[kinderfeld]

Growing vanilla.

Vanilla Bean Plants - How to Grow a Vanilla Plant at Home

Vanilla Bean Plants (Vanilla planifolia) - How to Grow a Vanilla Bean Plant at Home - A vining orchid native to Mexico, vanilla bean is a popular spice

www.logees.com

 

[Wolf mom]

Lets not put the cart before the horse -

The dream greenhouse comes first....

 

[newfieannie]

i've made vanilla from the vanilla bean and vodka. all that stuff is gone sky high in price now. you dont really need the vanilla. i dont buy it anymore. i use kahlua or rum,maple etc. in place of it because i had plenty on hand when prices started to rise. also had plenty coffee and cocoa. as far as i know most things are still going to be available but cost more. at least that's what my son keeps telling me. ~Georgia

 

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

if you believe in climate change , then heating a green house big enough to grow coffee or cacao would make your carbon foot print look like that of 100 people.

you maybe use 2 pounds of coffee a week , and if that coffee comes in by train or ship you carbon foot print on a years coffee stays quite low.

the cost of 2 pounds of coffee even if you buy good stuff is 20 dollars a week your at 1040 dollars

the cost of a large greenhouse and the heat to keep it through the winter would be huge

it would make a lot more sense to order cases of coffee a few cases of cocoa , and a few bottles of vanilla extract or better yet stock up when it goes on sale.

now if your really worried about climate change first understand this , you get Lied to a LOT about climate change.

lots of fear marketing happening.

if you want to help climate change eat as much local food as you can , cut firewood and heat your home with dead wood , if you want to really go all the way use a handsaw to cut the wood and an ax to split it.

use as little electric and fuel as you can.

Reduce , reduce , reduce


do what you can reasonably to reduce your consumption of energy , ride your bike when you can , stuff like that

by the time these crops go extinct it first we will all be dead from natural old age , second even if they were to go extinct some how in 30 years and you are 60 long before coffee and cocoa go extinct , you will starve to death or if you have food and no one else does they will kill you and take it from numerous other food crop failures.

 

[Paumon]

I want to get a greenhouse to grow my own Cocoa, Coffee and Vanilla because I'm a chocoholic plus my dad is a coffee nut. As for Vanilla, We love baking with it.

But is it as practical to grow as is it fun to bake with the 3 ingredients?

They are not as practical to grow as they are fun to bake with but growing them can be a totally different kind of fun. Growing plants is much more fun for me than cooking and baking is and I enjoy cooking.

You may be able to grow those 3 kinds of plants in greenhouses if you choose the appropriate species of them that are possible for greenhouse growing in your growing zone. Do you know what a growing zone is and do you know what your own USDA growing zone is? Your profile doesn't say what state or community you live in, otherwise I'd look up your growing zone and maybe be able to tell you which species may be most suitable for your particular zone.

You cannot grow coffee, cocoa and vanilla orchids together in the same greenhouse, otherwise they will all die. They each need different climates, different soil and different growing conditions from each other so they each need to have a separate greenhouse of their own to suit their species-specific growing requirements. That means you'd need 3 separate greenhouses that are set up differently from each other and that are each climate controlled by you. The 3 greenhouses will also need to be a certain distance apart from each other to prevent cross-transmission of pathogens, bacteria, insects and fungi that are also species-specific.

You will have to do a tremendous amount of research about growing those kinds of plants and what their requirements are and then do lots and lots of careful planning and expensive setting up of equipment before you can start experimenting with growing those plants.

Edited to add: Have you considered the practicality of making your own essences out of cocoa, coffee and vanilla beans that you purchase and then process yourself for your cooking and beverage consumption?

Also, have you considered growing teas? You wouldn't need a greenhouse for that.

.

 

[Paumon]

I thought you might find this article interesting. It's about growing coffee plants in greenhouses where I live right here in my part of British Columbia. There's other information there too but I thought the information about how coffee plants are grown and the way the beans have to be processed would give you a bit of an idea of what's involved.

Growing coffee, tea, lemons and papayas in the Fraser Valley - Maple Ridge News

‘Anything that is grown anywhere on the planet we can grow’

www.mapleridgenews.com

On Vancouver Island there is a coffee plantation that grows their coffee trees outdoors and they grow mountain coffees, not low-land or valley coffees. I'd like to try growing a couple of coffee plants outdoors myself just because the plants and the flowers are so very beautiful. I don't care about getting the beans from them, unless they are fertile beans that I can plant and grow into more coffee plants. I'm a tea granny at heart so I mostly grow a variety of plants that are used for making medicinal teas and essences and for cooking with for flavouring.

.

 

[Rodeo's Bud]

I think reality will rear its head eventually.

Heck, I only have 5 acres. I barely have enough time to plant a garden and keep the blackberries at bay moat years. This year we didn't get a chance to prune the orchard.

I do work more than full time, so does my wife, which is how we afford to live here. So there is that issue as well.

I am all for dreaming big. But you need to start small. Imagine doing all this and realizing you don't even like to garden. It happens.

