After two months of flower fecundation, the pods start to appear, but it’s only after 9 months that they are ready to be harvested.
But first, before all that, you need to assure plants do not die attacked by plagues while avoiding touching the Vanilla’s sap, which can irritate human skin.
The part used by humans is the fruit, which comes after the flower. The flowering phase is only available upon 6 days top. If the pollination process is not successful, flowers can’t create Vanilla’s large and thin pods with a strong sweet smell. Those are the ones actually needed.