How Do You Care For Intermediate-Growing Orchids?
Intermediate-growing orchids, including cattleyas, dendrobiums, many oncidiums and some paphiopedilum, prefer nighttime temperatures between 55 and 60 degrees F and daytime temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees F. Here’s how to keep them healthy and beautiful. Give orchids a humid environment – 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 the 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 recom
