PREPARING THE VINES FOR CROPPING.
If the plants have done well they should be ready for such preparation in about eighteen months, more or less, according to the season. Formerly in this colony they were allowed to grow on until a spell of dry weather set in prior to the usual blossoming time. The growing ends were then cut off and all new shoots removed as they showed till flowers began to come or till the season for them was past. When the dry spell proved a long one, this seemed to answer pretty well; and, indeed, under these circumstances flowers would come in any case, whether growth was checked or not. But now it is more usual to stop the growing ends some nine or ten months, in the first instance, before flowering time. In the majority of cases the terminal bud will push, and this new shoot should also be removed when 5 or 6 inches long—not earlier, else the next to the last bud is apt to grow.
After the second checking most vines will shoot far enough back to allow of the shoots being left. These grow on for the next year, and the stopped branches hang down with their lower ends a good foot or more from the ground, being generally from 4 to 6 feet in length, according to the heights of the forks through which they are hung and the positions of the new shoots, though these generally spring just before the last bends of the checked branches, which are to be the cropping parts. The new growths behind these are supposed to drain them of their sap, and thus conduce to flowering. However that may be, these checked hanging branches have certainly more tendency to flower than other parts of the vines. Flowers take some six weeks to develop from the moment they burst through the buds to their time of opening, but this period varies in length with the weather, continuous dryness retarding and moderate showers hastening their development when once started.
The growing branches of vines should now be checked again for the following year’s crop. These will be less troublesome in putting out inconvenient shoots, as the plant’s sap is more apt to go into flowering branches, where nourishment is now more needed. Could the whole work be performed in a few days, this change in the direction of sap flow should be done preferably ten days or a fortnight before flowers begin to open. In a large plantation, unless the hands are very numerous or the shoots have been arranged beforehand so that there is little else to do than cut their ends, it will take some weeks to accomplish this, and therefore work must begin earlier or finish later. If the dry spell necessary for flowering has lasted a good while and can fairly be depended upon to continue long enough, the growing ends may be cut earlier; but it must be borne in mind that if rain in quantity comes too soon and, in addition to the stimulus given by it, the branches intended for flowering have also the sap from previously growing shoots poured into them, the chance of their cropping well will be much diminished. Many a promise of a fine crop is ruined by too early rain here. The country, climate, and the planters’ skill as a weather prophet must govern this undertaking.
An abundant supply of leaf mold should be in readiness for laying on the roots at this season, and should be applied when flowers begin to open, or a little before. If previous dressings have been so timed that vines are in a somewhat starved condition when flowering is expected, the chances of a good blossoming are increased, but this practice needs judgment, or a poor quality of pods will be the result.
There used to be a story current here, no doubt with some grain of truth in it, to the effect that in a very wet season the only vanilla planter who had any crop was one whose pigs had got adrift in his plantation and spent the night in grubbing up vanilla roots. This method of producing flowers is not recommended, but it is quite possible that careful and systematic root pruning might be carried on with advantage in wet years, if one could tell beforehand when these were coming.