You don't see these in any shops around here. Pretty much the same price range as most decorative greenhouse propagated orchids. Most of the mass produced houseplant orchids here range from about 7.50 euro for tiny phalaenopsis to 12.50/17.50 for the big ones to about 25 euro for those big ground orchids in 13 inch pots with the grassy leaves, forgot the name.
That's not bad. The vanilla orchid plants here in Hawaii, in a six inch pot with a bamboo hoop sell for $36 to $75 at the tourist level. We can get bear root cuttings at the farmers markets for much less than that but 10 Euro is a pretty good price. Guess I won't be exporting to Holland anytime soon. I can get more for them right here at home. Enjoy the project. Wait until you get around to pollinating the flowers. It takes a steady hand and good vision. I let my girl friend do it for me because she is much younger and can see better than I can.
Never use soil on vanilla. It is lethal to them. On occasion I have used Sun Grow, Sunshine Mix or Pro Mix. These are soilless, professional growers media. They will work but pine bark is better.
The pods on mature vines are almost ready to harvest and cure. The nursery cuttings have been selling as fast as I put them up on the table. Right now I have three on the table left from the last batch with two more batches coming up behind them. I will probably transfer some of those to the nursery today.
wow. If you can answer my inquiry, it would be great....I purchased a cutting last spring from the Redlands Intl. Orchid Fest....It's doing well, I guess. Done several vids on the progress. How long does it takes to flower?
If you have excellent growing conditions flowering starts in about 4 to 5 years. The number of flowers keeps increasing as the vines grow larger. Around here May is the bloom period.
I have a vannila orchid cutting, but it doesn't have any leaves. I have it soaking in water because the roots don't look too good, probably from shipping. Will it still live without any leaves? Thanks in advance
I have never tried to plant a leafless cutting so I really don't know what will happen. You have nothing to lose though. If it grows, it grows. It might work. I just started experimenting with vanilla grown from a single leaf. Too early to tell. I would not soak vanilla in water. It is an epiphyte and is always surrounded by air. Use pine bark or coconut coir as a media for growing. Do not use soil.
Although I've never grown vanilla before I do have a bit of experience with orchids in general and I can tell you the roots of epiphytic orchids all have the capability of photosynthesis much like all green parts of the plant but leaves obviously do this best and roots come in second place so try keeping them in clear pots so light can reach the roots
How people deal with plants does vary from region to region but some things remain the same. Terrestrial plants grow in soil and epiphytes grow on trees. Vanilla is an epiphyte. Forcing them to grow in soil doesn't usually work out no matter what weather you have.
@GreenGardenGuy1 hello sir, I bought a vanilla cutting from another country and it took 4-5 weeks to arrive. I planted my vanilla two days ago, it does not have roots yet. I see brown spots on my leaves, what should I do? I spray water on leaves and plant one time everyday. I will be happy if you can help. Love your videos btw, thanks!
Hi. I’ve watched a few others do this and they all seem to cover the centre of the cutting, with the top and bottom of the cutting exposed. It was explained that they won’t rot that way. Did you ever have cutting rot from having the cut end covered like this video? I’ve never heard anyone say ‘root’ like that. Where is your accent from?
Northern Wisconsin accent. Root is route and creek is crick, etc, etc. All English just an odd sounding form. When you compare information on videos I suggest 2 things first. If you ask 5 different experts the same question you may get 5 different answers and they can all be right. Second, are you comparing apples and apple or apples to oranges? By that I mean, what soil media are your other people using? I always use pine bark of coconut coir chunks. If the guys you watch use native soil, forest humus or other less sterile materials then leaving both ends up is the right thing to do. The media I use will not permit rot and by planting the entire vine to the bottom the cutting is more stable. Stability is important when rooting cuttings. I have never lost a vanilla orchid to rot. If I started to have that problem I would change my methods.
GreenGardenGuy1 thank you for the response. That makes perfect sense. I’ve watched propagation in natural setting (outdoors using leaf litter). Great videos and very informative 👍
Things vary a lot depending on climate and culture. Here in Hawaii I hang most of the vanilla in my coffee trees and it takes about 5 years to flower. They can grow up to 6' in six months here.
I live in Mountain View on the Big Island. IF you actually know that there are different varieties of this plant then linking me to information would be helpful. All research I have ever done on vanilla varieties reaches a dead end. There are a number of different species in the Vanilla orchid genus but only one is used as a flavoring. The most widely known member is the flat-leaved vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), native to Mexico, from which all commercial vanilla flavoring is derived. Vanilla is grown in several areas and the product from these areas gets named after the area, like Tahitian Vanilla, Madagascar Vanilla, Bourbon Vanilla etc. but these are all the same V. planifolia. It appears that in Mexico four cultivars are known but i can only find one on this Island. ‘Mansa’ or ‘Dura’, with two sub types based on stem and leaf colour namely, ‘Amarilla’ and ‘Verde’ is the most common one. ‘Rayada’ or ‘Variegata’, ‘Albomargina’ and ‘Oreja de Burro’ are the other. Most of these variations appear to be based on leaf color not productivity.
It's made from the husk. A bunch of guys in Ceylon work all day in the sun chopping it. I buy it in bales. Due to the sourcing it is cheap. It comes in many different cuts from fiber like peat moss to chunks like orchid bark. Be on the look out for material that has been washed in sea water. It has to be leached before use.
Aloha Bill, thank you for your great video! I have a question. I'm on Oahu and don't have a large tree in my yard. I was thinking maybe of making a trellis to grow the vine on, but I'm concerned that it might not have enough shade to properly grow. The only area in my yard I have that doesn't have full sun has concrete on it. 😳 I heard they don't grow well, or as fast when left potted, so I thought that area wouldn't be as good for growing. (Because I would have no choice but to leave it potted in the partial shade area with concrete.) If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to grow them effectively in full sun, I would appreciate it. Mahalo!
For the most part, the container on vanilla is irrelevant. The plant is epiphytic, not terrestrial. I only use the containers to hold the vines and to move them around. They do not grow well when planted in soil, it usually kills them. I use non soil mediums like pine bark or coconut coir in the pots. The orchid thinks this stuff is just more tree. Whether you start the plant in a pot or not doesn't matter. The surface it grows on is where the roots form, not the soil. You feed this plant in the air like other epiphytes. Here is a newer video. ua-cam.com/video/QV9ukZ2wWd0/v-deo.html
@@GreenGardenGuy1 if I put it near a trellis would that work to grow it? I just realized it's partial shade because the sun goes down behind and to the north and east side of our house. I don't have a large tree, unfortunately.
@@KristieChing Many growers use trellis. PVC is typical because it doesn't rot. In Central America they often grow vanilla on Cacao. That practice got started in Hawaii too. I am the one who adapted to using coffee. There are several people on the Island that use houses and artificial trellis with irrigation to do this work. I prefer to use the natural method. Your imagination is the only limit.
I have no experience at starting Vanilla from seeds since it is like dust and requires propagation flasks with nutrient agar. Here everyone seems to grow the plant from a cutting and 5 to 7 years to flower is about right depending on conditions. Extra fertilizer doesn't seem to help much.
Do you sell your vanilla Orchards I would like the purchase when I do realize it's videos from 2016 but if you currently have vanilla Orchards I'd like to purchase a couple I currently have really small seedlings in a aquaponic setting.
I do not pot a second time unless the cutting fell out of the pot. These plants are epiphytes. They are not terrestrial. Contact with soil is often deadly for them. I only use inert media like pine bark. The media is not there for the plant, it is there for the customer. This way they can buy the orchid with roots in a container. When raising vanilla as opposed to nursery stock the vines are just laid in the trees. Contact to the earth is not required.
Depends on where you live and who you buy from. Our vanilla has one price if you live here in Hawaii on the Island and pick it up or another if it has to be wrapped and shipped. By field ready i assume you mean a cutting that has roots.
Vanilla does not grow in soil, it is an epiphyte. A leafless cutting is likely a dead cutting. They do not usually sprout from a bare stem. Take your chances and lay the piece on top of the media and allow it to do what it will. The vine doesn't care much about up or down and with out leaves it would be pretty hard to figure that out. The only reason I use pots and media is so customers can carry the plant home. In the field I often just lay the cutting in the crotch of a tree and walk away. Using all capitals is the equivalent of yelling. My videos are generally pretty good. I can not anticipate every situation that can occur. I throw out leafless cuttings rather than pot them. I usually suggest the same to others.
Im really interested in farming vannila orchid in my place. How do i get the sapling and also would like to know what temparature is require for this fruit. Inbox me in case if you come across my comments
I have the plants here in the nursery for pickup. The only temperature information I can offer is tropical conditions. Temperatures between 55 f and 85 f are a good range. Below 50, things start going wrong.
That will depend on the age of the vine and the growers ability to hand pollinate the flowers properly. No insect can do this work outside of the native range. At best we usually get up to 30 per vine or as few as 10.
IF the vines are not flowering or fruiting cuttings can be taken at any time. If you have mature vines follow the growth cycles. In this area pods tend to ripen about the same time the flowers form. That is typically April to June. After harvest and pollination are done the vines will have a summer growth spurt. This growth must be managed by pulling it down and turning it to the side to induce flowers. I generally break some of the vine in this process. What I break becomes propagation. This is a summer thing usually July to September.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you so much. I'm in the Southern Hemisphere so ill transfer that to our spring and summer. I thought it would have to be a spring and summertime activity but couldn't find it anywhere to back it up. I didn't want to make a stupid mistake. Again Thank you for your answer.
@@damonturnbull5903 What every you call the season, just watch the grow cycles. When the vines start climbing straight up to space it is time to propagate.
That would depend on the climate you live in and the average temperature. Here in Eastern Hawaii I never water Vanilla. It is an epiphyte so it has little contact with moist soil. Mostly it roots onto tree trunks and only takes in water from the spongy roots on the tree limb during rain fall. As long as the plant isn't soggy wet at the base it will take water every day over the entire vine. It often rains on mine daily here.
Thank you. This is really an enjoyable plant if you have a tropical climate or large heated greenhouse. We are just about to harvest the pods and do some curing here.
