Nodosa with no fragrance help

[Louis_W]

Hey all,

I know we have discussed factors that control fragrance on here before, but I just thought I'd ask.about this one.

I just bloomed B. nodosa for the first time and I was looking forward to the smell more than anything. It has had three flowers open for a weak now and four more on the way, and it is a very healthy robust plant.

But the smell is very faint... I can detect it but only when I stick my nose in it. I've had the same problem with C. loddigesii as well, but C. tigrinas and the like have a powerful fragrance when they bloom for me.

Any ideas? Is it a cultural quirk I can fix? Both the nodosa and the loddigesii are popular named clones so it shouldnt be a genetic issue. I am aware that it should only be at night. I've tried after dark hours. Ive tried after all the lights are out and it's totally dark. Not getting much.

[Leafmite]

I had one of those (from Andy's Orchids). It bloomed often and the flowers were nicer than any other B. nodosa that I have ever seen but there was no fragrance at all. I kept it eighteen months, hoping that there would eventually be a fragrance as it was so vigorous and the flowers were great but...nope. I gave it to a member of my orchid society that does not like fragrant orchids and it is doing very well. It will probably win an AOS award someday....

I do have one that is fragrant. It does not bloom as often or with as nice of flowers but the perfume is divine....

[Louis_W]

It is a 3n (at least) and depending on current taxonomy it may be B. grandiflora. That may have something to do with it but that should be fragrant too.

I wonder if ploidy has anything to do with it? 3n tigrinas seem to be fragrant as usual...

[Ray]

Isn't nodosa primarily fragrant at night?

[Louis_W]

Originally Posted by Ray

Isn't nodosa primarily fragrant at night?

So I've heard

[Keysguy]

I have a specimen sized nodosa 'Mas Mejor' that I have had for years. The fragrance is not one of those 'in your face' type things. It's much more of a background sweet-spicey smell that is quite lovely.

Mine may have upwards of 100 or more flowers on it and it's fragrance is most noticeable right at dusk. If your plant has just a few flowers you're probably really going to have to stick your nose in it to smell i.

[Louis_W]

Mine is 'Mas Mejor' x 'H+R Tetra'

Do you think others are more fragrant and your cultivar is less so?

[Leafmite]

With roses and orchids, orchid shows put emphasis on the appearance of the flower and not the fragrance and that, then, leads to the scent not being important when trying to develop a prize-winning offspring.

I try to collect fragrant species but many of them are young when I get them so I have to grow them for a few years. It is always disappointing when they are not fragrant. It is pretty tough to get a fragrant Phal schilleriana (I am close to finding out if I succeeded there) and a fragrant Haraella rectrocalla (finally got one). I have not sniffed a fragrant Paph delenatii (mine probably will not be) but rumor has it some of those are fragrant.

[Jmoney]

I have a piece of 'Mas Mejor' and it is very fragrant at night (lights off for nodosa). This cultivar has been cloned and there is always a chance of variability. Louis, yours appears to be seed grown so I suppose there can be variance although this species is *supposed* to be fragrant at night to attract the moth pollinator. Have you been able to smell other nodosas?

[Roberta]

My B, nodosa is only fragrant at night. While it still is producing a few flowers (in the GH), its peak blooming is late summer when it is lightly fragrant at night (mostly when it's completely dark, warmth helps too). In summer it lives outside. Mine is a generic one... it is indeed possible that line-bred ones that favor size might give up fragrance.