Would vanilla survive with the lack of hummidity?

We get 3 solid months of humidity, but I really don't know if that's enough. I've always wanted to try growing vanilla on an east facing house wall. It's certainly something nobody else does here that I know about. There are some people on ebay that sell cuttings, which is the only way they can be propagated. Maybe I'll order some and give it a try.

From having read many posts on different forums it appears that many people have lost their outdoor vanilla in some of the warmer parts of Florida during their winters. They're not tolerant of low temperatures. Humidity is another important factor. They like all year humidity and tend to cope best if it only goes low for parts of a day rather than days (or weeks) on end. Pollination is another problem, you need to have the right pollinator, otherwise you have to do it by hand at the right time during the day. That's why (genuine) vanilla is so expensive. It's always worth a try though, provided you don't have too high an expectation. Cuttings are cheap and easy to get.

Also, the vanilla vine does not take to being moved around very well. It is best suited to place in its' permanent location. Extorting blooms is a difficult task and as Tropicbreeze said, pollination is a challenge.

I kept a vanilla vine for a few years with no sign of blooms. I found it was also a slow grower under these conditons. I gave it to a neighbor that grows orchids. Perhaps she will be more successful than I was.

I would encourage you to experiment if you are interested and hope you will share your results.

Hardy Kiwis is a vine that should work in zone 9

They generally don't flower til they get quite long. Mine were first planted up against palm trees and soon disappeared about 10 metres up. One got dislodged by a falling palm frond and hung right back near ground level. It had flowers on it. I don't have the natural pollinator here but I didn't worry about manual pollination. Because pieces of vine break off now and then, I've always got pieces to place around other parts of the garden. One I put against a 3 metre tall tree stump. It flowered last year and I could see the flowers from ground level. Needed a ladder to get a photo though. Maybe I'll try to hand pollinate one day when I get time but they're an interesting plant regardless.
This is one heading up into a palm.

Wow, I had no idea this is what it takes to provide me with 1 ounce of vanilla for baking. Amazing. No wonder a recipe calls for just 3 drops.

@tropicbreeze, that is very cool, watchout for the giant if you climb up.

Ha! Jack!

That is very cool. The pic showed up in both posts, by the way.

Horntoad said:
USDA shows 237 species of Rubus ( blackberries ) and I only counted 11 that were listed as introduce, the rest are native.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/pr...

Here in southern Oregon we have the Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) It aggressively displaces native plant species and many of our native blackberries are disappearing. http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLAN...

I agree with Hardy Kiwi. Also Muscadine grapes may work as well. Elderberry gets pretty high but can be cut back every year. It should work on the north side in your area.

I have heard of raspberries and blackberries getting wwwaaaayyyy out of control In the Phx area - I wouldn't recommend them.

I do recommend some of the Passifloras - passion fruit, of course.

Date palms, date producing, but otherwise not my favorite plant.

You may want to balance your fruit tree needs with water needs - lots of fruit trees will grow there but need outrageous amounts of irrigation in order to do well - apples, a lot of the citrus, apricots, etc. Not sustainable, IMO (and keep in mind that my opinion differs greatly from many people in that area).

I also concur on the humidity needs of the vanilla - there was a poster on DG who built a glass case for his just to maintain the humidity - and I *think* he was in Alabama?

Did you know that the Mesquite tree pods were ground for flour? They're ever so slightly sweet, too.

I would Google "Native Seeds/SEARCH" down in Tucson - they are likely to have good info on their seeds for food production. Seeds of Change also provide a lot of desert/ desert adapted plant seeds, as does J.L.Hudson, seedman.

Hope this is helpful!