How Do You 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. Give orchids a humid home – they require between 30 and 40 percent humidity. Bathrooms and kitchens are usually good, humid environments. 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. Give orchids bright but not direct light. Place the pots on a shelf by an east- or south-facing window, or under a skylight. Grow orchids under a wide-spectrum fluorescent light if you don’t have enough light from windows. Spray orchids with a fine mist of water daily. 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. Fertilize weekly using half the recommended amount of sp
