Hey all,

I’ve been in Finland for 6 years and I have a lingering question that seems surprisingly difficult to answer.

Whenever fall arives (aroud now), and also sometimes in spring, certain places fill up with this unmistakable “fresh” aroma that’s so typical of boreal forest. I’ve smelled it when I lived in Canada too. This smell is half the reason why I moved here: I just can’t get enough of it. It’s not pine: it’s rather subtle most of the time when it happens. I’m 95% certain it comes from the birth trees (koivu) when the temperature swings wildly - typically in spring and fall.

I’d like to know for sure it’s the birch trees that emit that smell, because then I’d plant a bunch of them on my property. But here’s the thing: I’m not entirely sure it’s birch trees, because none of the artificial koivu scents I bought manage to smell anything remotely close to that - if that’s what they’re trying to come close to.

And here’s the mystery: when the smell arrives and fills the air, I ask people around me and if they know what that smell is. And almost nobody I ask seems to be able to smell it at all! The best answer anyone’s ever given me once was “It smells like winter coming”, which is not terribly botanical 🙂

I chalked it up to the locals having lived here all their lives and having become nose-blind to that smell. But I recently invited friends from abroad, and they can’t smell it either.

I’m beginning to think being able to smell that smell is a genetic trait - like certain cats being totally unaffected by catnip.

Do you know what smell I’m referring to ? And if you do, can you confirm it’s koivu?

  • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialOPEnglish
    2·
    12 days ago

    Interesting, thanks! I certainly will look this up.

    You could probably also test if this is the source by disturbing some forest soil with a shovel to see if it momentarily intensifies, maybe

    Ideally, I would like to drag one of the students working at Oulu University’s botanical garden outside when the smelll happens to ask them what it is - assuming they can even smell it at all, which at this point I’m not convinced everybody can. But that’s unlikely to happen 🙂

    Next best thing will be indeed to see if it comes from the soil. Even without disturbing it, if it comes from the ground, it should smell more strongly closer to the ground. That would be a good indication.

    If this is the case though, it would probably take a couple years of planting many to get the smell near your house strongly, though I imagine using forest soil near birch would help speed up the process.

    I have about 1500 square meters of forest at the back, and it’s completely natural forest ground and shrubs there, and maybe 30 pine trees. But 10 of them need felling and I want to replace a few of them with birch tree, because I like birch trees better visually regardless of what they may or may not smell. But if they are indeed the source of that smell, I might fell more pines and plant more birch trees.

    The lumberjack is coming in October to fell the trees. That’s why I’m trying to figure out whether it’s worth planting more birch now.