Hello sir,i hope u are doing fine and family?Iam called Wisdom and i live in Uganda.Iam planning to plant vanilla Orchid at home but using metallic tins that i got from the workshop.From your experience sir,can the orchid grow healthy too in a tin if i took good care of it so as i can get bins without transfering it to the garden?.I have land in the village where to plant it without using tins but here in my country, vanilla thefty has been an issue and people are now sleeping in their gardens to protect their plants or even hire security guards which is hectic.So i want to have a small garden of about 50 plants at home in town.I hope to hear from you sir. Nice time
Vanilla is an epiphyte so it's natural habit is to grow in trees. The roots are mostly aerial as the plants age and few if any roots actually touch the earth. You could start the plants in tin containers, I start them in plastic pots. Eventually you would need to have a very large trellis to support the vine. Mine grow 6 feet in 6 months. So yes but you will need a very large trellis.
Hello sir,i want to incquire about something.At my working place, i have empty tins of vanish(4litres size)metallic.Would it be okey to plant the vanilla orchid there since its metallic?
@@wisdompyt I much prefer plastic because it doesn't rust away and it is inert. I would use caution due to the original content of the containers too. Varnish isn't a friendly material with plants. If the tins were coated with a epoxy paint or some other water proof material they would probably last longer.
I grew them in a greenhouse. They climbed iron girders. But,it was a small foliage vanilla vine..maybe not the commercial type. Also..never mind Bill that forum I posted your vid on. Nobody but them knows what grows anywhere. Eeks,I'm done with them.
Yeah, I hear you. I was once invited to participate on Cloud forest cafe and got beat to death by self serving trolls who thought they were gods gift to horticulture. I never went back on another forum again. That is part of the reason I started my youtube channel. People are free to talk here and I may express my opinion but it isn't the final word. We all have something to learn. My move to the Island has tossed me back into full learning mode. Tropical agriculture is a thing to it's self. I'm a green horn again.
Cloudforest self destructed from ego. I dont blame you at all. I might do a local garden blog. Telling people how they CAN grow,and if its not easy,how to make it work. Seems like a friendlier way.
I bother to post youtube because I thought it would be a good thing to do for the world. Even if you don't learn anything here at least the jokes and the guitar are amusing. It is hard to believe that people would post horticultural information with ill intent. The more you know the the more you realize you really don't know much of anything. Smart people realize how dumb they really are. Viewers educate me every day and I've been doing this for a living most of my life. Anyway, if you get a local blog going let me know, I can contribute. Even though I live in HI I did live in CA for 25 years, ran Navlet's Nursery in Fremont and my own landscape business. I probably have something to contribute.
They can call it Madagascar vanilla but all vanilla originates in Mexico and Central America. The people in Madagascar only farm the crop they didn't originate it. We call the produce Hawaiian Vanilla but the plants didn't come from here. I have seen vanilla grown in San Francisco. It was done in a heated greenhouse and the vines covered about 120 sq foot of trellis. It is an easy growing orchid but it needs a huge area, management of the vines and hand pollination to produce pods. I love the plant as a nursery stock item. As a bean crop my vision is too poor and my fingers too numb to do the pollination for pods. My partner does all this for our kitchen. She is getting pretty good at it. Each year she gets more pods to set.
Yes, it would have to be a large greenhouse too. These vines grow 6 feet in six months. I have seen them growing well at an orchid greenhouse in San Francisco though so it is possible. I was born in Illinois and lived for years in Wisconsin. I never thought I would end up in Hawaii but there you have it. Bill
Yes, I am referring to the growth of an established plant. The growth of a bare root cutting is much less because they can't feed until the grow a root system. One of the reasons I live in Eastern Hawaii is because plants are my lively hood and most plants grow at remarkable rates of speed here. Puna is like a dose of fertilizer on plant growth. You may not find the growth as rapid where you live.
Ever environment has it's challenges for the grower. Once spot grows spruce trees by dropping seeds the next spruce die even with care. Bananas and coffee are really easy here but tomatoes are extremely difficult. It has taken me the benefit of over 50 years of gardening experience to get a decent crop in Hawaii. Garden is all about trade offs from one spot to another.
Allen, If you can find beans for $1 buy all you can get. Prices I find are between $2 and $5 each. A buck is a steal. I am in Hawaii on the Big Island. Weather here is perfect for vanilla, the orchids grow 6 foot in 6 months here. Because only Mexico has the little bee it takes to pollinate the vanilla orchid people in other vanilla growing areas must do all the pollination by hand. It is a lot of work and by the time you grow, harvest and sweat the beans even $2 each is hardly worth the effort. We grow organic vanilla for our own kitchen but my interest in this orchid is the propagation and sale of the vines, not the fruits. Vanilla plants are easy to grow and command a good price for the effort.
I tend to use what I have on hand. I mentioned the media at 3 minutes. Pine bark chunks work as well as chunk coconut coir. Sometimes I mix the coir with professional growers medias like ProMix. Lava cinder works too as well as shredded tennis shoes. As long as the media has no soil or fine particles and doesn't break down easily. The orchids grow out of the media in the field and onto the supports.
I can ship to 46 Mainland states but AZ not legal. CA, AZ, TX & LA all ban shipments from Hawaii unless the nursery is certified to their standards. I am not willing to jump through those hoops just for four states. There are ways around this but that would be up to you.
The leaves on my cutting are turning yellow after planting about 3 months ago. Did I do something wrong? It gets a lot of sunlight I’m afraid I’m killing it
There are all sorts of things that could cause this. If the plant has no fertilizer it turns yellow. If the roots rot from disease then the plant yellows. You mentioned plenty of sun. Orchid like some shade, you may be giving it a sun burn. If this happens you can usually see black on the leaves as well as yellow.
i figured yellowing was a pretty broad statement haha. It gets mostly direct sun where I put it, but I have moved it to shade. I planted a cutting I got at an orchid show per the instructions you gave more or less. Should I have clipped the end to make sure the cut was fresh or would it be ok after having it sit out for a few days? I planted it in a chunky orchid bark mixture, which I think had fertilizer in it, so hopefully moving it to the shade helps. Thank you! Your videos are so helpful and interesting!
I would judge that the orchid was grown under rather different conditions than the ones you placed it in. Most commercial orchids are grown in shade houses. Moving them to full sun will fry the leaves. If you were buying them from me the orchids are being grown under full sun in Hawaii but our sun has a lot of clouds too. Full sun here is not the same as full sun in most areas because our weather is cool and the light broken. I have never seen a commercial orchid mix that contains fertilizer. No single fertilizer is good across all orchids. Growers add their own as needed.
ah ok! makes sense. I am in southern CA so we have pretty strong. I have moved it to the shade. I have an orchid fertilizer spray I will be using too. Hopefully I can nurse this back to life! Thank you for your help again!!!
Yes, S.Ca sun would fry an orchid. You have to consider the source of information when yu seek it. Even in HI what we do with plants on the East side are not the same as the treatment on the west. Never heard of a fertilizer spray for orchids. I do spray mine with fish emulsion from time to time though. I usually use Osmocote or Nutricote in the pots to get them started but later just let the bird and lizard droppings feed them after they leave the ground for the trees.
To begin with it is a renewable resource. Coconuts are easy to grow and the husk is the part we use for soil mixes. We still use sphagnum moss in propagation but some sources are being mined, not sustainably harvested. Coco coir has the advantage of lasting for a long time just like a coconut fiber door mat. In tropical conditions soil mixes break down fast. We used to use a lot more volcanic cinder for potting soil here but lately they have found nematodes in the cinder. It has to be steamed to remove them and that makes coco coir cheaper.
I have a nursery here in Puna that sells plants to the local area. Shipping off Island is controlled by government and only allowed in 46 states. It sort of depends on where you live and how many cuttings you wish to buy.
My suggestion is to not buy from just anyone - you want to buy only certified virus free cuttings. I wouldn’t suggest putting them under other plants where water from native soil can drip down where you can get fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. Growing vanilla orchids is only possible in very southern florida, Hawaii and maybe the very warmest, areas of CA. It takes about 3 years for a cutting to be large enough to reach 20’-30’ where it will bloom. It is best to grow them out in the open, under 50% shade cloth on all sides and on “T” structures where they can be looped up on the structure so you can access them once they start blooming. Out in the open helps keep them away from plant diseases and pests which can carry diseases (bacterial, fungal including leaf, stem and root roots, and viruses from other plants to them. For example coffee trees are quite susceptible to fungal issues like rust and to Fusarium (coffee wilt disease). Fusarium is what’s killing out the major banana plantations to the point they believe the current major banana that fulfills our world wide needs. Look up something like Cavendish banana set to go extinct. There is an excellent UA-cam video showing the industry issue and the millions being spent to stop it. A GMO may be our only option that can withstand the disease that stays in the soil for a very long time and spreads quite vigorously in the soil. Orchids are also high susceptible to a species of fusarium. As he said, it is quite tedious to pollinate Orchids for bean production - the blooms are only good for maybe half day. If growing for vanilla beans you want to make sure you get the right species - for most that’s vanilla planifolia. The flowers can’t be pollinate too early nor too late in that approx 4 hour window or they might not take. Once the ovary swells you know for sure you will have a bean. You can’t pollinate every flower or you will lose the ability for the plant to live a long life or harvest period. There are “rules” about what is the right amount to pollinate in each cluster of flowers (usually no more than 10 even on large vines) so you don’t get too heavy a bean production. If you over pollinate, and get too many beans, it will stress the plants quite heavily. For top flavor and aroma, It takes around 9 months to mature on the vine - you know when the tips begin to yellow. Then you are looking a 5+ months to cure out totally to be ready to make high quality extract. Not every bean will make it to harvest, not every bean will make a good extract bean.There are different grades. If you really want to know about growing vanilla commercially - It’s not cheap but it is a text book. There is also a ebook online you may be able to read. It is the “Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology”, Second Edition by Daphna Havkin-Frenkel, Faith C. Belanger. Tells you what the chapters are in the book. On Amazon the kindle version was around $180 and the book if available can be higher. Or it can be an older edition. You want the updated edition if you can afford it. Here is the publisher site. Best bet is to find a college textbook of it. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119377320 Also if you are thinking of getting one so you can grow the beans to have seeds to plant, forget it! Orchid seeds require being done under sterile lab conditions in specially cleaned bottles on special sterile base and sealed. They will stay there for a couple of years being replated several times, and then require delicate situation to grow on their own and then multiple years before they start to bloom or large enough to make cuttings. If even a spec of room air filled with fungi, dust, bacteria, etc - gets in the bottle the entire planted seed will die from disease. Most orchids take anywhere from 5-7+ years to bloom from seed. It is not for the faint of heart. And it’s best that you learn to grow healthy orchids before you decide to go into the vanilla orchid bean production. These aren’t plants you just dig a hole and plant like you would a hibiscus or a tomato, etc. Orchids aren’t nearly as easy as he states though that’s a good way to get people to buy them. Also look up VANILLA CULTIVATION IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA1 an short piece by University of Florida. They are trying to get people there to try them commercially but it is a tricky business unless you know how to grow orchids well. Orchids don’t take to cold so you need to around Miami area or have some way to protect them when temps drop below 60 or even higher if it’s wet and windy. Having a grocery store Phalaenopsis on your counter that has 2 leaves doesn’t constitute growing well. Learn a lot more before investing. That said, adding any of the beautiful vanilla species to your orchid collection is well worth it provided you have the room - it takes a long time to get big enough to bloom. There are different colors and fragrance is lovely.
