How to predict the fragrance of Chinese Cymbidium (Chunlan)? A few practical methods to teach you

One of my valuable lessons from many years of selecting, buying and growing orchids is that for the plants on the vendor's stall, and the plants now auctioned online, those without flowers, you can tell "in an instant" what its flower's "flavor" is like, whether it is proper, whether it is fragrant, and I consider myself very "accurate" about it!

It is done indoors without smoke or other stray odors: use a pair of scissors to cut off one green marginal leaf of an old plant. If at this point you already smell the "x. flavor," it is a first-class fragrant orchid!!!...If it seems faint or absent, cut the leaf surface once more with the scissors; only then do you smell the "x. flavor" - second-class fragrant orchid!!!...If it is still not obvious, cut a few more times with the scissors, and only then can you smell a bit of the "x. flavor" - commonly seen in re-imported orchids, and most of them have a mixed, not "proper" flavor............ 

Note: 1. This method does not mean you should bring the leaf close to your nose and "sniff" hard. For Zhejiang Chinese Cymbidium, generally a straight-line distance of "20 cm" from the cut leaf is enough. 

2. This "x. flavor" produced by cutting the plant and leaf is not the "flower fragrance" of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Chinese Cymbidium!!! In short, it smells better than the "raw grass smell." This requires some practical experience to master well.

3. This method also works for Sichuan orchids, Hubei orchids, Anhui orchids and Guizhou orchids. But the prerequisite is that you need plenty of practice. I am currently doing research on this method for identifying old varieties of Zhejiang Chinese Cymbidium, and my initial feeling is that it is very effective... If any of you at home grow something like the original species, master-inherited Song Mei, Da Fugui, Cui Gai, Ji Yuan, Wang Zi, Lv Yun and so on, and you are not quite sure, by all means "give it a try"!!.........Those that are not very fragrant deserve a big question mark, even if they are grown in Zhijinshi and Xiantu...

4. Here is another "top-level" prediction/judgment method: tear off a small corner of facial tissue (unscented), dip it in a little water to moisten it, and gently wipe the longer leaves of the mother plant. Note: not the central leaf!...If at 20 cm away you smell the "x. flavor," it is a top-grade fragrant orchid!!!!!!!!! 

Note: the above is merely gently "wiping the leaf," and the "fragrant" smell already comes out!...From many years of observation, it seems that for orchids with fragrant flowers, if you break off the flower stalk, break off a new shoot, snap a healthy root, cut a division through the rhizome, and so on, you can smell an obvious "x. flavor"............

5. Looking back, some smell like garlic, some smell earthy, some smell like rust, some have a "raw grass smell"............In short, whatever "flavor" your nose does not like, quickly throw it away or put it down!!!...This method also applies to orchid-growing friends in orchid-producing areas when they go up the mountain to collect orchids. When unsure, smell the "flavor." A good flavor does not necessarily mean a "good" plant, but if the flavor is bad, run away quickly...

The above only refers to "Chinese Cymbidium"... I have not tried Huilan, Jianlan, Lianbanlan and others, so I do not know! 

Some may say that the strength of flower fragrance is affected by nutrition, whether the plant is strong or weak, how much light it gets when blooming, whether vernalization is sufficient, and so on. Here I am only talking about a "basic factor," which seems unrelated to whether the plant is strong or weak. Vernalization and such cannot fundamentally change anything... No matter how hard you work "the day after," a puppy will not train into a tiger, haha...