Once you've made the decision to grow a vanilla plant, there is a lot of work ahead of you. In order for the orchid to bear fruit, care must be tailored precisely to the needs of the plant.
Characteristics
- Plant family: Orchids (Orchidaceae)
- Genus: Vanilla (Vanilla)
- Synonyms: real vanilla, spiced vanilla, vanilla orchid
- Origin: Central America, mainly Mexico
- is grown nowadays in many tropical regions, especially in Madagascar (Bourbon Vanilla)
- Growth habit: climbing plant, evergreen, forms long tendrils and aerial roots
- Vine length: up to 1,500 cm
- Flower: up to 8 cm long, orchid flower, yellow-green, aromatic scent
- Leaves: 5 cm to 25 cm, long, short-stalked, green
- forms usable pods
Location
The location is essential for a healthy vanilla plant. Since Vanilla planifolia is an evergreen tropical plant, you have to adapt the cookie exactly to the needs of the spiced vanilla. The location must have the following properties:
- Light requirement: bright
- avoid direct sun
- Summer temperature: 25 ° C to 28 ° C
- Winter temperature: around 20 ° C
- Humidity: 70 percent to 80 percent
- Optimize the humidity with a humidifier or spray bottle
- protect from cold drafts
Since vanilla plants cannot be planted outdoors in Central Europe, you have to rely on a heated greenhouse. Alternatively, living rooms, winter gardens and bathrooms with a window facing east or west are suitable are not too dark and have the properties mentioned in terms of heat and humidity exhibit. Unfortunately, vanilla flowers do not form flowers in closed rooms. A greenhouse is therefore preferable if you want to try your hand at cultivation and harvesting.
Substrate
Need vanilla plants
usually only one large pot over their entire life, as their long tendrils grow upwards, while the number of roots remains quite small. The substrate should be as follows:- use high quality orchid soil
- alternatively mix pine bark and quality soil
- air permeable
- crumbly structure
- Put the plant in the substrate
- Do not press the substrate, just arrange it lightly around the roots
- Equip the bucket with climbing aid
- Support shouldn't be too small
Tip: Alternatively, you can repot your Vanilla planifolia in a hanging basket. No climbing aid is required for this, because the tendrils can hang down in a relaxed manner.
to water
Moisture isn't just important in terms of location. The substrate must not dry out, otherwise the vanilla plant will perish, which can be recognized by the withered leaves. Waterlogging should also be avoided, as otherwise the plant will rot from the inside out. As soon as you hear a musty smell from the substrate and the plant weakens, it is waterlogging. To find the right balance, there are certain points that you need to pay attention to when pouring the vanilla:
- only use water with little lime
- rain, filter or stale water are suitable
- Temperature: lukewarm or room warm
- only water the substrate as necessary
- Check the water requirement with a finger test
- A dry surface and a moist pot base are ideal
Note: If waterlogging does occur, repot the plant as quickly as possible and remove the rotten roots.
Fertilize
Your vanilla plant needs sufficient nutrients to develop the long tendrils and possibly fragrant flowers. The following points will help you:
- Fertilization period: mid-March to mid-September
- every 2 weeks
- Use orchid fertilizer (liquid)
- Fertilizer should not contain salts
- Apply fertilizer via irrigation water
- just water the substrate
Cut
No pruning measures are required for vanilla plants. The tropical plants are extremely healthy and the tendrils can neither bald nor die if they are cared for properly. Since the tendrils have to be as long as possible for flowering, pruning measures have a negative effect on bud formation. Only if it is an adult plant can you remove the shoot tips from individual tendrils in order to stimulate growth. However, a healthy specimen does not really need it.
Multiply
A great advantage of vanilla plants are the different methods of propagation. Once you've bought a healthy specimen, you can use it to grow more vanilla plants from it. Growing from seeds is usually not possible in Germany because there is no seed available and the plants first have to bloom, which can take five to ten years. For this reason, propagation via cuttings has become established, which the hobby gardener can easily implement. The following cuttings are suitable:
- Head cuttings
- Root cuttings
The propagation is particularly recommended over the spring or summer, as the temperature can be optimized more easily. The cuttings should ideally have a length of 40 centimeters so that a larger plant can quickly form from them. With the following instructions you will succeed in propagation:
- Completely remove the leaves at the lower end of the cutting
- Prepare a vessel with potting soil
- Insert the cutting with the bare side into the substrate
- Fix the cuttings with a climbing aid
- Slightly moisten the potting soil
- a spray bottle is suitable for this
- Cover the cuttings including the bucket with transparent film
- alternatively use polytunnels
- Always keep the substrate moist for the next few weeks
- choose a bright location
- Temperature: about 25 ° C
- avoid direct sun
- wait until a new shoot has developed
- then repot and care for as usual
Stimulate flowering
One of the most difficult and time-consuming aspects of the vanilla plant is its flowers. A vanilla plant only flowers after a few years, when its tendrils have reached a length of eight to ten meters. With good care and an ideal location, this takes up to five years on average. It is more difficult to find the right time for the actual flower formation. As soon as the tendrils have reached the required length, they must hang or lie freely and must no longer be tied up. If they are tied, they do not form flower buds. With a little luck, you can look forward to vanilla blossoms after a few years.
Fertilize
If you also want to use the vanilla plant to delight in the delicious spice, you have to do the fertilization on your own. The reason: The necessary pollinators do not live in Central Europe. Vanilla plants are pollinated exclusively by Melipona bees and hummingbirds. Our domestic bees have no use for the pollen. Fortunately, you can do this yourself during the flowering period. This works as follows:
- each vanilla blossom only blooms once
- it opens in the morning hours
- after opening it must be pollinated within 12 hours
- otherwise it will wither without bearing any fruit
- carefully cut open the flower from top to bottom
- use a sharpened stick for this (e.g. Toothpicks, ice cream sticks)
- open the flower slightly
- Pick up the pollen at the flower opening with the stick
- into the calyx
- Carefully close the flower and pull out the sticks
- carefully rub in the pollen
Since vanilla flowers do not bloom at the same time, you will have to check and pollinate them again and again if you want to harvest as many vanilla pods as possible later. Since the vanilla plant does not have a regular flowering time in our latitudes, you have to wait between six and ten months for a pod to develop from the flower.
To harvest
The pods are harvested when the green color turns yellow. To use the pods as a spice, you need to ferment and dry them beforehand:
- Wash the pods quickly in hot water
- Lay protected, warm and moist in the blazing sun
- alternatively, wrap in a permanently damp cloth
- wait until the pods have shrunk and turned brownish-red
- Pods should also be slightly oily
- Unpack the pods
- to dry regularly alternate between sun and shade
- You determine the duration of the intervals yourself
- after turning black, they are usable
Tip: Do not only use the pulp of the vanilla pods. After scraping the pod, cut it into thin slices or dry it in the oven until it can be ground into a seasoning powder.
Overwinter
Vanilla planifolia is not overwintered in a special way. It is watered a little less so that the root ball does not dry out. All nutrient additions are completely stopped. A permanently heated location that does not fall below the 20 ° C mark and does not dry out is important over the winter. The humidity mentioned above is particularly important during this period.
Note: If it is too dry and cool in the winter quarters, it can lead to an infestation with scale insects. Remove these with appropriate home remedies and then optimize the conditions at the location.
