Vanda Pachara Delight color and bloom size

[mascia]

Hi everyone,
A week ago I bought a very healthy looking Vanda Pachara Delight with a flower spike, and placed it in a spot that gets very bright light. Yesterday the flowers finally opened, but now I'm kind of disappointed.

I know pictures online that show it as ink blue are way off, but from what I read it should be an electric purple/indigo color. Mine has a really nice color, but it is not a solid bright indigo, more like a washed out purple.

The flower size was also a bummer.. most descriptions say they are huge, at least 11 cm (4 in) across while mine is only 7 cm (2.75 in).

The plant itself is kind of small, the spike only had 2 flowers and I couldn't find old spikes anywhere, so I'm pretty sure this is the first time it's flowering.. which brings me to my question:

I noticed with some orchids that older plants have much better color and bigger blooms, but I have no idea if that is the case with vandas. Is it possible that the blooms will be bigger and better the next time around or do I simply have a bad clone?

Sorry for the long post, and here's a picture:


Thank you!

[estación seca]

Many people would be very happy with those flowers.

A first-bloom seedling or mericlone has flowers that are seldom as large, numerous or beautifully colored as later blooms, when the plant will be larger and can support more flowers.

Do you know whether you have a seedling or a mericlone? The mericlones will be almost identical to each other, whereas seedlings may vary a lot.

Give it a few years to get bigger.

[jcec1]

I find with mine that the flowers will increase in size over the first few days of opening, so wait and they may get bigger. The colour normally deepens as well, so it may not be as bad as you think.

[Tindomul]

Give it some time, the flowers may be different in the future. Personally I think it's awesome.

[mascia]

A few years ago, before I was into the orchid hobby, I saw this amazing purple vanda at a flower show and was fascinated by its color. At the time I didn't even know what a vanda was, but never forgot about it.

Once I started collecting orchids, it was pretty clear that the vanda I saw was a Pachara Delight, so that's why I bought this one, but I don't think it's the same clone.

I talked to a guy from an orchid nursery specialized in vandas and he told me that the one I'm looking for is commercially available as Vanda Pachara Delight 'Pachara', which has bigger flowers with a deeper color. It seems it's an improved clone of the original Pachara.

Here's a picture of his plant:

[Tindomul]

That's gorgeous. I would definitely be searching for that if I could grow it.

[mascia]

Just wanted to post an update. It turns out the flowers grew a lot bigger and the color is also much better. It's not in the same league as the one on the picture above, but I'm very happy.

[Tindomul]

Absolutely gorgeous blue!!!!

[aussieboy]

Very nice bloom. Im also excited for the first bloom of my pachara. I wonder how your orchid and blooms progress through the years?

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

Great looking bloom, understand that the stronger and healthier the plant is , the better the bloom is going to be. Good culture will improve bloom until it reaches its genetic limit. From looking at some of the blooms that RF Orchids has had on their show display plants, looks like they keep moving the goal post to larger and more amazing sized vanda blooms. Used be 4 inch flowers were the standard for full sized vandas, now looks more 6+ inches