This is for comments, you left a text book. Good luck on finding certified virus free vanilla vines on the Big Island. Mine were brought here from Tahiti decades ago. In Costa Rica vanilla is raised on Cacao. Here it is sometimes raised on trellis in houses but usually it is hung on cacao or coffee. My vines are healthy and the other I know who do this here also have healthy plants. If virus exists in the local plants it doesn't do much to stop production. Perhaps other areas have more disease problems. Soil contact isn't much of an issue here as long as the cutting are placed in the trees and allowed develop their own roots to soil. Placing existing plants in soil is a death sentence here too.
Vanilla doesn't produce suckers. Vine, is vine is vine on vanilla. Every piece is the same as every other bit. I combine pulling the vines down with propagation. What I break, get planted in a pot for sale.
Dear Bill, thanks for the awesome illustrative video. I live in copenhagen and I'm interested in growing vanilla (in greenhouse) but from SEEDS. do you sell the ripen bean pods without curating? for the seeds to germinate? Otherwise can you ship cuttings internationally or know of a certified seller that can do it?
I'm glad you made use of the information. I had never thought of raising vanilla seeds. It sounds like a real project since they are like dust particles. Thus far we cure all the pods we get. I can ship vanilla plants to 46 US states but that's about it. Four of the states and international regulations make it too difficult for me to ship any place else. There is an orchid farm just up the road from me that is certified to ship into markets that I can't enter. I know at times they grow and sell vanilla plants. You could check with them. akatsukaorchid.com/
So happy I came across this video. I’m praying I can save my vanilla bean orchid by propagating it. Idk if that’s even possible but this is definitely a great learning opportunity.
Saving plants isn't always possible. It depends on how far into death they have gone. In the case of vanilla, if the leaves fall of the plant will generally die. There are plenty of vanilla vines for sale, try, try again.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you for replying to me so early. Thankfully, there is an exotic plant nursery locally and they have some in stock currently so I’ll just pick another one up from there. I’m very happy I found your channel. 🦊😌
@@foxst.germain The term "exotic plant nursery" scares me, sounds like a mark up. Some of us consider vanilla a farm crop not an exotic. No one sells the vines as cheap as I do for customer walk ins but I see the internet is loaded with sources. You might price around depending on the local price. Somewhere in the mid $30 is typical.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 $30 even seems like a “steal” compared to the $80 that I spent on that plant. when I called today they gave me the pricing of $62 and $70. I’ve seen them online for upwards of $139. And I absolutely agree with you regarding the terminology.
@@foxst.germain I see vendors on Amazon starting at $13.99 and $15.99. This is pretty low. Thirty bucks is about right. I charge $20 if you pick up on the farm. They are very easy plants, culture is simple and they are not rare. High prices are just someone with an attitude.
I start growing vanilla. Thanks for your sharings. Love from Vietnam
Aloha from Hawaii.
Thanks a lot, man. I just accidentally had 6m of vanilla delivered and I didnt even know they were an orchid. This video is exactly what i needed to see.
Good deal. I just posted one on pollinating vanilla today. You ight need that one some time in the future. ua-cam.com/video/7pPUpnd83Os/v-deo.html
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Theyre not doing too good. Lots of black on the stems and a few bits just really went limp like a burst waterballoon. I'll give it another go now that I have some good growing media ready before the plants turn up. I read about the harvesting process and if i do manage to grow some I think it'll just be for the aesthetics not the crop :D
@@scox7748 That's too bad about the stems. Black from sun scald isn't too awful but black from bacteria is bad. If it doesn't work out, I sell vanilla cuttings and plants. Here pollination and harvest seasons are fiesta time. Home cured vanilla is incredible. We fight over it in the kitchen.
What beautiful vanilla orchids you have! I think it is now on my list of favorite orchids to buy next. Thanks for sharing w/us n God bless!!😇
The flowers aren't much to write home about but the smell and taste is the best of the family.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Do you sell any of your vanilla orchids?
@@MissyR2538 Yes, too many of them. The interest in vanilla because of the world price increase has wiped out every plant I had in the nursery. I will get more plants produced in time but this the wrong season. Right now vanilla is coming to flower. All I do with the vines between April & July is pollinate the flowers. Growth, pruning and propagation takes place late summer to fall. Whether I can help you will depend on where you live. Shipping live plants from HI to CA, AZ, TX and LA is prohibited.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 OK, no problem. Maybe I'll get in touch in the fall. God bless!
@@MissyR2538 If you are local I should have enough. Shipping them off island is illegal in several US states.
enjoyed your video. wish i can visit your location and see for myself. i'm really interested in growing vanilla plants. thanks for this info. very helpful.
We take in visitors frequently, you are welcome to come have a look. We have a group here today transplanting orchids.
I just started to grow a vanilla from scratch. Thank you sir~
I didn't know there was any other way?!
Wow your vanilla orchid is beautiful, I think I have a new wishlist plant!
It's a valuable crop. Most of us enjoy the flavor. Lots of pains taking work moving pollen though.
Excellent video . I also have been looking for normal instruction ;) to work with. Yours ranks No. 1. Definitely you have taught me a lot of how to and very practical, simple and valuable tips and information. Thank you again. I currently have one vine for 3-4 mos, now I know what to do with confidence. Thank you.
You are very welcome. Thank you for the feed back.
Hello Bill, thank you for your video. It is very clear and it helps me a lot of to understand Vanilla orchids. I live in Italy and I cannot find informations about this plant. I am lucky to see your video and learn more about it. Italian climate is cold during winter and I really want to grow up vanilla, but it's very hard for me. I 'd like to ask you more advices and share experiences. Thank you to pay attention to my comment.
Vanilla in Italy would require the shelter of a greenhouse. The orchid is too large to work as a house plant. The year round temperatures should be over 10 c. It doesn't need root space but it will require a rather large support trellis. Aloha
I get more inspiration about how to grow vanilla from your tutorial. Thanks alot for the video!
If you have the right growing conditions it is a simple crop. The only hard part is having to hand pollinate the flowers to get pods.
I just bought two flowering size vanilla orchids. Here's hoping I don't kill them! Thanks for the awesome video. Growing these in a sunroom in my house. Hopefully letting them grow along the ceiling. Who knows lol.
So far we're growing jackfruit, vanilla, coffee. And about to be chocolate, too. In Tennessee. It's a grand experiment! 😂
I wouldn't call this an experiment. None of these crops will ever find a home in Tennessee. They are tropical and TN is temperate. Under good conditions it takes vanilla about 5 or 6 years to flower. The vines are huge at that point. They must be trained sideways and have the tips pruned at the right stage in order to build carbohydrate for flowers. The flowers are good for about 2 hours at dawn and must be hand pollinated. Not your typical house plant orchid! Good luck. And keep the vines where you can reach them.
And where are you at that you are able to grow them outdoors like that? That sure is a beautiful orchid you have there. Mine are beautiful also but they're indoor. I'm having trouble getting them to flower it should be flowering anytime now but due to a move I'm going to have to propagate everyone down a notch so that they will fit in my truck. They are about 4 ft tall now. Great job very great video thank you so much for all the detail
I live in Hawaii. Conditions here are tropical and perfect for orchids of all sorts. We raise several hundred different types. It takes about 5 years under tropical conditions to get flowers. It will be 10 years before there are enough to worry about. They must be hand pollinated. Some people are good at this, I am not.
Relaxing and informative, reminded me of collecting coffee near my house around lilikoi vines and ice cream bean vines when I lived on maui
Living on Island time. Aloha
Where on Maui??
I stay in Hāna
Aloha, thank you for that! We bought a house on Kauai with this vanilla orchid that is 8 feet tall and growing all around the greenhouse. Now I know how to share it. Mahalos!
What you don't propagate you can just loop in circles closer to the ground so you can pollinate the flowers. We do not have a bee in HI who can enter the flower so it is up to use if you want the pods. Buzz...
I got my first vanilla orchid today, your video is very easy to understand. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. Glad I could help. It is vanilla harvest time here.
Thank you for sharing, you've been most helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
I am still watching but ty. My vanilla is growing great wild on a screened in porch and on the screen. Hurrican Matthew is hitting us here is south FL so I am securing the yard.. now I am going to get some cuttings of some plants. I did not know the plants were acrid, thanks for the heads up. Copper is also good as an anti fungal. I would think you could toss in a few pennies in a pot. Since im running out of time, I do not think I can root them ... I have a bag of potting soil but I just want the cuttings alive until I can pot them after the hurricane. It sucks cutting them but I wantthe right soil mix when I do. I wonder if I can put them in water for a few days during the storm like any other cuttings. I have a few outdoor orchids but I had to take them in. I read I could keep cuttings in wet paper towels. I would like your soil mix.. mine seem to like it here in south east florida but struggle. I like to mix my own soil mix depending on the plant.. then there is the soil ph thing, sun / shade and water.. Thank you for this video. Hmmm a bee? And hummingbirds? I would think grow it in red hummingbird attracting flowering plants maybe?
