Comment est devenu mon pied de vanille 3 ans après sa plantation

Arnaud, le spécialiste français de la vanille, vous explique comment va évoluer le pied de vanillier 3 ans après sa mise en terre.

Ici, c'est un pied de vanille de Madagascar. Contrairement au gingembre de Madagascar, la vanille va mettre 5 ans à devenir adulte et le premier va mettre qu'un an.

1 - HOW DOES A VANILLA TREE GROW IN A VANILLA PLANTATION?

The vanilla plant is native to tropical and equatorial regions.
High humidity and temperatures are conducive to its growth.
Ideal conditions include a temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius and a soil rich in organic materials.
The addition and regeneration of a healthy humus basis will facilitate the liana's growth.

Approximately 1.5-meter-tall cuttings are planted on a stick; in plantations, a live stake is often used (filao type, candle wood).
The vanilla tree's roots will extract from the earth the nutrients essential for its healthy growth.
Additionally, the adventitious roots help the plant to adhere to the support and absorb the available moisture on the stake.

To shield the vanilla tree from direct sunlight, the plantation should include shade plants.
In many vanilla farms, incorporating banana trees, coconut palms, and exotic plants may produce an ideal atmosphere (stabilizing the soil).

2 - THE PRIMARY FLOWERS OF THE VANILLA TREE

Typically, the first blossoming occurs after three years.
When the blooming time occurs in the nation of production, one might remove some of the vanilla tree's shade to induce heat stress.
The heat stress will permit the accelerated blossoming of the vegetation.
A water deficit over the same time period might also cause the plantation to blossom early or globally.

3 - HOW TO POLLINATE A VANILLA FLOWER ?

Here are the three stages for pollinating vanilla flowers properly:

Support the flower with your left hand by placing one finger beneath the corolla (flower's center). Tear the labellum with a thorn from a lemon or orange.
To conceal the rostellum (the stigma that divides the stamens - the female organ) behind the anther, we use a lemon tree thorn (male organ).
Finally, the stigma is brought into contact with the thumb by applying pressure.

In producing nations, these duties are often reserved for women.
They are referred to as "matchmakers" because, during fertilization, they link a male and female organ.
A skilled "marieuse" is capable of fertilizing over 1,500 vanilla blooms every day.

The vanilla bean will attain maturity after 2 months of waiting.
After eight or nine months, the pod will be ripe (without vanilla flavor).

Vanilla blossom flower

1. HARVESTING THE VANILLA PODS AND MATURING

After collecting vanilla pods at their peak maturity, the Bourbon method is the most prevalent.

Here, you may learn the many methods required to dry a vanilla bean.