One of my favorite plants is the vanilla orchid and I am lucky to have a mature vanilla orchid in the Madagascar biome that flowers fairly regularly. When the vanilla orchid flowers, I hand pollinate each bloom in hopes of the resulting fruit – a vanilla bean!

Before getting into pollination, let’s cover some background information. Vanilla orchids are all in the Orchid family, Orchidaceae, they all fall within the genus Vanilla, and within this genus there are numerous species. Vanilla flavoring, the natural kind, comes from the bean shaped fruit of the vanilla orchid.

The orchid itself is unique; it is a semi terrestrial, vining, climbing orchid reaching heights of fifty or more feet in its native environment and it’s the only orchid that produces edible fruit. They thrive in bright shade and will not bloom until the vine is well established with a thick stem and good environmental conditions. Each flower lasts only one day and once the vanilla orchid starts producing flowers, pollination is the next step in the journey to a vanilla bean.

Pollination of vanilla orchids is its own interesting story. Vanilla orchids are native to Mexico and Central America, and in these locations, there is a tiny Melipona bee that is solely responsible for pollinating vanilla orchids. The Melipona bee is native only to the neotropics, and when vanilla is grown outside the Melipona bee’s native range, the flowers must be hand pollinated. So, when the vanilla orchid flowers are in the biome, I must hand pollinate.

Pollination of these orchids is a delicate task. First, I must check for flowers every day and pollinate early in the morning, as this was when flowers freshest and hand pollination is most likely to be successful. To pollinate, I tear back the petals to get a good look at the reproductive portion of the flower. Within the flower, there are the anthers which have pollen. This is the male portion of the flower. There are also the stigmata, which is the female portion of the flower. My job as hand pollinator is to get the pollen from the anthers to the stigmata. The tricky part about vanilla orchids is a protrusion in the bloom separating the anthers and stigmata called a rostellum. In nature, the rostellum prevents self-pollination, so the Melipona bee would visit one vanilla flower after another, transporting pollen from the anthers of one bloom to the stigmata of another. For hand pollination though, the rostellum is in my way. I use a small pointed wooden stake to gently push up the rostellum, which will flatten into place behind the anthers. At this point, I gently squeeze the anthers against the rostellum flattened behind it to secure everything in the new position. This is a delicate process and with too light a touch and rostellum doesn’t stay put, but too heavy a touch and the anthers are squeezed to bits. But with just the right pressure the rostellum no longer separates the anthers and stigmata allowing the pollen to transfer. Then, if pollination is successful, after about a week, the ovary, which is located directly behind the flower itself, will begin to swell. Over time, it will grow into a vanilla bean.

The beans take months to ripen, and when they begin to turn yellow at the tips it will be time to harvest. From there, there’s a curing and drying process which ensures the great vanilla taste we all know and love.