Since the Vanilla orchid is an epiphyte it doesn't actually need soil. If you use a medium for the cuttings make sure it is inert and very porous. The cuttings will wait for you just sitting in the air you don't need to put them in water. Water would be more dangerous than air to them. Healing the cuts for a few days in the air is actually good. Just put them in the shade some place and deal with them after the hurricane passes. Good luck with that by the way. Bill
Hi I’m impressed with your video ! Thanks for the tips cheers Leah
Thank you, glad i could help out. Aloha
GreenGardenGuy1 I only had one vanilla bean on my vine but hopefully more this year . I will try propagating and get better at drying the vanilla bean
@@leah_cooks_and_crafts No insects can fit into the vanilla flower in N. America. You have to do it by hand.
GreenGardenGuy1 yeah I did hand pollinate mine but unfortunately I was over seas at the time some of the vanilla flowered.
Yes the flower was off this year, usually May, this year it has been June and July.
Hello, thanks for the great informative video. I live in Eastern Europe and I’m growing vanilla orchid indoors. Its been around 3 years and the plant is growing pretty good, it’s tangled but seems to be more than 2m long. I had just transferred it to a slightly bigger pot but wanted to ask if anyone knows, when is a good time to take cuttings???
A 3 year vine is usually too young to flower so there is no harm taking cuttings when it is convenient. If you have a controlled space like a heated greenhouse then there are few limitation but in Northern climates it is usually best to strike cuttings in spring and summer.
In Hawaii I usually take cuttings in late summer and fall after the vines have produced considerable growth. I have to pull the vines from the surface that they attach to and often break a few in the process. The broken vines become my cuttings.
Pot size is irrelevant to vanilla orchids. The only reason we change is to replace with fresh media. Here in the field I only use pots to get the plant started on the growing surface. In time the plants go fully epiphytic and produce the roots in the air, not at the ground. Most of my vanilla is no longer connected at the ground. Note that the tangle as you put it is required for flowering. We take down the long straight growth and loop it to the trellis. The bending causes the vines to flower.
GreenGardenGuy1, thank you for your fast reply!!! Very valuable information you gave me! Its very interesting that your plants are not connected to the ground, this gives me an idea to have the whole plant mounted on some sort of trellis on the wall, without any bulky pots. This plant seems a lot more resistant than I previously thought. Thank you again and wish you good luck with your plants !!!
@@janytt In a natural setting the plant is quite tough and forgiving. It is one of the more durable orchids. I have seen it grown in greenhouse at South San Francisco exactly the way you describe. Under good conditions this vine will grow up to 6 feet in 6 months.
Great video wish we could grow vanilla outdoors here in the Uk, anyway just bought one for my greenhouse to share with my masdevallia orchids. Thanks for sharing, Happy growing.
It is one of the easiest orchids to grow but it need a lot of space. Ours grows about 6 feet in 6 months. I keep pulling it down from the coffee and looping the vines at eye level. The looping appears to stimulate flower production. Hand pollination will be required but otherwise the plant is simple. We have just finished curing last years bean crop and are still pollinating this years.
Hi Bill! Just stumbled across your channel and subscribed. I have a very small cutting compared to those thick vines you are propagating! I'm in Canada, so it's indoor only for this plant. Thanks for taking time to post info for all us amature growers! 🙂
I do not find that smaller bits of vine are easy to propagation with vanilla. I would probably use a rooting hormone, bottom heat and either mist or a jar over the cutting. It should be possible to root small bits but it isn't easy. Big pieces are like planting potatoes. Every simple.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks for the reply! It came in the mail, rooted in a tiny pot and I put it right into a glass canister I had on hand, pot and all. It's done well so far but I believe I'll have to re-pot it very soon to get it out of the moss and into something it can get a little more airflow. Hope you're having a great day, I hope to visit Hawaii again, most beautiful place I've ever seen!
@@lindam9018 I use pots and media in the nursery for vanilla but that is just for transportation of the plant. In the field the plant is an epiphyte and grows in trees with little or no soil contact. Transplanting is done only because media is decomposing. The root system is across the entire plant, not in the soil.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you, Bill! I wish I could plant it like you but I live in British Columbia 🇨🇦 and we get snow in the winter months, so it will have to be inside for at least that time period. I plan to use a mainly orchid bark mix in the pot and use a bamboo ladder or wooden stake. Who knows, I may not even get a flower on this thing, never mind a vanilla bean but I wanted to try. Thanks again for your help! 🙂
@@lindam9018 Prepare for a vine that will eventually weigh several hundred pounds. Vanilla is the largest orchid I've ever grown. Mature they cover many square feet.
bill ~ i just stumbled onto this video and your wonderful channel. i dig your energy and philosophy :D
aloha!
Thank you for the comment. Stay tuned, always something new.
Great video! Thanks for the help :)
You're welcome.
I got some vanilla orchids from the forest. I live in the Seychelles. I have made some cuttings &put them in pots with coconut husk chunks. Seem to be doing fine. I also have one cutting in just water for the past 2 months seems to be thriving. I see that u do not put a lot of husk chunks. Thanks.
I only use media in the containers to anchor the plants. They are actually epiphytes and do not require soil to grow. I use either professional growing media straight or media with coconut coir. This allows me to feed the plants with time release fertilizers in the nursery. Once the plants are attached to the growing surface the container is no longer required. I remove it eventually once I have good growth on the orchid. Aloha.
Thank you! I learned a lot !
Glad it was helpful!
Can you propagate vanilla orchids in water? Similar to pothos. I’d love to set up some of their roots in my aquariums/ripariums/paludariums if it’s at all possible. And how much should you water them?
The only thing I ever propagate in water is water lilies. Water makes water roots, they are not useful in soil or on tree limbs. Review Growing a Potted Pineapple, 4 videos back for more info on water culture. Vanilla are epiphytes. Because they naturally grow in the air on trees, water would be the worst thing you could do for them. Since I always use media instead of water on terrestrial or epiphytic plants I have little information about vanilla orchids in water. I have a friend on Oahu who tries to grow vanilla in her aquaponics setup. Last I heard it wasn't doing well. The stems would rot and die.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 that’s good to know! I’m a bit sad that they won’t do well, but that’s what other plants are for. Thanks so much for responding!
@@lauralbranch Aloha
I see you are in Hawaii now. I just ordered 2 plants online and plan to grow them indoors in Texas. I noticed when I ordered that the seller in Texas, Steve’s Leaves, doesn’t allow shipping to Hawaii. Are you still growing vanilla orchids in Hawaii?
Great video! Thank you!
Yes, I grow vanilla here. I can't ship to TX but I bet my price is better! Aloha
Thanks a lot for Excelent Information
Our pleasure!
I believed that in one of the pot, you planted them upside down. Just a thought. Thanks
You are not the first one to think this but the observation is an illusion of the leaf. All cuttings are correct if you see them from my angle.
Great video, you’ve answered a lot of questions for me! Thank you!
You're welcome. If you have a tropical climate or a hot house they are really easy to grow.
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
thank you for such an easy to follow video . Im about to try my first cutting but using sand instead of coir etc .
Sand would be one of the last media I would consider. It might work because it is inert but it has few air spaces when used alone. It is generally blended with materials that have larger aggregate. Consider that the vanilla orchid is and epiphyte not a terrestrial plant. I nature it sits in the air hooked to tree bark and hardly ever touches soil or sand.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 ahh thank you - I'll try with the orchid bark & coir as suggested . first time with vanilla as its rare here in New Zealand. I do all my propagation in builders sand on heat mats and do my epiphyllum and succulents in it , but wasn't entirely sure if it would be ok for vanilla . I appreciate the advice !
@@bubalugs I know some of the old timers I learned from who were born in the 19th century used to use sand for cuttings. You can still see it mentioned in older books. For the most part it is no longer used in the USA. We have a lot of materials that work better today. Horticultural foam or milled sphagnum with perlite and vermiculite work much better than sand. Keep the vanilla orchid away from anything that looks like soil. Originally I started out by planting the things in the ground. It didn't take long to figure out that is a great way to kill vanilla.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you ! Ive ordered some spag moss and perlite . Im new to gardening , inherited a relatives heritage garden three years ago and use her books to teach myself , along with videos like yours . has been lots of trial and error , but I've gone from never having gardened to being addicted to it and am loving it so much .
@@bubalugs Glad to hear. I have discovered that not all addictions are bad things. Bill
Can you make a video on how to grow vanilla from seeds ?
Vanilla is not grown from seeds. The only person who might try this is a plant breeder trying to develop a new race of the plant. Vanilla seed is like dust. It is grown under lab conditions in flasks or petri dishes of nutrient agar. It is more like raising mushroom spores than growing plants. We eat the seeds of the vanilla plant but harvest the pods and cure them before the seed is ripe. You would have to ruin a harvest of pods in order to raise the seed. Last year the pods were worth hundreds of dollars per kilo. Since the pods are valuable and the vines grow well from cuttings, no one uses seeds.
Great video GreenGardenGuy1!! Easy and informative.
Glad you could make use of it. The vanilla is blooming right now and we are out pollinating it. Aloha, Bill
Thanks for sharing your experience.
You're welcome. Aloha
@@GreenGardenGuy1
Thanks for your reply Bill.
I am learning invitro culture of orchids and do you do flasking from seeds?
Daniel
@@danieljheelan5256 No, other than vanilla I don't grow orchids. Vanilla is just too easy from cuttings to use other methods in propagation.
@@GreenGardenGuy1
Thanks
Best wishes for 2021 & Meilleurs vœux de fin d'année.
Daniel from France.
@@GreenGardenGuy1
Hi Bill,
I am learning invitro culture and I want to get some vanilla seeds and try some flasking.
Will it be possible?
