Vanilla orchid grows best in bright filtered shade with high humidity. Favorable temperatures are between 15-21ºC at night, and 26-35ºC during the day.
Commercial vanilla is always propagated by stem cuttings by cut short the vine. Shoots develop on the cutting 30-40 days after planting. Cuttings must be disinfected, without the three base leaves and their wounds healed, which usually occurs 1-2 days after the mechanical damage.
The tutor trees are chosen so that the vine climbs up. The best tutor tree is cocoa.
Vanilla doesn’t grow in the soil it grows on top of the soil. The main characteristics that soils must meet for vanilla production are: good drainage, abundant organic material and pH values of 6 to 7.
Preparation of the soil:
All the weed needs to be removed. Clear the surface of the soil and dig a little furrow. End of the vine is up and which is down where the leaves connect to the vine the armpits are point up. It is very important that not to plant vanilla under the soil.
The vine then covered with dry leaves which was break them into smaller pieces before. Leave the two tips of the vine uncovered, this way microbes won’t get into the vine and it won’t rot.
When cultivated, vanilla flowers on shoots that hang down from the branches of a support tree. Under natural circumstances flowering occurs on upward climbing vines at a height of 10-15 m. This may indicate that a certain amount of vegetative growth is necessary for flowering.
Vanilla vines are also affected by numerous plant pathogens causing various diseases. For instance, root rot, stem rot, rotten fruits, antraknosa, red rust, etc.
Vanilla beans harvested at 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 months after hand pollination were traditionally cured by 4 consecutive steps of killing, sweating, drying and conditioning, which took up to 4-6 months.
Vanilla cultivation
