Vanilla bean houseplant

[Ross Koning]

At 2:21 PM -0400 8/18/97, Bill Hintz wrote:
>I want information on the vanilla bean as a house plant and how viable
>the bean is?

Vanilla planifolia is a succulent orchid best
described as a vine.  It prefers high humidity
and reasonably bright light.  The plant flowers
in the winter in CT-USA in our greenhouses.
The flowers require hand-pollination under these
conditions to produce the fruit sometimes known
as a vanilla bean.  These take awhile to develop
and then must be dried/fermented/processed to make
the item sold as a vanilla bean in spice shops.

I have never gone through the whole process, so
I'm not sure what it would take, but I buy my
vanilla from the grocery...a bottle lasts "forever."

ross

_______________________________________________________________
Ross Koning                 | koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department          | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA   | fax: 860-465-4479
____________________________|__________________________________