Daniel
Will you write down your recommended potting mix? Did you make it yourself? Coconut shells? I imagine you beating shells with a hammer or did you buy it that way on the Big Island? If you layer separate potting mixtures, will you describe what they are?
I usually pot vanilla orchids in either coconut coir or pine bark nuggets. Both are commercially available by those names. Coconut coir comes in many configurations, I usually use the medium grade size. If I layer materials I will sometimes use a few inches of Pro-Mix HP in the bottom. As long as it is sterile and drains fast almost any media will do. The vanilla orchid is not a terrestrial plant, it is an epiphyte. The roots are adapted to clutching tree trunks in the air, not growing in soil. Once my orchids limb into the tree I usually remove the container they grew in.
Thank you for the instruction video. Can I ask when you apply fertiliser, would it be from start of spring till end of summer ? I'm growing mine indoors in a pot, it is several years old, a few metres tall but I haven't had any blooms. It's fussy where its roots like to attach, it prefers my painted wall to its plastic climber pole and tree branch I put beside it
It took me five years to get flowers outdoors in Hawaii. It takes even longer if the vines are not turned sideways as they grow and the tips pruned prior to flower season. We might get around to feeding our vines two or three times per year. they don't need too much but some food is good. Mine are all hanging in coffee, avocado and cherimoya trees. Vanilla roots that reach the earth pick up fertilizer from the trees they hang in. Otherwise I spray orchid food or fish emulsion on them.
Thank you for your video I've been wanting to grow some and it has been very helpful. If you can give me any advice on a good place to purchase cuttings or plants please share your opinion. I have found with buying orchids online can be tricky. Thanks again, Aloha!
If you live in Hawaii I have the vanilla orchid for sale. If you live on the Mainland you would have to find a certified grower able to ship. Akatsuka orchids are just up the mountain from my farm. They are a very good grower, certified to ship out of state and they produce vanilla orchids. If you are local here in Hawaii you can contact me for plants at greengardenservice@yahoo.com for more info. Bill
GreenGardenGuy1 : I use to like in Hilo. I planted lots of orchids around my grandmothers house in Keaukaha. I live in Kapolei (leeward side of Oahu). Do you think vanilla orchid will grow on the leeward side of the islands?
GreenGardenGuy1 I can buy one or two plants. Please contact me. Jane. janef2001@yahoo.com
Hi I am from Sri Lanka .kandy v nice place growing Vanila.so I am relly interested to make a company with some one who gona joined with me.make Vanila framing.hope let me know.this my mail id.
dushadam@gmail.com
@@janeferguson9272 indonesia vanilla, wa +628999272456
That is awesome Thank you so much for sharing. I wish I lived by so I could grow a plant yet here in Michigan I don't think they would do well .. :)
Since the vanilla orchid is too large to use as a house plant you would need a heated greenhouse to grow them in Michigan. Perhaps one of these days you will live some place where the plant grows in the garden. Bill
Do they grow in Fla. ?
I would say it is a pretty good bet they would d fine in the in the very southern end of the state where freezes are rare. Further north an unheated greenhouse would be advisable. If you can grow Cattleya, Dendrobium or Oncidium orchids outdoors the Vanilla will grow too.
The vanilla orchid is perfectly fine as a houseplant. Yes the vines get long, but it's not that difficult to come up with a solution to keep it in an orderly fashion.
Hi Bill, I have been trying to grow 1 vanilla plant and after watching your video I see why it is not a happy plant :( I have transplanted it but am not hopeful :( Do you know where I order order a healthy Vanilla vine that could be shipped to Canada?
Amazon has a bunch of vanilla vine vendors. I suspect some of them ship to Canada. Consider the issues with this orchid though. It will take 6 to 10 years to flower if your conditions are right. Expect to build a 4' x 8' trellis to support the plant. Outside of the tropics it is a greenhouse specimen plant. Aloha
How is your vanilla doing? Are your established plants producing crops of beans yet? I heard on the news that there is a shortage this year due to some devastation in Madagascar.
The vanilla is doing great. Harvesting and processing the beans is another story though. Because vanilla has no natural pollinators outside of southern Mexico and Central America most of the global vanilla crop has to be hand pollinated. I do not find myself very good at filling in for the bees. My partner Ellen bothers to take the time to pollinate and we have some pods forming. This is the middle of the flower season right now. My direction with vanilla is to propagate and sell the vines to others rather than produce the pods. Nursery is my primary focus on the farm. Harvest with some of the peripheral crops is only a bonus. When it comes to pineapples, oranges, cabbage and onions i get really serious about a good yield.
Hello, thank you for your video. I am just curious tell me a little bit more in how you had to pollinate your vanilla plant. Thanks.
This is a topic that is very difficult to discuss in text. Much easier to see it done. There are a lot of videos on youtube that show vanilla pollination. Ben an Jerry's has a good one. I have used it to educate myself but there are many good ones if you search. Basically we do not have the bees that do this work anywhere except for southern Mexico. Everywhere else vanilla is grown the farmer has to act as a bee. The pollen is in the front of the flower but the ovary is behind and below the stamen separated by a bit of tissue. You have to fold the stamen over and press it in contact with the ovary. This is much easier to see on a video though. There are plenty of them. You have plenty of time to study because the orchid only blooms once per year in May after growing fro about 4 to 5 years. Right now harvest is approaching instead of bloom season.
Many thanks I can now go a head and propagate, didn't know about the sap! I'm in Queensland Australia in the Subtropics and we have had our first crop of fairly large beans, how long should I leave them on the vine? I have read you can leave them there for 8 months till they start to turn brown or ripen yet others say pick when green and a good sixe them sweat them to ripen quickly.
It takes 6 to 8 months to ripen the pods here in Hawaii. In some climates they can be left to cure on the vine but not in Hawaii. We have to pull them down and cure them in felt or they would rot in our humid conditions. Here is an article from our local newspaper that might help you some. Thanks for watching.
westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-features/curing-your-own-vanilla-beans-two-ways.html
@@GreenGardenGuy1 unfortunately that link no longer works but thank you anyways!
@@quietone748 I guess the news paper takes the stuff down after a year. Oh well.
Really appreciate the video!
Glad I could help.
Wow,so planting in the pot also good but need more organic fertilizer right.
The plant is an epiphyte, it doesn't need contact with the earth. I only grow it in a container so it can be sold and moved to the growing location. In the containers i use time release fertilizer. Once it is put to the growing surface the vine leaves the pot eventually and roots in the air. I feed with a liquid fertilizer from a sprayer at that point. The vines don't need a lot of feeding.
its amazing and almost unbelievable that the Melipona bee is the only pollinator. has anyone tried to bring them to Hawaii or elsewhere?? and what about Madagascar?
Yes, many years ago when vanilla was spread across the planet the problem of pollination became apparent. Introductions of the bee outside of Mexico and Central America have failed. The bee only pollinates vanilla at the rate of 10% to 20%. Even in the native range they hand pollinate for commercial production. If the hand work seems too much then vanilla is not your crop. It is light work but very tedious and you have to be an early riser or the flowers are wasted.
Hi! I bought cuttings and they only have a node or 2 on them, do you think they’re gonna make it ? The person who sold them to me said to put them in a glass of water so they make roots in about a month.
I never sell a cutting less than 2 feet long with several sets of leaves. I never start a plant in water unless it is a water lily. Vanilla is an epiphytic orchid and never spends any part of it's existence submerged unless the forest flooded. I am afraid your issues are between the you and the guy you bought these from. I am not getting in the middle of this. I have several other videos on growing vanilla but none of them match the data you were given. Good luck with this best wishes. ua-cam.com/video/n_TrykSPy5o/v-deo.html
Very good video about vanilla Orchird.how much vanilla per kilogram right now boss?tq
The current world price is around $500 per kilo. The Hawaiian organic vanilla price is $15 per bean. The world price is higher than silver but the Hawaiian price is even higher.
Pardon me if miss something, but please let me ask how long it takes for the roots to grow? Im here in the Philippines and it's a rainy season and sometimes it gets suddenly hot humid...? I would appreciate your answer, thank you Sir.
These plants are epiphytes. They do not make a lot of earth based roots. The only reason I root the plants in containers is so they can be soil in the nursery. Many growers just lay the cuttings on the growth surface without being rooted. They usually have aerial roots at the leaf joints. I have never bothered to put a clock on the vines so I can not give you an answer to your question. Roots that form in the container gradually die away after the vine goes to the field.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Oh my, it's pretty challenging to grow a Vanilla from a cutting... but i sure appreciate your reply and info... God bless your channel man, Cheers!
@@AyameKana Actually I do not think I ever lost a vanilla cutting once I got the process down. They are actually very easy. Plant then right side up, use an inert media for rooting and don't over water. The vanilla does the rest.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks for the valluable tips :)
@@AyameKana Aloha
What type of soil do you put in the pots? I reg orchid soil, but the orchid is not thriving. Thank you!!
At the 3 minute mark I describe the type of media I am using. Vanilla is an epiphyte so they grow on trees and do not grow in soil. In nature they will usually extend some roots from the trees into the forest litter but actual mineral soil rots them. I use a variety of media. Medium pine bark as used for most common orchids is fine. Medium cut coconut coir is also good. Some people here use black lava cinders. I sometimes add so pro growers media to the bark chunks but not always. They are not picky, even old tennis shoes, shredded to bits work too!
Bill,I just picked up a Red Malaysian Guava at HD.. $14 in a 5 gall. That's better then $$$ over ebay and those incredible shipping costs. They also had red strawberry Guava. I might go back for that..how is that? And what do you think of bay area results will be- think positive!
Thanks,I appreciate your time.
YEs, I know Red Maylasian, LaVerne grows them. I used to sell them in the nursery back in Fremont. It is an okay fruit, a bit acid and the plant isn't as hardy as the pinks like Indian Red. Or tropic Pink. My favorite of LaVernes series is the Mexican Creme but that is one of the grafted and they don't come Cheap. The Island is over run with Strawberry and Strawberry Lemon Guava, I chop them down for trellis and spray them any chance I get. In California they have never become a pest so they are good landscape plants there. The plant is much hardier than the tropical Psidium guajava. It is the best choice of a Psidium for you. I used to grow and sell them in CA at the farmers market before they were easy to find in the nurseries. I actually prefer the fruit on the strawberry out of hand to the tropical types.
