PANILI : PART 2

Vanilla grows well on the shady or part shady areas.
Here, on tropical area, the plant is usually grown on the middle land or highland up to 1,200 meter from sea level.

This plant loves part shady, cool place, and fairy high humidity.
Vanilla needs soil that rich on organic stuff and good drainage.
We should avoid it from swamp or wet land area, cause it will get rotten soon.

We have to grow shading trees at the first, not just for it shades, but also to support this vines.
The main function of the shading trees are as a support to climb on and give a favorable temperature, humidity and sun shine.
There are some tree for the shading, but the three most popular are Gamal (Glyricidia sepium), Dadap (Erythryna sp) and Lamtoro.

These trees are members of family Leguminosae.
So... they also give more nutrition to the vanilla vine.
They can do symbiosis with Azotobacter to fixate nitrogen from the soil.
And the soil will rich on nitrogen for the plant's growth.

Farmer prefer to grow Glyricidia, cause this plant is a fast growing, strong and easy to grow.
It grows well by cutting, especially during the rainy season.
The leaves also great as a fodder for goats.

But... look this one...
The vanilla vine is climbing on the wall, so the side door of this barn have never opened already.
This is the forgotten seedling, that have been growing by itself and have found wall as the support.
I really love it...
It's really inspired to grow vanilla in my home garden without shading tree.
Cause shading tree will make my tiny garden looks so narrow.

OK... next we will talk about how to grow vanilla.
See you tomorrow and have a nice day with my vanilla.