How to Care for Cool-Growing Orchids

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 specially designed orchid fertilizer.

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