Some people planting in pot until vanilla bean come out and never move to the earth soil but may be quantity of vanilla bean not much.what do you opinion about this method?
Vanilla orchids are epiphytes, they grow on trees. If planted in soil they are generally attacked by organisms that rot the roots and stem. At least here in Hawaii vanilla planted in soil dies. The plants root system is huge but it is aerial, not terrestrial. I use containers and media only to get the vines started so they can be placed against their support. I use only inert non soil materials for this in the nursery. Pine bark, Fir bark, Coconut Coir or a professional growers media like Sunshine mix all work fine. Even in countries where the cuttings are started on the ground they are usually started in heaps of leaf litter, not in the soil.
If I buy a vine from you, will the vine survive the trip from your country to Ghana?
I do not ship out side the USA. If you in Hawaii are here and wish to try and carry a vine to Ghana, I can provide one.
I've become so fascinated with that orchid because of you and i just checked my favorite catalogue. He has them! (he pretty much has most popular food plants) I think i will order one over winter. ;) The growth is also interesting for an orchid and the flowers are stunning. I have had many orchids in Holland as house plants until i got tired of having all these large plants in a 26 sq.m. studio appartement. One should be doable. The lack of green here is disturbing to me. :D
So tell me, what does it cost to buy a vanilla orchid in Holland? If the price is right perhaps I should go into the business. The climate here is perfect for growing them. I get 2 meters of vine growth in 6 months here. The flower looks like small yellow Cattleya. I am finding that my eye sight is getting too poor and my fingers a bit unsteady for pollinating them. I have been encouraging my much younger lady friend to do the pollination. She is the orchid lady around here anyway. I find orchids of all sorts fastened to my fruit trees. Training the vanilla orchid is similar to how I train a blackberry. I pull the vines down once a year and coil them in loops closer to the ground. Enjoy!
They cost 10 euro a piece from the mail order company. Probably grown in small batches. You don't see these in any shops around here. Pretty much the same price range as most decorative greenhouse propagated orchids. Most of the mass produced houseplant orchids here range from about 7.50 euro for tiny phalaenopsis to 12.50/17.50 for the big ones to about 25 euro for those big ground orchids in 13 inch pots with the grassy leaves, forgot the name.
That's not bad. The vanilla orchid plants here in Hawaii, in a six inch pot with a bamboo hoop sell for $36 to $75 at the tourist level. We can get bear root cuttings at the farmers markets for much less than that but 10 Euro is a pretty good price. Guess I won't be exporting to Holland anytime soon. I can get more for them right here at home. Enjoy the project. Wait until you get around to pollinating the flowers. It takes a steady hand and good vision. I let my girl friend do it for me because she is much younger and can see better than I can.
I'm in the glasses category too. Meh, i'll find a way. Putting one in with my next seed order in spring!
Enjoy and thanks for watching. Bill
It seems that you have used soil with the cuttings you did back in February ... what type of soil?
Never use soil on vanilla. It is lethal to them. On occasion I have used Sun Grow, Sunshine Mix or Pro Mix. These are soilless, professional growers media. They will work but pine bark is better.
Thank you😊
You're welcome 😊
Bill, hope all is well. How have the vanilla cuttings been...update please. Happy growing.
The pods on mature vines are almost ready to harvest and cure. The nursery cuttings have been selling as fast as I put them up on the table. Right now I have three on the table left from the last batch with two more batches coming up behind them. I will probably transfer some of those to the nursery today.
wow. If you can answer my inquiry, it would be great....I purchased a cutting last spring from the Redlands Intl. Orchid Fest....It's doing well, I guess. Done several vids on the progress. How long does it takes to flower?
If you have excellent growing conditions flowering starts in about 4 to 5 years. The number of flowers keeps increasing as the vines grow larger. Around here May is the bloom period.
I have a vannila orchid cutting, but it doesn't have any leaves. I have it soaking in water because the roots don't look too good, probably from shipping. Will it still live without any leaves? Thanks in advance
I have never tried to plant a leafless cutting so I really don't know what will happen. You have nothing to lose though. If it grows, it grows. It might work. I just started experimenting with vanilla grown from a single leaf. Too early to tell. I would not soak vanilla in water. It is an epiphyte and is always surrounded by air. Use pine bark or coconut coir as a media for growing. Do not use soil.
Although I've never grown vanilla before I do have a bit of experience with orchids in general and I can tell you the roots of epiphytic orchids all have the capability of photosynthesis much like all green parts of the plant but leaves obviously do this best and roots come in second place so try keeping them in clear pots so light can reach the roots
Very informative video thanks for sharing 👍🌱
Thanks for dropping by. Mahalo, Bill
Fantastic
Thanks, happy holidays.
Here in the Uk, 22 deg in August, should i keep them inside for the winter
They take cool conditions but need tropical climate.
Oh Yes, thanks for the explanation.i live in malaysia.we have difference weather also,so we have difference method to manage the vanilla orchid.
How people deal with plants does vary from region to region but some things remain the same. Terrestrial plants grow in soil and epiphytes grow on trees. Vanilla is an epiphyte. Forcing them to grow in soil doesn't usually work out no matter what weather you have.
Awesome! Thanks:)
You bet!
@GreenGardenGuy1 hello sir, I bought a vanilla cutting from another country and it took 4-5 weeks to arrive. I planted my vanilla two days ago, it does not have roots yet. I see brown spots on my leaves, what should I do? I spray water on leaves and plant one time everyday. I will be happy if you can help. Love your videos btw, thanks!
Brown spots are probably caused by the misting. Stop misting the plant. Keep it in subdued light. Use pine bark or coconut coir as the media.
@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you very much :)
@@sedefnasatlihan1211 Good luck.
Hi. I’ve watched a few others do this and they all seem to cover the centre of the cutting, with the top and bottom of the cutting exposed. It was explained that they won’t rot that way. Did you ever have cutting rot from having the cut end covered like this video?
I’ve never heard anyone say ‘root’ like that. Where is your accent from?
Northern Wisconsin accent. Root is route and creek is crick, etc, etc. All English just an odd sounding form.
When you compare information on videos I suggest 2 things first. If you ask 5 different experts the same question you may get 5 different answers and they can all be right. Second, are you comparing apples and apple or apples to oranges? By that I mean, what soil media are your other people using? I always use pine bark of coconut coir chunks. If the guys you watch use native soil, forest humus or other less sterile materials then leaving both ends up is the right thing to do. The media I use will not permit rot and by planting the entire vine to the bottom the cutting is more stable. Stability is important when rooting cuttings. I have never lost a vanilla orchid to rot. If I started to have that problem I would change my methods.
GreenGardenGuy1 thank you for the response. That makes perfect sense. I’ve watched propagation in natural setting (outdoors using leaf litter).
Great videos and very informative 👍
Important question, About how many years does it take for those cuttings to be able to produce beans.
Things vary a lot depending on climate and culture. Here in Hawaii I hang most of the vanilla in my coffee trees and it takes about 5 years to flower. They can grow up to 6' in six months here.
Which island are you located?
I ask because I live on the Big Island.
Also, which variety are your plants? Mahalo in advance.
I live in Mountain View on the Big Island. IF you actually know that there are different varieties of this plant then linking me to information would be helpful. All research I have ever done on vanilla varieties reaches a dead end. There are a number of different species in the Vanilla orchid genus but only one is used as a flavoring. The most widely known member is the flat-leaved vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), native to Mexico, from which all commercial vanilla flavoring is derived. Vanilla is grown in several areas and the product from these areas gets named after the area, like Tahitian Vanilla, Madagascar Vanilla, Bourbon Vanilla etc. but these are all the same V. planifolia. It appears that in Mexico four cultivars are known but i can only find one on this Island. ‘Mansa’ or ‘Dura’,
with two sub types based on stem and leaf colour
namely, ‘Amarilla’ and ‘Verde’ is the most common
one. ‘Rayada’ or ‘Variegata’,
‘Albomargina’ and ‘Oreja de Burro’ are the other. Most of these variations appear to be based on leaf color not productivity.
I did some checking and there is only one variety of vanilla in Hawaii, the straight species plant Vanilla planifolia.
What part of the coconut is used for bedding? How is it prepared? Thx
It's made from the husk. A bunch of guys in Ceylon work all day in the sun chopping it. I buy it in bales. Due to the sourcing it is cheap. It comes in many different cuts from fiber like peat moss to chunks like orchid bark. Be on the look out for material that has been washed in sea water. It has to be leached before use.
thanks for the illustration how long does vanilla take from planting to harvesting
This will be effected by how warm your environment is. Where I live it is fairly cool and it takes me about 5 years to get the orchid to flower well.
Aloha Bill, thank you for your great video! I have a question. I'm on Oahu and don't have a large tree in my yard. I was thinking maybe of making a trellis to grow the vine on, but I'm concerned that it might not have enough shade to properly grow. The only area in my yard I have that doesn't have full sun has concrete on it. 😳 I heard they don't grow well, or as fast when left potted, so I thought that area wouldn't be as good for growing. (Because I would have no choice but to leave it potted in the partial shade area with concrete.) If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to grow them effectively in full sun, I would appreciate it. Mahalo!
For the most part, the container on vanilla is irrelevant. The plant is epiphytic, not terrestrial. I only use the containers to hold the vines and to move them around. They do not grow well when planted in soil, it usually kills them. I use non soil mediums like pine bark or coconut coir in the pots. The orchid thinks this stuff is just more tree. Whether you start the plant in a pot or not doesn't matter. The surface it grows on is where the roots form, not the soil. You feed this plant in the air like other epiphytes. Here is a newer video.
ua-cam.com/video/QV9ukZ2wWd0/v-deo.html
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank you for your reply. I'm off to watch your newer video. Mahalo!
@@GreenGardenGuy1 if I put it near a trellis would that work to grow it? I just realized it's partial shade because the sun goes down behind and to the north and east side of our house. I don't have a large tree, unfortunately.
