See the way vanilla is grown here in shadenets.. and see the support structure for vanilla.

We have used Casurina as tree pillar support for the vines. Usually the use of dead wood like Teak, Iron wood Glyricidia can also be employed for vanilla staking. We take around 8-10 cm dia poles and teart them with a wood primer and coat the bottom with Bitumen before inserting them on the ground.

Wooden reapers of 2x 1 inches are used as top support to make a bridge between each vanilla vine and these are used for hanging the grown vine.

We are adding more images for the style of shade cultivation of vanilla.

Wood mulch has been employed in these 1 m wide beds. These shavings which are got from saw mills are to be leached with water and washed to remove tannins. After three to four washes the mulch is ready to be used. Normally mixing vermi compost - green composted manure to the mulch helps in root growth.

After two months you will see the root structure under vanilla to be around atleast 1 m in length with branches. Hair like growth on the roots cling to the wood shavings as a result.

One needs to add further compost and mulch in three month intervals.

Typically an house of 4000 sq.m of vanilla plantation can hold around 2000 production vines.