The Tropical Fruit Forum

I agree, I have never had them go after any of my eugenias. Their favorites at my place are citrus, papaya,  and my poor frangipani, that get just covered if I don't stay on top of them.

I have what seems like a zillion feet of vanilla orchid growing in my greenhouse.  I actually just ripped out a whole garbage  bag full.  So it can be kind of weed-like under the right conditions...
They will climb up anything (some are growing up a fake cement tree), attach themselves very firmly and then send roots down to the ground.  So really, the bottom of the plants don't need to be in ANY soil, bark, etc, but I do start them in a 5 gallon nursery pot with small orchid bark, for convenience.  Then I can move them if I want, before they become permanently fixed to something.
Mine seem to bloom only in almost full sun.  The blooms are only good for a day, and I spend a lot of time cussing when I find wilted ones.  Once they set buds, check several times a day. We are at 2,800 ft, so the sun up here is VERY hot and burns them if they are in totally full sun in the greenhouse, but they do well in very very light shade.
As to care, I keep the ground around them, where the roots bury themselves, moist, and spray them every few days, especially wetting the roots that are above ground.  I am pretty lazy about fertilizing.  I might get more flowers if I was more diligent.  Whenever I fertilize my other orchids, every month or so, I do the vanilla also, with just dyna-gro diluted to about half strength.  I soak the ground where the roots have burrowed with it.  The roots will fan out underground for quite a ways. I spray the plants too, but not sure if that actually does anything other than give them a bath.
If you zoom in on the picture you can see the roots attached to the cement tree.  (Ignore the cinnamon tree leaves in the foreground...). The blue and yellow things on the fake tree are the nest box doors for my little parrots.  Every so often I have to rip some vanilla away so they can get in.

Good luck!
Carolyn

If they are still feeding off their cotyledons they don't need any fertilizer. Once the second set of true leaves appears, I fertilize with a complete synthetic fertilizer with a 3-1-2 ratio (so it could be 3-1-2, 9-3-6, etc) cut down to about 1/2 or 1/3 of the recommended strength.

Carolyn

I have "accidental" ground covers of Typhonium roxburgii (dwarf voodoo lily) because I re-use the potting soil and I can never find the tiny corms. 

I also get a lot of Gynura procumbens (longevity spinach) and Talinum triangulare (African waterleaf) because they creep, and go everywhere.

The floor of my greenhouse is covered with Tradescantia pallida (Moses in a Boat), which I can't seem to get rid of.  A piece fell out of a pot over a decade ago, and now I am ripping it out a couple of times a year by the garbage bag full.

I would love to try some of the ones you listed, Elouicious, especially the creeping raspberry!

Carolyn

Ha! No, the global destruction will be caused by the mosquitoes, for sure! 

Leave the post so others benefit from what you guys discovered. Maybe change title to say it ISN'T legit...
And thanks for the tip on Lams!!! I will check it out next time I am in the area.

Carolyn

Don't give up. They require patience.
You started them early enough, they just need lots of time before they set fruit. 
Sorry, I'm not in Florida, but when I plant them in the spring in Idaho they don't set fruit until September. 
They put on lots more fruit in hotter weather, and they like full sun, so you should have a bumper crop in a few months.

Carolyn

Yes, there are a zillion micronutrients in it!

I have gotten the same thing when I prune the taproot.

When is the best time of the year to sow these seeds?

As soon as you receive them. In pots. Then plant out, if your climate allows it, or keep in large pots. Mine are in 25 gallon pots in my greenhouse.

Carolyn

Vanilla is an orchid, so the dust that passes for seed would take years to grow out. Cuttings are the way to go!

I don't have too many but would love to add to my collection. I currently have -
Black pepper
Vanilla (planifolia)
Grains of Paradise
Ginger
Cinnamon
Tamarind