Hi!
We just bought our house and found this potted plant in the old 'greenhouse' shed. The original potting medium was soil, it was in a 12-inch terra cotta pot, had decaying old leaves and pill bugs in it, and the top layer of soil had gray-blue mold on it. I clipped off all the leaves that looked sick or damaged with a disinfected clipper, but did not disinfect before each new snip. The roots were thin, very branchy, densely connected, and were very clumpy with the old soil, except for one or two thick main stalks of root. . I clipped off the moldy roots on the top layer, tried to gently shake out the old soil, and removed one part of the plant that sort of naturally separated so there wouldn't be such a density of leaves that collect too much moisture at the base of the plant. It is now in in a fresh 8-inch clay pot. The leaves are thick and meaty, and look almost more like a succulent than the images of other vanilla plants that I have been obsessively searching online. The leafstalks each have 2-3 leaves each. The vine stalks are thick but are brown and drier than other vanilla branch stalks that I see online.
Is this a vanilla orchid? I used a plant ID app to help me since I know next to nothing about plants, and decided to repot it in orchid bark after consulting a few gardening shop specialists.
My main concern is about these weird dark purple/black leaves. I'm not sure if they are a disease, or if that is just how fresh leaves look on this plant. The new growths are all purple too. There is a single full-size leaf that is very dark green/purple compared to the rest and I'm not sure if I should clip or let it live.
If anyone can please:
1) confirm vanilla orchid?
2) confirm correct care/potting medium?
3) advise on weird dark purple leaves?
I would GREATLY appreciate it!! I am low-key obsessing over what to do with this little plant!
Thank you very much!!!
