Vanilla, Page 1 of 3
(note: this plant was labeled as v. planifolia, but after seeing it grow, bloom and produce pods, I strongly suspect it is v. pompona!) People seem to be very interested in vanilla orchids and how the vanilla beans (pollinated vanilla flower pods) happen. It appears that my vanilla planifolia vine has reached the stage where it will produce flowers, so I will attempt not only the involved process of producing edible vanilla beans, but to document the entire process here. Wish me luck!
(1-10-99) What I thought was a new offshoot of the vanilla plant on one side of the vine, but may be buds in formation (PS: it is)
(1-10-99) Looks like one or two vanilla flower buds on the other side of the vine. I broke off the leftmost leaf that was "cradling" the buds in order to be able to photograph them more clearly.
(1-26-99) Same cluster, definitely flower buds.
(2-19-99, about 8:30 a.m. on a cool, overcast day) The first flower has opened. I've read that v. planifolia is self-pollinating (it doesn't need a 2nd flower), but in the absence of natural pollinators must be pollinated by hand. The pollen is rather hard and mealy (not fluffy like many garden flowers), so "tickling" the flower with a Qtip isn't likely to work, in my opinion. I've also read that the rostellum (flap) must be lifted in order to press the anther to the stigma to kick things into gear, so to speak. I haven't seen any good diagrams of this process and flower parts and it's difficult to describe without actually seeing the inside of the flower close-up.
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