 

[boatswain2PA]

It is more practical to produce crops or products that are appropriate for you location, sell them and buy the products that don't grow easily in your area.

You mean....like....capitalism?

 

[Danaus29]

I want to grow cocoa, coffee and vanilla in a greenhouse because climate change will make those 3 crops extinct.

If "global warming" means the climate changes enough to make tropical regions too hot for those plants, you won't need the greenhouse in your location.

You can buy those plants and try growing them, but they are very expensive and won't produce enough for your needs.

Several stores carry cheap orchids which require care similar to vanilla bean orchids. If you can't get a cheap orchid to grow and bloom, you won't be able to get the vanilla orchid to grow and bloom. Even if it did bloom, you have to hand pollinate the flowers.

 

[wdcutrsdaughter]

There has to be a solution to the cocoa, coffee and vanilla problem.

For the coffee --- Dandelion Root.
I've been reading a lot about dandelion and all the books mention coffee substitute made from the root.
A lot of info online about this, so I won't provide a link, you can easily find info with a search if you are interested.

Managing expectations is more important than luxuries.

This is huge in all areas of life, I find. My memére used to say "if you don't expect, you won't be disappointed."
Also very true for establishing a homestead. And everything takes twice as long as you think it will.

i've made vanilla from the vanilla bean and vodka. all that stuff is gone sky high in price now. you dont really need the vanilla. i dont buy it anymore. i use kahlua or rum,maple etc. in place of it because i had plenty on hand when prices started to rise. also had plenty coffee and cocoa. as far as i know most things are still going to be available but cost more. at least that's what my son keeps telling me. ~Georgia

I agree that it is so expensive!! I am glad to hear you don't use it anymore - I'll follow your lead. Do you mean maple syrup when you say maple or does it have to have an alcohol in it to work properly? I'm curious about making it. I'm sure the bean is sky high now too, not sure where to get it actually.

 

[newfieannie]

sorry i probably didn't explain that properly. i use the vanilla bean and vodka for vanilla. the other stuff is just a substitute for vanilla for baking cakes,cookies etc.

 

[Jerryberry]

sorry i probably didn't explain that properly. i use the vanilla bean and vodka for vanilla. the other stuff is just a substitute for vanilla for baking cakes,cookies etc.

Ok.

 

[Paumon]

I can live without cocoa/chocolate, but I need coffee's most immediate anti-asthma and energy boosting health benefits for myself each morning and as long as vanilla orchids exist and vanilla extract can be produced I will continue to use it for its health benefits too. Vanilla has anti-neuroinflammatory effects as well as other health benefits that aid digestion and that is very important for seniors. Also vanilla isn't only used for flavouring foods, it's also used for changing flavours into other flavours that are more palatable. For example, if a bit of vanilla is added to certain types of seafoods that have no flavour or don't taste particularly palatable or good to start with, the vanillin in vanilla extract changes the flavour of the meat into something different and more pleasant. It also draws out and increases the flavours of certain foods.

To me those plants are important and I can totally understand Jerryberry's desire to grow them, I would want to do the same thing myself if they became unavailable on a commercial basis. Until that time comes I will buy them and will continue to support the people who go to so much effort to grow them for me.

.

 

[IceFire]

You will need more than one of each plant variety, if you're going to produce the product in any amount.

Depending on your location, you would need heated greenhouses (and for the cacao, one with enough height to accommodate the size of the mature trees. The cacao "beans" need to be fermented.

For the vanilla orchids, be prepared to pollinate the flowers by hand.

It takes a lot of coffee berries to make more than a cup. You'll need several plants.

All of the above products are VERY labor intensive. Also, if you can find the plants, they tend to be expensive. I do know of ONE greenhouse company that does sell the aforementioned plants. They are in Connecticut.

 

[Danaus29]

@IceFire, would that happen to be Logee's? My mom gets their catalog. We call it hardcore houseplant porn.

If I had a conservatory and money to spare, I would buy several plants from them.

 

[Paumon]

@IceFire, would that happen to be Logee's? My mom gets their catalog. We call it hardcore houseplant porn.

If I had a conservatory and money to spare, I would buy several plants from them.

Thanks for posting their name.

I just looked at their website. Fruiting, Rare & Tropical Plants for sale online at Logee’s! It has me drooling.

Now I need to find out if they ship to Canada.

.

 

[Danaus29]

Like I said, hardcore houseplant porn. I have a catalog tucked under my mattress.

 

[Forcast]

Geez big money. Guess you can find and order anything nowadays if you have the big money

 

[Forcast]

This site might have all the answers and step by step directions for your farm.

How to Grow Chocolate Indoors

If you're interested in having your own cacao tree (or "theobroma cacao"), try raising one inside your home. You'll have the best luck creating a humid, greenhouse-like environment for the plant, which will closely simulate the kind of...

www.wikihow.com

 

[Eutychus2]

The people who want to talk about everything except their experience growing the three beans should be banned.