Claude is Sprouting Again

A couple days ago there was just the one new leaf sprouting.  Now we've got three going at one time.  A couple of the other cacao plants are also having new leaves.  I'm going to blame it on having a nice window to grow next to.  Every day we open the blinds and they get a bit of sun and nice light throughout the day.

Now all I have to do is make the area also productive for the vanilla to start growing better and make some beans.  They're already long enough to start flowering but haven't had the right conditions to do so.

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Moving Cacao Tree

Moving this guy will be a small feat.

First thing to do is to wrap the pot, dirt and all in plastic wrap so the soil doesn't move too much during transport.

Next I will need to figure out some kind of support for the trunk and leaves.  One suggestion was to wrap it loosely in paper or plastic but I think I will end up having someone hold the tree steady during transport.

To transport it I will put it on it's side and angled up a little so that it will be able to fit in the car.  It's now 4'3" tall from the dirt up, pot included it's right at 5' even.  Just think about trying to get a person in a car without bending their hips or legs.

Of course the plant will need to be upright as soon as possible so that it will be ok.

When I got the vanilla orchids they were mailed to me.  They came wrapped in paper with other paper wadded up and put between the leaves.  If I tried that it would be a lot of work for just the one tree for transport.  Also no guarantee that it would not shift around while moving.  The little yellow pot is going to be simple in comparison as well as the dozen other pots in the back of the office.  They will need to be moved to the apartment though probably.  Not nearly as much space in the new place.

Vanilla Loves Humidity

I was reading up on how much cacao trees were selling for since I talked with my boss about what to do with the trees that are growing in the office and I said I sold one and gave others away to people who wanted them.  He asked how much I sold one for (about $25).  I remember looking it up before and seeing ranges anywhere from $45 to nearly $200 for larger trees.  When I looked again the range has dropped a little but still sits in the $30 to $140 range.  Some of the places are currently out of trees and some close for winter.  Any way you look at it though I'm sitting on a couple thousand dollars worth of trees in various stages of growth.

To the topic of this thread though, in among all this cacao growing I have several vanilla orchid vines.  We've had a humidifier for a while now and with summer coming up it isn't needed at home so I took it up to work to humidify the orchids.  They totally love the extra humidity!  Which is what got me on to talking about cacao in the first place.  I was reading that someone insisted cacao wanted a humid environment.  I have not found this to be the case at all.  Some trees really do love the humidity.  The typical office ficus is one such tree and will actually grow roots on its branches to soak up the extra moisture.  These vanilla orchids too love humidity and in only a week the roots along the vines have exploded with new growth.  Leaves are poking up in new locations too, taking advantage of the extra moisture.  It doesn't hurt that I've clumped the vines in a central location just over where the humidifier is pointing.  Occasionally I can see whisps of vapor coming through although I have kept it turned down so it doesn't waste water. Dripping off of the leaves to the floor doesn't help anything.

The vanilla as well has greatly increased and I could probably make cuttings and have 3-4 times as many plants as I started with.  Not worth nearly thousands but a couple hundred or so.  The real value in a vanilla orchid though is of course the vanilla beans.  A well cared for vanilla bean can be worth many times over the cost of the vine which can easily produce 50 beans a year on a healthy vine. Say you have 20 vines and you're looking at $10,000 in beans rather than paying that at the grocery store.  I already have people wanting beans for commercial bakeries when they start producing.  Vanilla is one of those products that has more demand than supply and all you can do it try to grow more.

Cacao Tree March 2020

Moved the big guy up front so the smaller plants could get a little more light.  He's still producing pretty big leaves though.  The one right in the middle is nearly done growing and will pop up soon but every time he makes a new leaf I'm amazed at how much bigger it is than last time.  You can easily tell the progressive size of the leaves as well.  The leaves near the bottom of the trunk are the original leaves as seen in it's earliest pictures.  Eventually they'll turn brown and fall off but hasn't happened yet.

It's already looking like it needs a bigger pot but I'm going to hold off a little until it makes a few more leaves.  Probably May or June before I repot.

The vanilla on the other hand seems to have stopped growing quite as fast.  Still a little growth here and there but it's slowed dramatically.  The other cacao trees have slowed as well.  probably more a note on how I need to water more regularly and in easy to use quantities.  They definitely do like the more light areas in the office.  Some places need bulbs to be replaced and the plants near those areas are less happy with their location. Still have hope though.  Put one outside today with the nice weather.  Hopefully a little bit brighter day will kick it into growth mode.

Cacao Repotted

We finally repotted the cacao tree into its own pot as well as several of the new saplings about ten days ago. Finally getting around to posting it's progress though and it has also topped three feet tall!  This little guy has really taken off compared to the other trees.

Another couple of inches and I'll remove the box it's sitting on so it can have more room above it and it will still be fairly close to the overhead light.  I want to keep that as constant as I can as it grows up.

I think I see a small side leaf poking out about seven leaves from the top.  Hopefully this is the first sign of it branching out.  This should be happening about now, if not sooner.  Two of the other trees already have side branches and are much smaller than this one so I wan't sure what to expect.

