Fragrant Oncidium questions...
 

Hello all! I was thinking of getting a fragrant orchid and have settled on either AKA Baby Chocolate Raspberry or Twinkie 'Pink profusion'. My questions are: Is Pink profusion the same orchid as Sotoanum/Ornithorhychum? Two, can anyone comment on the ease of growing these two? In reading about them, they both seem pretty easy. Three, which smells better? Pink profusion is reported to have a candy/bubblegum/vanilla scent. Thank you!

Onc. sotoanum/ornithorhychum is a species (and so should be written with the first letter as lowercase). Onc Twinkle (and not Twinkie) is a primary hybrid with that species as a parent. Generally hybrids are easier to grow than species due to hybrid vigor, but Onc sotoanum is rather easy to grow.

Note that of the 3, Onc. Baby Chocolate Raspberry is much larger and will rapidly grow into a very large plant. I don't know if space is an issue for you, but keep this in mind. If size isn't an issue, a very famous fragrant Oncidium is Onc. Sharry Baby.

As to fragrance, the scent 'notes' are going to be really subjective and not everyone experiences a scent the same way. There can also be variation between plants and due to environmental conditions.

All of these Oncidiums should be 'easy' growers (easy/hard is relative) providing that you know how to care for them properly.

howdy!

we have 2 varieties of fragrant oncidiums or related. the sharry baby has proven temperamental, but we have a colmanara hybrid called tropic black which has been more adaptable.

now, for full disclosure we tried separating both of these plants too soon, so that could be why the sharry baby hasn’t performed. but the tropic black has made some nice young separate plants and continues to bloom.

furthermore, the colmanaras scent is stronger, and literally fills the room. it blooms whenever the pbulbs have matured.

summary, if you come across a colmanara i would jump at it, and the sharrys haven’t lived up to the hype. i am aggressive with plants, tho, so take the comments worth a grain of olfactory stimulation

What's the name of your Colmanara?
I'm surprised, I found my Sharry Baby to be one of the easiest Oncs, and the sweet fragrance filled the room. Such a shame that I forgot to bring it inside one fall and it froze....

hey camille, it’s colmanara tropic black.

and for sure, the sharry baby did/does smell nice. both plants remind us chocolate and coffe, so very similar smells. but the colmanara you can smell when you enter the flat from a single spike. the sharry baby you had to get within a meter or 2 before you smelled it.

and again, we aggressively divided the sharry baby. 2 groups of pbulbs died fairly quickly, and the last we have has been slow to recover, though it has remained with the living for now. the colmanara didn’t skip a beat after division with similar numbers of pbulbs.

you know how i like my veg props!!

So the colmanara smell like chocolate also?

yeah, chocolate with sweet coffee overtones and a hint of citrus. very very nice

I have a Onc Heaven Scent 'Redolence' that smells like Sharry Baby but is more compact. The fragrance on my HS is stronger than my gigantic SB.

Twinkle smell different altogether. Wonderful small/compact growth habit.

The ‘redolence’ would be great since it’s compact! Also great to know it has a strong fragrance. This orchid will join my others on a windowsill. Is the Colmanara Tropic Black a smaller orchid and plant? Thank you all! This is great info!

nope, it’s quite large

My Onc. Twinkle Pink Profusion, smells like cheap chocolate. It's been undemanding, but definitely not as strong as the Onc. Sharry Babies I've smelled at various greenhouses.

I'll have to keep an eye out for some of the hybrids listed above.

The species Onc. fuscatum has great fragrance. Look up the photos and you'll recognize it in its progeny. It's fairly large. Onc. ornithorhynchium and sotoanum have a baby powder fragrance and are small.

I have an Onc Heaven Scent 'Sweet Baby' blooming for past couple of weeks. One spike, about 3-1/2 feet long. Recently divided this past spring. Brought it from grow space into dining room. It fills the room with chocolate. I'm starting to wonder if it was a mistake putting it so close to kitchen and pantry. My cravings for chocolate have really intensified since the move. :rofl:

I like it a lot more than any of the Sharry Babies or Twinkles I've owned. Have a Ons. Catatante 'Orange Kiss' and a Ons. Catatante 'Pacific Sunspots'. They have a more vigorous growth habit than the Heaven Scent, but don't spike any better than it. Neither of them has much of a scent to speak of unless you're within sniffing range.

i do love this group and just wish they were a bit smaller. :(

but, for this thread itap to show the scale between our 2, the sharry baby on the lower right v. the col. tropic black center/mid.

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then, while just looking them over a bit for bugs i see the colmanara is spiking! yesss!! i Love orchids, they are so freaking cool!

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