Vanila

[7santiago]

does anyone grow vanila?

 

[Juan-Carlos]

I do

-Jc

 

[rattler]

i have planifolia and one other whose name escapes me at the moment, siamensis(sp?) i think

 

[Pyro]

I have one, not sure what species it is though.

 

[Starman]

Im getting one as soon as my greenhouse is heated

 

[rattler]

yeah its siamensis and planifolia i have. they are a vine and a pain to get to bloom unless you have a large area that it can grow wild in. most species need to hit about 8 feet in length before they will bloom. cool orchid though.

 

[seedjar]

Are they really smelly? When I found out that vanilla came from huge, long-lived orchids I wanted to get some, but my friend who used to live near vanilla plantations says that the smell is unbearable after a while. What's the story?
~Joe

 

[rattler]

i would imagine that thousands of vanilla blooms all opened at the same time could be quite overpowering. i highly doubt the blooms from a couple of plants would be bad at all. plus depending on what they are using as fertilizer could contripute to the smell.

 

[Juan-Carlos]

Mine is a varaigated vanilla... its stunning! I'm surprised we dont see any varaigated cp's!!

-Jc

 

[Starman]

Quote[/b] (seedjar @ Sep. 15 2005,1:29)]Are they really smelly? When I found out that vanilla came from huge, long-lived orchids I wanted to get some, but my friend who used to live near vanilla plantations says that the smell is unbearable after a while. What's the story?
~Joe

I really wouldnt reccomend gettign one unless you have a greenhouse heated to a warm level, as they like warm nights and hot days all year round, plus high humidity, plus loads of room to spread(like rattler has already said, they need to be around 8 feet of vine to flower)

 

[rattler]

for what a foot long cutting of V. planifolia costs its not going to hurt to try it. heck you can find cuttings on ebay pretty cheap. or if you find somone down in Florida who is growing theres out side and has a large plant you can probably find a cutting for lil more than cost of shipping.

 

[7santiago]

does it grow fast? im geting into orchids and im interested in vanilla, i mightpot one and have it grow up my wall

 

[rattler]

fairly quickly. assuming it likes your conditions a 1 foot tip cutting should be able to hit 8 feet in 18 months or more likely less than that. i think mine grew a foot in a month or two in a terrarium. like i said with a bit of looking you can find a cutting cheap enough that its almost a shame not to give the species a try.

 

[Starman]

Quote[/b] (7santiago @ Sep. 15 2005,9:18)]does it grow fast? im geting into orchids and im interested in vanilla, i mightpot one and have it grow up my wall

Like I said: I wouldnt reccomend getting one unless you have a greenhouse heated to warm level(or large terrarium)
Youll be wasting your time, many have tried, and some experts at my orchid society who have been growing for over 25 years, they have tried it and it didnt work, and they dont know anyone who has been sucessfull at growing it indoors
I have also spoken tomeone in denmark and she said the same

 

[rattler]

so mine thats being abused and growing indoors doesnt count? granted it hasnt been doing great since being taken out of the terrarium(which was seeing cool nights and not warm) but it is growing. i dont know about Britain but here in the states you should be able to find a cutting and get it shipped to you for around $10-$15 you can get a rooted plant off ebay for $25. for that kind of money who really cares if it doesnt work? its worth a shot.

i dont mean any offence Starman but everytime you start listing off rules about how to grow orchids i can find an orchid in my collection that breaks your "rules", if not completely smashes through them. the guy wants to try growing a Vanilla orchid, i dont see how your negative attitudes are doing any good. yes ther is a good chance it wont work for him but for very lil investment he can try it for himself. Vanilla planifolia is not rare and is not expencive or difficult to find in the states, i say give it a shot, have fun and learn from your own personal experiances.

 

[Starman]

Quote[/b] (rattler_mt @ Sep. 16 2005,2:15)]so mine thats being abused and growing indoors doesnt count? granted it hasnt been doing great since being taken out of the terrarium(which was seeing cool nights and not warm) but it is growing. i dont know about Britain but here in the states you should be able to find a cutting and get it shipped to you for around $10-$15 you can get a rooted plant off ebay for $25. for that kind of money who really cares if it doesnt work? its worth a shot.

i dont mean any offence Starman but everytime you start listing off rules about how to grow orchids i can find an orchid in my collection that breaks your "rules", if not completely smashes through them. the guy wants to try growing a Vanilla orchid, i dont see how your negative attitudes are doing any good. yes ther is a good chance it wont work for him but for very lil investment he can try it for himself. Vanilla planifolia is not rare and is not expencive or difficult to find in the states, i say give it a shot, have fun and learn from your own personal experiances.

yes, its growing but is it flowering? is it ever going to flower and be truly happy? I dont think so
And for that reason, no it doesnt count(if it did it would be really happy and get big and flower)
I tell you what, you tell me the name of one person who can get them really big indoors and flower them.

And for your information its not my 'rules', its what Ive learned through top orchid experts here and on the orchid forum. This Vanilla subject has been discussed a LOT and this is what nearly all, if not all, orchid experts I know say

And if youre a newbie youre better off starting simple untill you get the hang of growing them. Dont fly high, because if you fall it will hurt, I learnt that the hard way

And if he does by them, they will either die, or grow but be unhappy and never flower.

