20” Vanilla planifolia

Vanilla Orchids

Vanilla planiofolia belong to the Orchid family of plants that include hundreds of genera and many thousands of species. While gardners and plant collectors have been enchanted by the exotic beauty and long-lasting flowers of the orchid, there is a much bigger commercial industry that Vanilla orchids have spawned. From it’s origins in the American tropics of Mexico and Belize, countries like Madagascar, Indonesia, China being the leading commercial growers of the species.

Adopting and caring for your Vanilla Orchid

Adopting: Vanilla planifolia are not for everyone. While many people are attracted to the plant for it’s designer good looks, getting them to flower and produce the famed vanilla pods need expert knowledge and a little bit of luck..At ePlants we have handpicked a few Vanilla plants aimed at the experimentative houseplant collector.

Locating: Exposure to strong, direct sun will scorch the leaves of a Vanilla Orchid and could cause irrevocable damage to the plant. So these plants do best in brighter areas which offer filtered light. If you are locating an Orchid indoors give it a spot with bright indirect light where it can rest easy for months, even years.

Potting: Like all orchids vanilla are ephiphites, meaning they grow on trees as they collect its nutrients from the atmosphere around them. Grown at home, they require airy containers, preferably with holes in them. If you are a beginner it is best to use a commercially available orchid mix. If you would like to make your own mixture, make a lose combination of choco chunks (coconut shell fiber chopped into small 1/2″ cubes) some wood charcol and leaf compost in a ratio of 40:30:30

Watering: Orchids roots have developed the ability to absorb water from the air around them, however, depending on where you live it is best to water your plants once every few days during the growing season ideally in the mornings. Once they start flowering, you can cut back on the watering schedule a little.

Fertilising: A general thumb rule among orchid growers is to fertilise these plants weakly, weakly. Use a specific, commercially available organic liquid Orchid fertiliser dissolved at half the strenght and feed your plant once a week. You could make an even milder concentration of the same fertiliser and use it as a foilar spray. If you are using a chemical fertiliser, make sure you use it in the right diluation, of you could end up harming the plant.

Did you know

After safforn, vanilla is the most expensive spice out there