Miltonia fragrance conditions
 

I have a blooming Miltonia spectabilis. If I lean close, within a foot, I can smell the licorice-ish smell that it's known for. I personally feel like it smells like a flat Pepsi, or actually just some generic floral smell with a teeny bit of spiciness that gives it a different impression.

But if I stand 3 feet away, it's barely perceptible, and any further away is an occasional subjective whiff that I couldn't even directly attribute to it. It's certainly not "a room away".

One website said the blooms last a month in a dark, cool place, but at least in my little impromptu experiment it seems to smell a bit stronger with LED light on it than with just indirect morning light in a corner of the room.

This is my one and only Miltonia, recently bought.

Does anyone have any suggestions for when the fragrance is "activated"? Is it day fragrant or night fragrant? Does it need low temps or intermediate temps (I tried turning on and off my A/C, and it doesn't seem to affect anything)? Would high humidity help? Maybe I need more fertilizer?

Morning, high humidity, in direct sunlight.

You know what? I was just about to go to sleep, turned off all my lights except for a warm night light, and got this strong smell of shampoo, like someone just stepped out of the shower. Except no one took a shower. It's weird. Up close, it's a bit grassy, nothing special, not anything like my Sharry Baby or Encyclia radiata where you could instantly tell where the smell is coming from. But take a few steps back, and I got this sweet musk, almost like a Head & Shoulders smell permeating through half the room. Not overpowering. It's almost ephemeral. If I don't focus on it, I feel like I'm imagining it. It's not sharp, there's almost no top note; it doesn't linger either. It's like it's entirely a middle note.