Pollinating a vanilla flower

Best way to learn how to do this is to pick the first flower in the morning when it's fully open to practice on it. This is a vanilla pompona flower, but it's nearly identical to vanilla planifolia and the parts and procedure are the same.


I've cut off the outer petals off one side of the flower so you could see the indicated parts.

Using a wooden toothpick, grasp the pollen end of the flower in one hand and lift the rostellum flap backward with the toothpick so that...


it rests just under the anther cap.


While still holding the rostellum flap down, grasp the anther cap with the pollen and press it into the hollowed, sticky area (stigmatic cavity).


Firmly hold the pollen to the cavity for a few moments.

Don't worry if you mangle the outer parts of the flower during pollination--they will wilt, turn brown and eventually fall off anyway. The column (stiff white tubelike part that has the stigmatic cavity at one end and goes to the flower stem at the other) will be the only part that stays alive. This will eventually be the vanilla pod with seeds inside (if you have successfully pollinated the flower). If pollination was not successful, the entire flower will fall off the stem within a few days.


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