Post #2041729

Replies (2)

• @InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 2026-05-03 14:54

  OP's write up makes them sound fussy, but it's not the full picture. In their native habitat, surrounded in the natural conditions in which they and their pollinator evolved, these plants grow to enormous sizes and bloom just fine on a regular basis (usually annually or bi-annually). In cultivation, their native pollinator doesn't exist (unless you happen to live in just the right geographic location with the correct climate). We're asking them flower prematurely on an accelerated schedule without giving them the exact conditions they'd have in nature. So we have to resort to tricks to get them to bloom (on our schedule) and having to do the hand pollination because the species that normally handles that work doesn't and can't live there. OP's plants are, in a sense, small and young compared to what you'd find in nature. Basically like bonsai'd teenagers. Old enough to bloom, but not fully mature. Stunted in size because you don't really have the space for them to grow to their natural proportions. It's actually not all that unusual for flowering plant species to have one specific pollinator. Other critters may visit the flowers, but they don't have the right equipment or behavior to actually complete the pollination. Orchids are notorious for this. The entire family of plants have unique reproductive parts such that pollination is a little trickier than for something like a dandelion or a cactus. Also, Vanilla isn't just a single type of plant, there are numerous species of Vanilla. If I recall correctly, some species can even self-pollinate. It's just that those aren't the ones that are very good for the extract industry.

  Open ##2041733

• @stiephelando@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-05-03 05:34

  In the wild they are pollinated by bats I believe. But those bats only live in the native range of the vanilla orchid.

  Open ##2041734