It's still a long way off until we can expect any pods though. A minimum of four more years I would expect.  Before that time comes I should have already repotted this guy again in something twice as wide and at least a foot and a half tall if not two feet. Still thinking on that one. Aesthetics vs. root space.  We'll see which one wins out.  A shorter pot is usually more common in an office environment and would give it more room to grow up but a taller pot would give it more room for root support for the grownt I hope it gets.  Hard to decide until I see how it goes.

On the side there you can see the vanilla plants.  They've gotten so long I've draped one of them over the cubicle wall and the other one you can see the pot.  They're now nearly ten times the size from the time I got them.  Faster growing than expected for such a sub par environment.  I have been misting them with water though so maybe that's helped more than I thought it would.

Vanilla Orchid Progress

This is only one of my vanilla orchid pots that I got back in January.  They've tripled in size and are still growing.

To see just how fast that is I've decided to do a time lapse set.  I will be taking one picture a day for a currently unspecified time from about the same location and see how these little guys are really doing.

I have a newly acquired lamp shining on this on now so it can imitate getting better lighting  that it has been getting.  Maybe it'll help it grow a little faster and with larger leaves.  The current new leaves are significantly smaller than the ones it came with.  It's at least still growing though and faster than I figured it might.  The control pot is still just getting the office fluorescents. Really how can you tell if something really helps or not unless you have a control group.  This not only tells me if the extra light helps but if fluorescent light is good enough for growing vanilla orchids in general.  The light I'm using has three settings, off, low, and high.  I start and end (not including off) with the low setting for half an hour to mimic the sun rising and setting.  Unfortunately it doesn't move.  That's a bit more realism than I', willing to put the work into doing.

Pest Control

This little guy helps keep the fungus gnat problem under control.  Yeah they're still flying around a little but they're hardly noticeable any more.  He eats several a day and they try their best to keep up with what they lost.

Here he's hiding under one of the vanilla leaves.  His webs crosses between the pots and he goes out whenever something gets caught in his web.  So far no one is complaining about the gnats or the spider so I guess it's all working out for the best.

Some people would probably tell you to get rid of the spider, the gnats, and the fungus but a little fungus is good for plants and as long as the spider can keep the gnat population under control there shouldn't be enough larvae to be damaging the plants.  The plants seem happy and there's no signs of stunted growth.

Hygrometers (Humidity Meter)

Apparently I should have waited longer to see how humid it was getting.  The water wickers have been there for over a week but the hygrometer I just put there a few hours earlier.  Checking it later that day it had gotten to a little over 60% now it's a whopping 70%.  No wonder the orchids like it there.  It' a very localized humidity but that's exactly what they need.  Of course I'll need to change them out every week so they don't grow mold but that's a small price to pay to keep these babies happy.  I do think I'll be adding a third though. Although 70% is on the high side of normal, it's on the low side of what orchids prefer. 85% would be a sweet percent to be able to get to and really get these guys comfortable.

The humidity is still creeping up.  It says 71 now.

Inside humidity (Orchid Care)

Orchids need humidity and the winter time is about the worst time to try to keep it up.  It just seems to fall out of the air once it gets inside.
The relative humidity outside is at a nice 73% but it's at a temperature of 54°.  Once it gets inside that drops to 42% at a livable temperature of 72°.  Placing these wet containers with paper towels to wick up the water into the air have helped the humidity come back up to about 57% so far.  Not ideal but a lot better for these tropical humidity loving plants.  I might just have to add some more of these guys to further boost the moisture so these guys can thrive.

Vanilla Orchids

Vanilla orchids are tropical climbing orchids that can reach such lengths that you would probably cut it back before it reached its full potential.  Some say 80 feet while others claim hundreds of feet in length in its native habitat.

While typically considered a Mexican native, the USDA also shows it to be a Florida native.  Other sites say it has also been found to grow in Texas and California, of course only in areas of high humidity and mild climates.

Shown here are my two vanilla plants, recently acquired from a nursery out of Lewisville, Texas, Steve's Leaves.  As you can see I have placed some items that are releasing water into the air to keep them happy.  The one on the left is a cut out water bottle bottom with paper towel bits layered to stand up a it and water poured in.  The other is a cotton crochet cloth.  The many holes and twists give it plenty of surface area to evaporate water from.  So far we're on week 2 and they seem healthy enough. During the week I place them in a box lined with plastic overnight to give them a nice humidity bath.  So far so good.  They've already grown about three inches since they arrived.  I plan to find a cheap misting bottle soon so I can mist them in the mornings and early evening.  So far I haven't gotten them any plant food but I should look into that. As far as water, I've been using Ozarka natural spring water.  I don't want all the chemicals from the tap water on the plants.

The future plans for these guys is to set up an area where they will get enough humidity and light that they can really thrive.  Of course it would be great in time to be able to make my own chocolate from the cacao trees and vanilla plants, but that's still a ways off.