How to Care for Warm-Growing Orchids
Warm-growing orchids, including vandas and phalaenopsis, prefer nighttime temperatures between 60 and 65 degrees F and daytime temperatures between 70 and 85 degrees F. Here's how to take care of these plants.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Gravel
- Misting Spray Bottles
- Hygrometers
- Orchid Fertilizers
- Plant Light
- Plants
-
-
1
Give orchids a humid environment - 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 the orchids with a fine mist of water daily.
-
6
Water orchids in pots that are 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).
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use a device called a hygrometer to measure humidity.
Related Searches
Comments
-
cameramaam
May 09, 2008
Placing a gravel- and water-filled tray in the home is an excellent way to promote the growth of fungus without changing the humidity even one little bit. A vanda, in a pot, in an east-facing window will not only never, ever flower, it will decline in vigor for years until it finally dies. Vandas and phalaenopsis require fairly opposite care - aside from both being heat-tolerant, they have very little in common with regards to growing conditions. Not a helpful or informative article. -
cameramaam
May 09, 2008
Placing a gravel- and water-filled tray in the home is an excellent way to promote the growth of fungus without changing the humidity even one little bit. A vanda, in a pot, in an east-facing window will not only never, ever flower, it will decline in vigor for years until it finally dies. Vandas and phalaenopsis require fairly opposite care - aside from both being heat-tolerant, they have very little in common with regards to growing conditions. Not a helpful or informative article.
