Help With Indoor Culture of a Few Stanhopea & Their "Smell"
 

Ok, so these flowers are not something I am drawn to really, but I am thinking of getting a few species.

I'm most curious about their winter temperature requirement and the scent.

Unfortunately, three that I would love to have require quite cool (almost cold) winter low average according to some search.
These are : embreei, anfracta, gibbosa,
I find the first two very beautiful and unique.
I read that embreei and gibbosa smell wonderful.
Regarding anfracta, though, some say nice, but many people say it is disturbing like bathroom cleaner with orange kick to it. So I might erase this one off.
Anyways, all these have winter low average of 40-50F.
There is no way I can provide this. The lowest I can go is about 65F, and this is the coldest winter night in my apartment.
I'm sure some plants might just flower regardless, but I'd like to hear from any home grower with similar temperature range as mine, and have success with these three.

Now, the next two are warm grower year around, so I'm definitely wanting them, but they both look similar in photos.
These are candida and reichenbachiana.
I believe the main difference is that reichenbachiana has a larger flower and the flower texture is very glossy.
I could not find much info regarding their fragrance.
Candida- wintergreen, winter berry (what the heck is winter berry??)
Reichenbachiana- sweet and spicy. Now, this is too abstract. It can be good, or terrible. lol
I also read one note saying winter berry, but this might be a mistake as I have seen people report candida as reichenbachiana?
They both have white flowers, and if they smell about the same, then I don't need them both.
I'm leaning towards reichenbachiana. I like shiny flowers.


For those who have these species, please help!
Many thanks! :)

No idea but good luck! I cannot wait to hear of your experience with them. :)

Reichenbachiana is one of my favorite Stans and it has a pleasant scent!

Here's a pic of my old flower: https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2531/...b3a10d50_b.jpgStanhopea reichenbachiana 10-25-2009 by Stephen Van Kampen-Lewis, on Flickr

I have personal experience with Stan wardii and tigrina, the latter of which I know needs some winter chilling to bloom. I grow them outside and my winter temps can get down to even the high thirties. I did have success blooming wardii indoors a few years ago but has steadily declined until I placed it outside a year ago. It has done fine since. The only stanhopea that I keep indoors now is tricornis, which needs similar conditions to reichenbachiana. The care between the three general temperature groups of stanhopeas are very similar: medium light and consistently moist. The warm group is generally more sensitive to underwatering and humidity as leaves will come up curled if the plant is allowed to dry too much or if humidity is under 45%. If given low light, like what is usually recommended, the plant will develop elongated leaves but may still bloom.

Oh and little bits of leaf spotting is normal.