Vanilla beans are one of the world ’s most pop spices . The beautiful flower of the vanilla planifolia orchidaceous plant produce long , waxy dark-brown pod , which are called " beans . " Vanilla beans are dried , distilled and otherwise processed to make the small feeding bottle of vanilla nearly everyone keeps in the kitchen cupboard . The vanilla orchidaceous plant comes from tropical area of Mexico , Central America , northern South America and the West Indies , but you could originate it in Southern California in a greenhouse or other controlled environment where the temperature never drops below 40 degree Fahrenheit .
Step 1
Pot your vanilla orchid in a pocket-sized pot that has a drainage golf hole , using redwood orchid barque . Keep your plant in a protected region such as a nursery that receives filtered sun .
Step 2
supply a flora stake or treillage for your vanilla orchid when it begin to form a vine . vine can reach 50 feet in length , so be sure to factor out in this trait when planning where you will keep your orchidaceous plant because it needs room to roll .
Step 3
Create high humidity in the rise environs by installing a humidifier or a mist system . Check the humidness by keeping an inexpensive humidity meter near your plant – it prefer humidity from 60 to 80 pct .
Step 4
feed your vanilla orchid weekly with an orchid plant food having a low percentage of atomic number 7 , such as 10 - 30 - 30 .
Step 5
Pollinate the vanilla extract orchid ’s flowers manually . The plant must have more than one flower bloom at the same sentence in guild for you to pollinate it . enter a cotton swab into the mall of one flower , making sure to collect pollen , and then infix it into the center of another prime .
Step 6
Control aphids , musical scale insects and spider mites by spraying your vanilla extract orchid with insecticidal soap .
Tip
Your vanilla orchidaceous plant might not blossom until it is several years old . In commercial vanilla extract plantations , flowers are pollinated every day in the first light . experient pollinator can pollinate 1,500 flowers a solar day . bloom last only one mean solar day , so you must be diligent with your hand pollination efforts if you require your orchidaceous plant to grow vanilla extract beans .