 

[rattler]

i said before i hadnt gotten mine large enough to flower, nor have i been particularaly trying to. so is that a challenge? i bet i can get mine to flower without a greenhouse and since i dont grow lowland neps i dont have a "perfect" enviroment to just toss them into. bet i can get it(all of 1 foot at the moment) to bloom in two years.

i really dont care what the "experts" say as i can usually prove most wrong on one thing or another in their field anyways. i am no expert, have never claimed to be, and will never claim to be. i do stuff based on my personal observations, personal theories and by going with info that ppl have had good luck with their own personal experiments.

7santiago, dont let this party pooper spoil your interest. get yourself and try growing it for yourself. it will do you very lil good to listen to these "experts" they dont live in your house do they? whos to say it wont do wonderfully and bloom? i wont say one way or another cause i am willing to admit i dont know how it will do for you, but i do know having a real interest in trying to grow it will get yah 90% of the way there.

 

[Pyro]

FWIW I also have a vanilla and I have grown it indoors as well. It isn't huge yet but it has gone from 6" to 3' so I would say that is something. No special treatment either, just in a pot under ambient conditions.

I hate to say it Dino but just because all the "experts" claim it can not be done does not make them right. Until a few years ago the entire CP community would have sworn up down and sideways that Neps could not be grown outside of greenhouses. And yet now we have people like Elgecko who are growing N. hamata like a house plant!!

I am in full agreement with Rattler on this. There are two people saying that they are successfully growing vanilla inside and that the plants are not suffering (and we both have been growing plants long enough to know what a suffering plant looks like.) Are we two the end all and be all? Not by a long shot but neither are you. Someone asked if vanilla could be grown indoors and we told him that we were successful and to give it a shot. You are welcome to caution that you failed but you really can not go beyond that. It is not right to say that everyone who tries is going to fail and be miserable because you don't know that to be fact. I personally don't give a rip if my plant flowers or not, i grow it because I like growing it. Same reason I grow mango and avocado and sugar cane and pineapple and carombola. I don't expect to harvest any of them I just like to grow them. And maybe that is all this guy wants to do, just grow a vanilla and be happy to have it in his collection.

So you have had your say and blasted us all with your proclimations dooming us all to failure and I think that is enough.

 

[Starman]

Quote[/b] (rattler_mt @ Sep. 16 2005,3:43)]i said before i hadnt gotten mine large enough to flower, nor have i been particularaly trying to. so is that a challenge? i bet i can get mine to flower without a greenhouse and since i dont grow lowland neps i dont have a "perfect" enviroment to just toss them into. bet i can get it(all of 1 foot at the moment) to bloom in two years.

i really dont care what the "experts" say as i can usually prove most wrong on one thing or another in their field anyways. i am no expert, have never claimed to be, and will never claim to be. i do stuff based on my personal observations, personal theories and by going with info that ppl have had good luck with their own personal experiments.

7santiago, dont let this party pooper spoil your interest. get yourself and try growing it for yourself. it will do you very lil good to listen to these "experts" they dont live in your house do they? whos to say it wont do wonderfully and bloom? i wont say one way or another cause i am willing to admit i dont know how it will do for you, but i do know having a real interest in trying to grow it will get yah 90% of the way there.

yup,like I said, NO ONE has managed to make them grow big and flower them indoors. Do you understand that? What makes you think your case will be any different?
People have been trying for years. It doesnt work. End of the story.

They know a LOT more then you do. They have done a lot more experiments then you.
They have a lifetime of experience while you have barely a few years. And you dotn care what they say. Very open minded. I wouldnt be as half good in growing orchids as I am at the moment if I didnt take advice from experts at the orchid forum and at my orchid society.

And for your ifnormation, plenty of people from the US also said you cant really grow Vanilla indoors.
And you still dont listen.

Imagine if someone wanted to try growing an N.villosa indoors. Would you stop them? That would be the amrtest thign to do, as if they got it and tried growing it indoors it would surely die. You and everyone else knows that it isnt possible. Its exactly the same for growing Vanilla big and flowerign it indoors.

You really have no idea how outnumbered you are in this topic.

 

[rattler]

Quote[/b] ]Imagine if someone wanted to try growing an N.villosa indoors

they said the same of N. hamata. i truely believe at some point in the future, someone will be growing this guy as a window plant

yes i am open minded, ive found you experiance far more interesting things that way. the reason i personally think very few ppl have gotten it to bloom indoors is they have no real reason to try. very few orchid growers are going to devote enough space for an 8 foot vine without having a greenhouse. there for far to few ppl have tried it to say it flat out wont work. from what ive seen of mines growth habit there should be no problems getting it to 8 feet. i got it to triple in size with no issues(it was longer than its present 12 inches but i traded away a cutting) ill start working with it a bit more seriusly just so i can prove yah wrong. to bad i wont be able to show you it in person cause going by your current attitude i can tell when i do get it to bloom your going to claim all sorts of things since it is going against you and your experts.