Establishing Orchard

Agriculture > Spices > Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia)

Crop Management

Vanilla garden is established by planting either 1m long vine cuttings or rooted cuttings raised in polybag or tissue culture plantlets secondary hardened to attain at least 30 cm height. If shorter cuttings/plantlets are used ,the juvenile phase would be longer. Care should be taken to use cuttings collected either from nurseries or juvenile unflowered portion of vine from a garden as yielded/over matured part of vanilla vine may not sprout properly. The ideal time for planting vanilla is when the weather is neither too rainy nor too dry. Planting is usually done during August - September , mostly the period between South West and North East monsoon.

Vanilla is highly amenable to organic cultivation. Decomposed organic matter, bonemeal, rotten cow dung, compost, fermented cakes etc. can be used as manure for vanilla at least twice in a year i.e.,during June-July and September –October. Adequate irrigation is to be provided for better vegetative growth of the plant during the initial two years of establishment. From the third year onwards, irrigation is to be provided immediately after the period of blooming.

The support trees may be pruned to form an umbrella shaped appearance about 1.5–2 m above the ground. This is to give better shade and protection to the growing vines. The vines are allowed to grow upto a height of 1.2 –1.5 m. Then they are trained horizontally on the branches and coiled round the standard. Bending of vines in this manner helps in accumulation of carbohydrate and other flower forming materials beyond the bend and to induce flower production at this portion of the vine.