Getting Phalaenopsis to emit scent

[aliceinwl]

Are there any tricks for getting a potentially fragrant Phalaenopsis to produce scent? I bought a Kaoda Twinkle (it was actually labeled) at Trader Joes a couple months ago. I recently saw it mentioned in a Miss Orchid Girl video as a fragrant phal, but I can't detect even a hint of scent from mine. I'm assuming these are all clones, but maybe fragrance can still vary?

[camille1585]

Some orchids are scented only at a specific time of day. Usually with Phals the scent is strongest mid day, and more noticeable when it's warm. Also, I have several scented Phals, but compared to other types of scented orchids (Oncidiums, Cattleya...) Phal scent is very faint. You have to be pretty close to it to notice.

And yes, there can be variation in scent, it can depend on the plant cloned from...

[MrHappyRotter]

Did your tag have a clonal name listed and is it the same clone as the YouTube personality? Fragrance varies from clone to clone, especially with these kinds of complex hybrids. Schilleriana can certainly have a lovely and decently strong scent (as can several other species in your Phal's background), but in my experience, most cultivated schills don't seem to be fragrant at all, it's really only a few very select clones like Pink Butterfly that are. Your cross is about 50% schilleriana which is why I bring that up.

And, not to dig on the person in that video too much, but she's there to get ad revenue and/or attention. Exaggeration and over the top reactions are common tools these folks use to get views. It's possible your expectations have been manipulated a bit.

As Camille already mentioned, some Phals are only fragrant or most fragrant for a short duration at specific times of the day: mid-morning to early afternoon is your best bet. Stick your nose right up to the flowers a few minutes after you turn off all fans and reduce air movement so that if the scent is faint you still have a chance of detecting it. I wouldn't go so far as to agree with the statement that Phal scents are faint, many of them are strong enough to fill a room and there are too many exceptions where they are strongly scented to make a general purpose statement like that. However, in the case of this hybrid, that's probably going to be an accurate statement.

Unfortunately you didn't tell us how you grow the plant, what your growing conditions are like, or what region you live in, so the rest of this is just a general guide and may or may not apply to your situation.

The main factors for good fragrance production in a healthy plant like this are light, heat, and humidity. Keep your plant very warm now that it's in bloom (75F+ during the day) and elevate the humidity (60%+). Remember where many of the species in this hybrid's background come from (hot & humid jungles). As for light, I know this is a phal, but it still does best in bright light near the high end of its preferences. The plant may grow and bloom fine in lower light situations, but fragrance production may cease entirely in shadier conditions. Also, if you're growing under lights, you may want to try growing under lights and growing next to a window. Something about natural sunlight really sparks their natural circadian rhythm in a way that LEDs and even fluorescent lights just don't seem to be able to fully emulate. Finally, if the flowers and spike are already at least a couple months old, maybe they've aged too much. And if you bought the plant in bloom, it's possible that it was just a young plant or that it was forced into blooming before it was ready. Give it good care for the next year or two and then when it blooms next, naturally and under your care, you might find that it's more fragrant.

[aliceinwl]

Thanks! That's a lot of great information. Mine are on a windowsill in my home and I can't really manipulate the temperature and humidity, but I'll try to move that one into a brighter location. I do have a NOID that looks like Jiaho's Pink Girl that did emit a faint but really nice scent while it was in bloom.

I don't think that the specific clone was mentioned in the video and I re-checked the label on mine and I think there might be a typo. Mine says:
1-24-17-1.7 L
GAODA TWINKLE BK/W-LIP 624

Does one of these numbers indicate the clone?

Lately a lot of the phals showing up in the grocery and hardware stores have been labeled which is nice! It sounds like none are likely to compete with my Bratonia in the scent department. I bought it for the flowers (which had no scent) but now that it's reblooming I can smell it as soon as I enter the room.

[aliceinwl]

Quick update, my Twinkle still doesn’t smell, but I bought the orchid below because I liked the flowers and it surprised me by being fairly strongly scented. It’s a NOID, but It’s one of my favorites now :-) I didn’t notice it smelled until we accidentally left the heat cranked up in our office, but even at normal room temperature in the afternoon its smell is readily detectable.

[Mountaineer370]

Oh, that's a pretty one! The fact that it is fragrant is a nice bonus.