I've never noticed an odor from my P alata foliage and the blooms smell very sweet. My alata likes the heat and blooms later then many of my other varieties. I don't give them much fertilizer and I dig in a small amount of chopped banana peels every month or so. I'm not sure where I read about that but my passies seem to like it, something about the extra potassium.
Karyn

I know this is an old post, but my 'Ruby Glow' has a distinctive skunky smell to the foliage, too. It's indoors in my zone, of course, and lately the smell has been almost overwhelming now that it's putting on some spring growth.

Hope yours bloomed, because that smells wonderful. Mine doesn't start blooming till around late September. I use a bloom booster fertilizer and last year got flowers as Christmas and New Year's presents.

Please let me know if you've figured out a solution to the stench. I hadn't thought about the bug repellent aspects, but guess it's a trade-off!

Foetidas are notorious for this musky plant smell (which isn't all that bad, but it is noticeable) but I've discovered that a number of other passi species have similar odors to varying degree. Haven't noticed this with my alata, though.