Vanilla orchids - Kauai Nursery & Landscaping, Inc.

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Flowering: Flowers usually occur after 2-3 years, when the plant is mature. In Hawaii, flowers appear annually from April until June. Each flower cluster may have up to 25 buds, with one bud opening per day. Flowering usually peaks at 7-8 years of age. If a vanilla plant looks strong and vigorous but has not produced a flower after 3 years, you might consider stressing it by reducing the water and fertilizer from mid-February until April. Also look at the vine’s orientation; if the vine is only allowed to climb upwards, it will not flower. Fruit or “Beans”: After the pollination is complete, the area below the flower will slowly lengthen and widen, turning into fruits or “beans”. It takes about 8-9 months from pollination to harvest. <strong>Vanilla</strong> pods will start to turn yellowish at the tips when they are ready to be picked. Inside the pod or fruit are hundreds of tiny seeds. If you cross-pollinate a vanilla orchid, some of these seeds will be viable. However, if you pollinate the stigma with pollen from same flower, seeds will not be viable. Commercial growers of vanilla selectively chose how many flowers to pollinate. If there are too many pods on the vine, each pod will be smaller. Reducing the number of pods allows each pod to develop more fully and produces superior vanilla beans. The number of fruit varies greatly depending on the size and number of inflorescences on the vine. In a commercial operation, 8 to 10 flowers on a spike of 20 inflorescences would be pollinated, and perhaps 5-6 of those would be allowed to develop into pods. In this way, a mature vine might produce 30-150 beans. The vanilla pod will need to be cured before it can be used. There are numerous ways to do this, but essentially you need to kill the pod with heat (submerging in boiling water, exposing the pod to direct sunlight), drying, and/or conditioning. We will be holding another workshop early next year to discuss curing and using vanilla.
Morphology Stigma Rostellum Stamen with pollen Labellum Stamen with pollen Labellum Stamen Rostellum Stigma Labellum
Page 1 and 2: ABOUT VANILLAORCHIDS KauaiNursery&L
Page 3 and 4: Introduction V anilla is a member o
Page 5 and 6: Trim off dead roots and the bottom
Page 7: Support: Vanilla orchids will likel
Page 11 and 12: T he labellum looks like a round tu
Page 13 and 14: PHOTO CREDITS Cover, Back Cover: Ke
Page 16 and 17: This booklet is the second in a ser
Page 18 and 19: Artificial vanilla extract verses R
Page 20 and 21: Curing Curing is very important bec
Page 22 and 23: Stunning & Sweating This step invol
Page 24 and 25: Finished product Grading Beans are
Page 26 and 27: Black Bean-Crusted Yellowfin Tuna w
Page 28 and 29: Tuiles Tuiles are thin cookies. The
Page 30 and 31: Vanilla and Armagnac-Roasted Banana
Page 32 and 33: Vanilla Bean Cheesecake by Aimeeboz

Vanilla orchids - Kauai Nursery & Landscaping, Inc.

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