Ended Official BYC 2023 Summer Fair Contest—Indoor Plant Show

[Ch1cken Tender]

Did y’all know vanilla comes from orchids?
I can’t wait to actually get some beans from this plant!!

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

This is my Art Nouveau orchid

 

[fluffycrow]

Did y’all know vanilla comes from orchids?

Yes

 

[mararva]

View attachment 3585302
This is my Art Nouveau orchid

Beautiful

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

Beautiful

Thank you!

 

[Kiki]

Did y’all know vanilla comes from orchids?
I can’t wait to actually get some beans from this plant!!

No!
I did not know this!
The vanilla bean thingies grow on an orchid plant?

 

[fluffycrow]

No!
I did not know this!
The vanilla bean thingies grow on an orchid plant?

Yes. But not the phalaneopsis

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

No!
I did not know this!
The vanilla bean thingies grow on an orchid plant?

Yeah! And (after a bit of research) I discovered that it takes roughly 6-8 months for the pods to ripen, and after that it takes 3-6 months to cure the beans by leaving them in the warm sun by day and a cool, dark place by night. THEN! It takes another 6-12 months to fully infuse the vodka they are paired with!! Not to mention, unless they are in one of the few places that have insects that pollinate vanilla orchids, each flower has to be pollinated by hand!

 

[fluffycrow]

Yeah! And (after a bit of research) I discovered that it takes roughly 6-8 months for the pods to ripen, and after that it takes 3-6 months to cure the beans by leaving them in the warm sun by day and a cool, dark place by night. THEN! It takes another 6-12 months to fully infuse the vodka they are paired with!! Not to mention, unless they are in one of the few places that have insects that pollinate vanilla orchids, each flower has to be pollinated by hand!

Do you happen to know what the most common method for hand pollination for them is?

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

Do you happen to know what the most common method for hand pollination for them is?

No… huh, I should look that up! I own over 50 orchids at home, and I’m working on cross pollinating a few. So I know how to pollinate Phalaenopsis and some other species like Miltonia and Dendrobium. But the actual method for Vanilla eludes me! I did find a YouTube video on it once though…