How to Grow Orchids Indoors With a Humidity Tent

Orchids lure us with the siren song of their beautiful flowers into growing them as houseplants. You can be successful in this endeavor if you understand their needs and provide the proper environment for them. Most orchids we try to grow are epiphytes, meaning they grow on tree branches and not in soil. They are native to tropical forests. Orchids need temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees F with cool nights and bright indirect light. The problem comes with humidity, since acceptable ranges are from 40 to 60 percent, with optimum conditions at 70 or 80 percent. Devices such as humidity tents and pebble trays help raise the humidity.

Plastic bags
1 ml polyethylene plastic sheeting
Twist-tie
Clear packaging tape
Scissors
Bamboo plant stakes
1 cup coarse clean gravel

Instructions

- 1
  Measure how tall, deep and wide the plant is. Measure from leaf tips and include any flower stalks.
- 2
  Find a plastic bag with the measurements you calculated or make your own using 1 ml plastic sheeting and clear packaging tape.
- 3
  Mark a piece of plastic with the height measurement you recorded in Step 1 plus 12 inches, for the vertical dimension. The horizontal measurement should be the combined measurements of twice the width and twice the depth measurements you recorded in Step 1, plus an added 3 inches. Tape the vertical ends together to form a tube using clear packaging tape.
- 4
  Cut bamboo plant stakes to the length of the height measurement plus the depth of the plant pot plus 2 inches. Prepare four stakes cut to this size. Place them in the potting mix at equal intervals around the sides of the pot to support the plastic and to keep it from touching the plant.
- 5
  Put a cup of clean coarse gravel at the bottom of the bag you purchased or made in Step 3 and place the orchid plant inside, tying the top closed. Use the plastic bag you made by folding and taping shut some of the extra plastic under the pot to seal it from the bottom before adding the gravel and plant. Tie the top shut with a twist-tie.

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