I got a bunch of vanilla orchids growing
in kind of a semi-wild
State hair hanging all over my coffee
trees friend of mine gave me cuttings of
these a few years ago and I haven't been
spending too much time with them but
they're doing really well right here
even I've got some vanilla beans that
have come this year because we hand
pollinated that's important you have to
do this stuff by hand we don't have the
right B here but you can see here how
the orchid is just twining itself all up
and through the coffee trees got them
all over the place here my job is both
to pull them back down loop them around
where I can get at them pay attention to
the flowers and then try to propagate
more so the way I've been doing this is
to use buckets full of coconut coir root
the cuttings in them and then get the
cutting started up inside my coffee and
allow the orchids to grow through the
coffee plants they are an epiphytic
orchid and so they have these aerial
roots like this right here the attached
to just about everything they wrap all
over the place today what I'd like to do
is go in get some cuttings off the
vanilla orchids propagate them and then
transplant some of the cuttings that I
did earlier first I have to seek and
harvest some healthy-looking vanilla
orchid cuttings oh we've got some good
looking shoots back here I'm going to
take this one it's heading off in the
wrong direction now one thing you want
to be sure of the SAP on these is rather
acrid it will burn the skin okay
so don't come in contact with the SAP
this one's a pretty nice cutting it
already has some aerial roots going
it's going to be real easy to grow I got
a few here heading for the treetops
looks like a good one
take that here's a good one see you
it makes several out of this I'm gonna
go ahead and take it off right there
that gives us a really nice long cutting
here I am in the potting shed at the
bench I've got a couple of buckets here
that I'm going to use for propagating
the orchids you'll see that I've got
copper tape around the outside that's
supposed to keep the slugs out of here
so they don't chew up my cuttings inside
the buckets I'm filled about halfway
with a combination of high porosity pro
mix which is perlite peat moss and so on
and a rather large chunk of coconut husk
or coco coir this is a pretty good
medium for orchids it's soilless it
doesn't have any diseases in it there's
no weeds and so it should work out
pretty well I've used it before for this
purpose and then the next thing I have
to do is select my cuttings I'm gonna go
for cuttings that are probably about 6
to 8 inches long alright and so this one
is around double that I want to try to
make these so that I have a stem
sticking down at the base that I can
push into the soil and so this one here
I'm going to separate it right there
this one right here
it should be good for a couple of
cuttings and so I'm going to take this
one and cut it right about there
again we're paying attention to what's
top and bottom here so I'm setting them
with the bottoms down that's important
when you're making cuttings all right
this guy here cut in there this one come
here this one there
this one right here
this one right here and I'm going to
leave that one home all I'm going to do
with this is just kind of poke a hole
down in here and say this medium push
these cuttings down so they're secure in
the pot I'm going to do a whole group of
cuttings in a single container this
conserves on soil it conserves on space
it conserves on water these do not need
a lot of room in order to write so we'll
take them back out of the pots later on
divide them out into individual
containers again I warn you do not get
the SAP on your finger like I just did
right here okay there we go all the
cuttings are struck now I'm going to
take them outside put them in a
partially shaded area of the water in
the pot to settle it down now this is a
bucket full of cuttings that I struck
back in February should be rooted pretty
well I see some sense of growth on top
so the first thing I'm going to do is
start to use the medium up here tip
these out of their pot go alright so
these are perfect see a little bit of
growth on the top a little bit started
they're really nice ruts dangling from
below this took me from February to
August so it's about six months it takes
to get these cuttings to strike here see
you now the next thing I'm going to do
is I have some buckets here gallon pots
I'm going to put them in individually
that again have a mixture of coconut
coir large chunk and some pro-mix
lift the mix a little bit so I can get
the rut started in there
you
material over-the-top
it's going to take about another six
months to get these to be a presentable
plant that you might be able to sell or
big enough to take it and put it out in
the field for those of you who are not
familiar with where vanilla comes from
then now that comes from an orchid
it's the bean pod of this orchid makes a
little yellow orchid flower the only
place in the world that has the
pollinating insects is southern Mexico
and Central America and so anywhere else
vanilla is grown it has to be done by
hand by human beings got some good root
growth on this one this is epiphytic
Clank means it grows in trees and so you
don't want to use a regular soil with
this nor do you need a whole lot of soil
there we are fully transplanted I'm
going to take them outside put them into
a partially shaded location put some
water down into the pots to settle
things down you can see here if you look
closely that I really only filled these
pots half to 2/3 of the way up again
this is an empathetic plant tree growing
plant does not require large amounts of
soil the soils just there
keep a little moisture around for it in
between the rains and to hold the plant
upright I'm leaving this space in the
pot because it helps shelter this
cutting so that it will probably take
off and grow a little bit better with
the pot around it to keep the Sun off
the bottom and to keep the moisture in
the container I've positioned the pots
on the eastern side of my nursery
benches
stuck just under the edge this is an
accomplished a couple of things one that
they will be partially shaded getting
mostly only morning light but shade in
the afternoon when it's hot which is
what they're going to want and it'll
catch the moisture that falls for the
pots above when I'm watering so we kind
of get a double value out of our
moisture I'm going to go ahead and what
it easy it's all there is to it as
simple as vanilla custard and so that's
how you grow the vanilla orchid I'm
going to come back later on in the week
and I'll put some fertilizer in the
containers once everything's settled
down in there probably take me about six
more months maybe eight months to get
these up to size where I'll go ahead and
start moving them out to the field or
selling em to the neighbors who might be
interested in growing vanilla growing
vanilla is kind of fun and I really
enjoy working with the orchids but I'm
telling you hand pollinating those
little flowers with a toothpick oh yeah
it's a lot of work buzz buzz buzz and so
just remember when working with Anela
orchids as soon as you're finished go on
into the sink get some soap and water
clean your hands clean your arms and so
on is the juice from these is not
friendly and it will leave welts on you
happy gardening enjoy your vanilla even
if it's in a bottle