Selective Marriage

Annual and manual fertilization of flowers, from July to September: period corresponding to the cool and dry period.

The flowers are arranged in a spike, we speak of inflorescence.

The labellum protects the reproductive organs of the plant:

– the stamen which contains the pollen,

– the carpels which contain the ovules.

The flower is hermaphrodite (= both male and female), but it cannot self-pollinate because of the presence of the rostellum.

Vani growers will take great care to select only the most vigorous flowers. (These will result in fleshier pods)

During marriage, the pollen must be detached from the labellum, the rostellum must be raised artificially in order to place the pollen in contact with the stigma.

Thus “married” they will be the hosts of the mother vine for nine months, the time to transform into pods full of aromas.

FLOWERING

It takes an average of two to three years for the vine to produce its first flowers.

Yellow-green flowers are ephemeral.

They appear in blades (racemes of 10 to 12 buds) pointing to the emergence of flowers.

Up to three to four blades can be found per vine. The flowering is staggered over about three months for a period between July and September, once each year.

BREEDING

To obtain a vanilla bean, human intervention is necessary.

Fertilization can be broken down into three phases:

*The lip of the flower is lowered and torn using a stylus or small stick to release the column and the gynostemium.

*The rostellum is lifted using the stylus and placed under the stamen.

*Using the finger, pressure is applied to bring the pollen mass into contact with the stigma.

During marriage, the pollen must be detached from the labellum, the rostellum must be raised artificially in order to place the pollen in contact with the stigma.

On each blade, the flowers open one after the other. It is fairly rare to find, the same day,an.

After the flower is fertilized, its base lengthens and moves downwards: this is the formation of the vanilla bean.

You will have to wait 2 months for the dried flower to fall.

The pod has then reached its final size. But it is only after the tenth month that the pod reaches full maturity.