How to Care for Cool-Growing Orchids

Cool-growing orchids, including cymbidiums, odontoglossums, masdevallias and many paphiopedilum, prefer nighttime temperatures between 50 and 55 degrees F and daytime temperatures between 60 and 75 degrees F. Here's how to care for these lovely plants.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gravel
• Misting Spray Bottles
• Gravel
• Orchid Fertilizers
• Plant Light

1. Give orchids a humid home - they require between 30 and 40 percent humidity. Bathrooms and kitchens are usually good, humid environments.

2. Increase humidity in the environment by setting the orchid pot on a tray filled with gravel and water; this helps raise the humidity around the plant.

3. Give orchids bright but not direct light. Place the pots on a shelf by an east- or south-facing window, or under a skylight.

4. Grow orchids under a wide-spectrum fluorescent light if you don't have enough light from windows.

5. Spray orchids with a fine mist of water daily.

6. Water orchids that are in pots less than 8 inches in diameter twice a week. Water orchids in pots bigger than 8 inches once a week.

7. Fertilize weekly using half the recommended amount of specially designed orchid fertilizer.

8. Repot orchids approximately every two years (see "How to Repot Orchids," under Related eHows).

Tips & Warnings

• Use a device called a hygrometer to measure humidity.