@@KristieChing Many growers use trellis. PVC is typical because it doesn't rot. In Central America they often grow vanilla on Cacao. That practice got started in Hawaii too. I am the one who adapted to using coffee. There are several people on the Island that use houses and artificial trellis with irrigation to do this work. I prefer to use the natural method. Your imagination is the only limit.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you Bill! I appreciate the fact that you responded to my comments even though this is an older video. Mahalo!
Hi is there anywhere I can ship or get vanilla plants / cuttings to Trinidad and Tobago ?
Sorry, I do not ship outside of 46 US states.
Pretty sure the answer is "no" but do the cuttings take 5+ years to produce seed pods, the same as starting from seed?
I have no experience at starting Vanilla from seeds since it is like dust and requires propagation flasks with nutrient agar. Here everyone seems to grow the plant from a cutting and 5 to 7 years to flower is about right depending on conditions. Extra fertilizer doesn't seem to help much.
Do you sell your vanilla Orchards I would like the purchase when I do realize it's videos from 2016 but if you currently have vanilla Orchards I'd like to purchase a couple I currently have really small seedlings in a aquaponic setting.
I sell vanilla locally on the Big Island. It is possible to ship to 46 states but not CA, AZ, TX, or LA
So, when you pot the second time, you are using also soil, what type of soil?
I do not pot a second time unless the cutting fell out of the pot. These plants are epiphytes. They are not terrestrial. Contact with soil is often deadly for them. I only use inert media like pine bark. The media is not there for the plant, it is there for the customer. This way they can buy the orchid with roots in a container. When raising vanilla as opposed to nursery stock the vines are just laid in the trees. Contact to the earth is not required.
How much does a field ready vanilla plant cost?
Depends on where you live and who you buy from. Our vanilla has one price if you live here in Hawaii on the Island and pick it up or another if it has to be wrapped and shipped. By field ready i assume you mean a cutting that has roots.
I'm in south kona and just pollinated much first 2 flowers this morning. Aloha
Wow, you guys are early, mine don't bloom until May. Guess I better take a look to see if things are early this year.
GreenGardenGuy1 it's the first time I've had flowers, been growing the vine for 5 or 6 years now. great channel. Aloha
That is about right to flowering. I believe mine were bout 5 years when flowers started.
What would be REALLY NICE is if someone showed you WHICH END GOES IN THE SOIL! Sometimes you received a vanilla orchid that has no leaves!
Just leave them at top of the soil
Vanilla does not grow in soil, it is an epiphyte. A leafless cutting is likely a dead cutting. They do not usually sprout from a bare stem. Take your chances and lay the piece on top of the media and allow it to do what it will. The vine doesn't care much about up or down and with out leaves it would be pretty hard to figure that out. The only reason I use pots and media is so customers can carry the plant home. In the field I often just lay the cutting in the crotch of a tree and walk away. Using all capitals is the equivalent of yelling. My videos are generally pretty good. I can not anticipate every situation that can occur. I throw out leafless cuttings rather than pot them. I usually suggest the same to others.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 its what i say on the medium
Did you buy the leafless form, vanilla aphylla, I think it's called?
Looks like the cuttings in the second pot are upside down?
Nope, all are right side up and all rooted just fine. With only 50% of screwing up I usually manage to get it right.
Im really interested in farming vannila orchid in my place. How do i get the sapling and also would like to know what temparature is require for this fruit. Inbox me in case if you come across my comments
I have the plants here in the nursery for pickup. The only temperature information I can offer is tropical conditions. Temperatures between 55 f and 85 f are a good range. Below 50, things start going wrong.
Hello, about how many vanilla beans will one mature plant produce in a year?
That will depend on the age of the vine and the growers ability to hand pollinate the flowers properly. No insect can do this work outside of the native range. At best we usually get up to 30 per vine or as few as 10.
Hi, What month/season do you take cutting? I can't find this answer anywhere.
IF the vines are not flowering or fruiting cuttings can be taken at any time. If you have mature vines follow the growth cycles. In this area pods tend to ripen about the same time the flowers form. That is typically April to June. After harvest and pollination are done the vines will have a summer growth spurt. This growth must be managed by pulling it down and turning it to the side to induce flowers. I generally break some of the vine in this process. What I break becomes propagation. This is a summer thing usually July to September.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you so much. I'm in the Southern Hemisphere so ill transfer that to our spring and summer. I thought it would have to be a spring and summertime activity but couldn't find it anywhere to back it up. I didn't want to make a stupid mistake. Again Thank you for your answer.
@@damonturnbull5903 What every you call the season, just watch the grow cycles. When the vines start climbing straight up to space it is time to propagate.
Hello, I have some Vanilla cutting s and I was wondering how often should I water them. I use d orchid potting soil.
That would depend on the climate you live in and the average temperature. Here in Eastern Hawaii I never water Vanilla. It is an epiphyte so it has little contact with moist soil. Mostly it roots onto tree trunks and only takes in water from the spongy roots on the tree limb during rain fall. As long as the plant isn't soggy wet at the base it will take water every day over the entire vine. It often rains on mine daily here.
GreenGardenGuy1 ok I live in southern California and it is indoors but I kinda get a feel for what you are saying.
Nice video!
Thank you. This is really an enjoyable plant if you have a tropical climate or large heated greenhouse. We are just about to harvest the pods and do some curing here.
GreenGardenGuy1 it would be nice to see how the vanilla is harvested and cured. I am learning so much from your videos thankyou.
I am still working out that part of the process. Once I have a success I will probably post a video.
Hello sir,i hope u are doing fine and family?Iam called Wisdom and i live in Uganda.Iam planning to plant vanilla Orchid at home but using metallic tins that i got from the workshop.From your experience sir,can the orchid grow healthy too in a tin if i took good care of it so as i can get bins without transfering it to the garden?.I have land in the village where to plant it without using tins but here in my country, vanilla thefty has been an issue and people are now sleeping in their gardens to protect their plants or even hire security guards which is hectic.So i want to have a small garden of about 50 plants at home in town.I hope to hear from you sir.
Nice time
Vanilla is an epiphyte so it's natural habit is to grow in trees. The roots are mostly aerial as the plants age and few if any roots actually touch the earth. You could start the plants in tin containers, I start them in plastic pots. Eventually you would need to have a very large trellis to support the vine. Mine grow 6 feet in 6 months. So yes but you will need a very large trellis.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thank u sir.i appreciate your advice.
Hello sir,i want to incquire about something.At my working place, i have empty tins of vanish(4litres size)metallic.Would it be okey to plant the vanilla orchid there since its metallic?
@@wisdompyt I much prefer plastic because it doesn't rust away and it is inert. I would use caution due to the original content of the containers too. Varnish isn't a friendly material with plants. If the tins were coated with a epoxy paint or some other water proof material they would probably last longer.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thank u sir for the feedback.u'v Truely been helpful
I grew them in a greenhouse. They climbed iron girders. But,it was a small foliage vanilla vine..maybe not the commercial type.
Also..never mind Bill that forum I posted your vid on. Nobody but them knows what grows anywhere. Eeks,I'm done with them.
Yeah, I hear you. I was once invited to participate on Cloud forest cafe and got beat to death by self serving trolls who thought they were gods gift to horticulture. I never went back on another forum again. That is part of the reason I started my youtube channel. People are free to talk here and I may express my opinion but it isn't the final word. We all have something to learn. My move to the Island has tossed me back into full learning mode. Tropical agriculture is a thing to it's self. I'm a green horn again.
Cloudforest self destructed from ego. I dont blame you at all.
I might do a local garden blog. Telling people how they CAN grow,and if its not easy,how to make it work. Seems like a friendlier way.
I bother to post youtube because I thought it would be a good thing to do for the world. Even if you don't learn anything here at least the jokes and the guitar are amusing. It is hard to believe that people would post horticultural information with ill intent. The more you know the the more you realize you really don't know much of anything. Smart people realize how dumb they really are. Viewers educate me every day and I've been doing this for a living most of my life. Anyway, if you get a local blog going let me know, I can contribute. Even though I live in HI I did live in CA for 25 years, ran Navlet's Nursery in Fremont and my own landscape business. I probably have something to contribute.
Great day,
Is there a way i can get cutting from you for my grow yard?
The nursery is walk in. Any time the gate is open come on by.
I have a Madagascar vanilla orchid i'm trying to grow in the pacific northwest along with a bunch of other stuff.
They can call it Madagascar vanilla but all vanilla originates in Mexico and Central America. The people in Madagascar only farm the crop they didn't originate it.
We call the produce Hawaiian Vanilla but the plants didn't come from here.
I have seen vanilla grown in San Francisco. It was done in a heated greenhouse and the vines covered about 120 sq foot of trellis. It is an easy growing orchid but it needs a huge area, management of the vines and hand pollination to produce pods. I love the plant as a nursery stock item. As a bean crop my vision is too poor and my fingers too numb to do the pollination for pods. My partner does all this for our kitchen. She is getting pretty good at it. Each year she gets more pods to set.
Nice! I would love to try vanilla orchids but I think I would have to have a climate controlled greenhouse to do so. I live to far north.
Yes, it would have to be a large greenhouse too. These vines grow 6 feet in six months. I have seen them growing well at an orchid greenhouse in San Francisco though so it is possible. I was born in Illinois and lived for years in Wisconsin. I never thought I would end up in Hawaii but there you have it. Bill
GreenGardenGuy1 six feet in 6months ? dose this growth happen after the roots have grown in from a clipping?
Yes, I am referring to the growth of an established plant. The growth of a bare root cutting is much less because they can't feed until the grow a root system. One of the reasons I live in Eastern Hawaii is because plants are my lively hood and most plants grow at remarkable rates of speed here. Puna is like a dose of fertilizer on plant growth. You may not find the growth as rapid where you live.
GreenGardenGuy1 you are so right... even my vegetable garden grows slowly, I have so many challenges
Ever environment has it's challenges for the grower. Once spot grows spruce trees by dropping seeds the next spruce die even with care. Bananas and coffee are really easy here but tomatoes are extremely difficult. It has taken me the benefit of over 50 years of gardening experience to get a decent crop in Hawaii. Garden is all about trade offs from one spot to another.
