What is Murphy’s Vanilla, you ask? It’s when Murphy’s Law meets your vanilla plants.
Let me explain.
You see, back in very early January, I bought a vanilla vine cutting and placed it in a pot to root — as plenty of sites about vanilla assured me it would easily do. But as of last week, it was still showing no signs of rooting and the stem & leaf were starting to look more than a little wilted and sad. I therefore assumed I had doomed the poor cutting by trying to root it during the middle of winter and I went looking for — and ordered — an already-rooted little plant to replace it. Even paid for the little warming pack to ship with it so it wouldn’t get too cold on its way here.
Here’s my new little vanilla plant:
But I didn’t completely give up on my original cutting and moved it into a covered sprouting tray where the humidity could be kept up, kept the damp moss tucked around each node on the stem, and placed the tray directly in front of a little greenhouse heater I have running in my plant room to keep it slightly warmer than the rest of my house.
So what happens?
Of course, my original cutting starts sprouting a root — finally!
Now I don’t know if it just took that long to sprout or if the extra heat was the key, but Murphy just had to make it happen after I ordered another, didn’t he?
Ah, well. If one vanilla orchid is good, two has to be better, right?
But for anyone else trying to root a cutting, I do recommend plenty of warmth — and patience!