Silly Question— Do plants get Jet Lag? Let me explain...
 

Feel silly for asking this but I am curious and also serious!

I recently purchased a BEAUTIFUL Maxillaria Tenufloria from Hawaii. The plant is massive and it's in flower with many spikes still beginning to open and others still forming.

I've had it one full day. I didn't smell ANYTHING when it arrived. No fragrance at all. I suspected, maybe in the morning I will detect it. Again nothing!

Now I have a very sensitive nose, and I can't smell a thing. Having heard this coconut fragrance is insanely intense, I suspect the plants circadian rhythm is off, and when it should be fragrant, it's aligning with the time zone lighting change? Just a thought....

Maybe someone can help explain and not think I am a nut? Hahaha.

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I'm posting to give this a bump but I'm also very interested in what others have to say! :)

I would say no, plants don't get jet lag. I had a look to see what sort of scientific literature exists on this topic, and it seems that plants can reset their internal clocks on a daily basis, based on the times of dawn/dusk every day. Processes such as floral odor emissions are generally temperature and light driven rather than time driven.

So it could be that your plant has not had the flowers open long enough yet for the scent to be noticable (many plants take a few days before fragrance is detectable). Scents will also be stronger in warm and humid conditions. Could be that you plant is also adapting to the sudden change in conditions (rather than jet lag). I don't know where you are, but moving from the likely warm, humid conditions of Hawaii to what I'm assuming are cooler and drier conditions at your place may affect the plant.

I'm from NYC. I would be miserable too if I woke up in NYC after being in Hawaii my whole life. Hahahaha.

I always figured it was just because of the shock-- lack of light and fresh oxygen. When I got my mine in the mail (from Hawaii) it did smell a tiny bit, but then I put it outside in the sun for a while and the smell intensified.

Lol I even tried to simulate my environment to be 6 hours behind by adjusting lights etc.

Hopefully I'll get some fragrance from it this year... I am dying to smell it!

Try checking when it's in the sun!

Plants transported from the northern to southern hemisphere (or vice versa) may take a while to adjust to the seasons, but outside of that, I don't think they get jet-lagged.

I would always even feel bad when I got plants from Hawaii, too! Going from their nice tropical home, to either hot, DRY weather here (in summer), or chilly and damp (in winter).

Still no fragrance! I may have to put on a flower shirt, a lei and sing it to sleep tonight with a ukulele. HAHAHAHA.

Want to know the real reason people in NYC are miserable? It's because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey.

Haha!