Hello sir good morning
If we grow this venilla beans
How long until harvesting
This sir
It depends on you climate and plant culture but 5 to 6 years is a reasonable number.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thanks so much sir
@@mb-dj8ow You're welcome.
What state are you in? With the price of vanilla beans around $1.00 each I imagine this would be a nice cash crop
Allen, If you can find beans for $1 buy all you can get. Prices I find are between $2 and $5 each. A buck is a steal.
I am in Hawaii on the Big Island. Weather here is perfect for vanilla, the orchids grow 6 foot in 6 months here. Because only Mexico has the little bee it takes to pollinate the vanilla orchid people in other vanilla growing areas must do all the pollination by hand. It is a lot of work and by the time you grow, harvest and sweat the beans even $2 each is hardly worth the effort. We grow organic vanilla for our own kitchen but my interest in this orchid is the propagation and sale of the vines, not the fruits. Vanilla plants are easy to grow and command a good price for the effort.
WOW... just 1 bean here in Texas at HEB or Walmart is $13.00 each !!!
Hello, what substrate are you using?
I tend to use what I have on hand. I mentioned the media at 3 minutes. Pine bark chunks work as well as chunk coconut coir. Sometimes I mix the coir with professional growers medias like ProMix. Lava cinder works too as well as shredded tennis shoes. As long as the media has no soil or fine particles and doesn't break down easily. The orchids grow out of the media in the field and onto the supports.
I would like to purchase a plant from you. Would you be able to ship it to AZ?
I can ship to 46 Mainland states but AZ not legal. CA, AZ, TX & LA all ban shipments from Hawaii unless the nursery is certified to their standards. I am not willing to jump through those hoops just for four states. There are ways around this but that would be up to you.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Actually it's a gift for my sister and she lives in MA.
@@myviewoflife8839 I see. Maine has no issues with plants from Hawaii. Use my email for further info. greengardenservice@yahoo.com
The leaves on my cutting are turning yellow after planting about 3 months ago. Did I do something wrong? It gets a lot of sunlight I’m afraid I’m killing it
There are all sorts of things that could cause this. If the plant has no fertilizer it turns yellow. If the roots rot from disease then the plant yellows. You mentioned plenty of sun. Orchid like some shade, you may be giving it a sun burn. If this happens you can usually see black on the leaves as well as yellow.
i figured yellowing was a pretty broad statement haha. It gets mostly direct sun where I put it, but I have moved it to shade. I planted a cutting I got at an orchid show per the instructions you gave more or less. Should I have clipped the end to make sure the cut was fresh or would it be ok after having it sit out for a few days? I planted it in a chunky orchid bark mixture, which I think had fertilizer in it, so hopefully moving it to the shade helps. Thank you! Your videos are so helpful and interesting!
I would judge that the orchid was grown under rather different conditions than the ones you placed it in. Most commercial orchids are grown in shade houses. Moving them to full sun will fry the leaves. If you were buying them from me the orchids are being grown under full sun in Hawaii but our sun has a lot of clouds too. Full sun here is not the same as full sun in most areas because our weather is cool and the light broken.
I have never seen a commercial orchid mix that contains fertilizer. No single fertilizer is good across all orchids. Growers add their own as needed.
ah ok! makes sense. I am in southern CA so we have pretty strong. I have moved it to the shade. I have an orchid fertilizer spray I will be using too. Hopefully I can nurse this back to life! Thank you for your help again!!!
Yes, S.Ca sun would fry an orchid. You have to consider the source of information when yu seek it. Even in HI what we do with plants on the East side are not the same as the treatment on the west. Never heard of a fertilizer spray for orchids. I do spray mine with fish emulsion from time to time though. I usually use Osmocote or Nutricote in the pots to get them started but later just let the bird and lizard droppings feed them after they leave the ground for the trees.
sir simple presentation I want to work with you.fro kerala india
Thank you, Aloha
Why is the coconut core good for the soil mixture?
To begin with it is a renewable resource. Coconuts are easy to grow and the husk is the part we use for soil mixes. We still use sphagnum moss in propagation but some sources are being mined, not sustainably harvested. Coco coir has the advantage of lasting for a long time just like a coconut fiber door mat. In tropical conditions soil mixes break down fast. We used to use a lot more volcanic cinder for potting soil here but lately they have found nematodes in the cinder. It has to be steamed to remove them and that makes coco coir cheaper.
Do you sell cuttings?
I have a nursery here in Puna that sells plants to the local area. Shipping off Island is controlled by government and only allowed in 46 states. It sort of depends on where you live and how many cuttings you wish to buy.
My suggestion is to not buy from just anyone - you want to buy only certified virus free cuttings. I wouldn’t suggest putting them under other plants where water from native soil can drip down where you can get fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. Growing vanilla orchids is only possible in very southern florida, Hawaii and maybe the very warmest, areas of CA. It takes about 3 years for a cutting to be large enough to reach 20’-30’ where it will bloom. It is best to grow them out in the open, under 50% shade cloth on all sides and on “T” structures where they can be looped up on the structure so you can access them once they start blooming. Out in the open helps keep them away from plant diseases and pests which can carry diseases (bacterial, fungal including leaf, stem and root roots, and viruses from other plants to them. For example coffee trees are quite susceptible to fungal issues like rust and to Fusarium (coffee wilt disease). Fusarium is what’s killing out the major banana plantations to the point they believe the current major banana that fulfills our world wide needs. Look up something like Cavendish banana set to go extinct. There is an excellent UA-cam video showing the industry issue and the millions being spent to stop it. A GMO may be our only option that can withstand the disease that stays in the soil for a very long time and spreads quite vigorously in the soil. Orchids are also high susceptible to a species of fusarium. As he said, it is quite tedious to pollinate Orchids for bean production - the blooms are only good for maybe half day. If growing for vanilla beans you want to make sure you get the right species - for most that’s vanilla planifolia. The flowers can’t be pollinate too early nor too late in that approx 4 hour window or they might not take. Once the ovary swells you know for sure you will have a bean. You can’t pollinate every flower or you will lose the ability for the plant to live a long life or harvest period. There are “rules” about what is the right amount to pollinate in each cluster of flowers (usually no more than 10 even on large vines) so you don’t get too heavy a bean production. If you over pollinate, and get too many beans, it will stress the plants quite heavily. For top flavor and aroma, It takes around 9 months to mature on the vine - you know when the tips begin to yellow. Then you are looking a 5+ months to cure out totally to be ready to make high quality extract. Not every bean will make it to harvest, not every bean will make a good extract bean.There are different grades. If you really want to know about growing vanilla commercially - It’s not cheap but it is a text book. There is also a ebook online you may be able to read. It is the “Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology”, Second Edition by Daphna Havkin-Frenkel, Faith C. Belanger. Tells you what the chapters are in the book. On Amazon the kindle version was around $180 and the book if available can be higher. Or it can be an older edition. You want the updated edition if you can afford it. Here is the publisher site. Best bet is to find a college textbook of it.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119377320
Also if you are thinking of getting one so you can grow the beans to have seeds to plant, forget it! Orchid seeds require being done under sterile lab conditions in specially cleaned bottles on special sterile base and sealed. They will stay there for a couple of years being replated several times, and then require delicate situation to grow on their own and then multiple years before they start to bloom or large enough to make cuttings. If even a spec of room air filled with fungi, dust, bacteria, etc - gets in the bottle the entire planted seed will die from disease. Most orchids take anywhere from 5-7+ years to bloom from seed. It is not for the faint of heart. And it’s best that you learn to grow healthy orchids before you decide to go into the vanilla orchid bean production. These aren’t plants you just dig a hole and plant like you would a hibiscus or a tomato, etc. Orchids aren’t nearly as easy as he states though that’s a good way to get people to buy them.
Also look up VANILLA CULTIVATION IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA1 an short piece by University of Florida. They are trying to get people there to try them commercially but it is a tricky business unless you know how to grow orchids well. Orchids don’t take to cold so you need to around Miami area or have some way to protect them when temps drop below 60 or even higher if it’s wet and windy. Having a grocery store Phalaenopsis on your counter that has 2 leaves doesn’t constitute growing well. Learn a lot more before investing. That said, adding any of the beautiful vanilla species to your orchid collection is well worth it provided you have the room - it takes a long time to get big enough to bloom. There are different colors and fragrance is lovely.
This is for comments, you left a text book. Good luck on finding certified virus free vanilla vines on the Big Island. Mine were brought here from Tahiti decades ago. In Costa Rica vanilla is raised on Cacao. Here it is sometimes raised on trellis in houses but usually it is hung on cacao or coffee. My vines are healthy and the other I know who do this here also have healthy plants. If virus exists in the local plants it doesn't do much to stop production. Perhaps other areas have more disease problems. Soil contact isn't much of an issue here as long as the cutting are placed in the trees and allowed develop their own roots to soil. Placing existing plants in soil is a death sentence here too.
Thank you for such a great video and can you send me cuttings or seedlings to grow them in pakistan
Sorry, no I do not do international plant deliveries. These orchids are for local sales on Island.
Ohh, ca. You suggest me one
You may want to cut the suckers and use those for propagation.
Vanilla doesn't produce suckers. Vine, is vine is vine on vanilla. Every piece is the same as every other bit. I combine pulling the vines down with propagation. What I break, get planted in a pot for sale.
Dear Bill, thanks for the awesome illustrative video. I live in copenhagen and I'm interested in growing vanilla (in greenhouse) but from SEEDS. do you sell the ripen bean pods without curating? for the seeds to germinate? Otherwise can you ship cuttings internationally or know of a certified seller that can do it?
I'm glad you made use of the information. I had never thought of raising vanilla seeds. It sounds like a real project since they are like dust particles. Thus far we cure all the pods we get. I can ship vanilla plants to 46 US states but that's about it. Four of the states and international regulations make it too difficult for me to ship any place else. There is an orchid farm just up the road from me that is certified to ship into markets that I can't enter. I know at times they grow and sell vanilla plants. You could check with them.
akatsukaorchid.com/