I've tried to do this before with other tropical plants and have been unscuccessful raising and keeping it over 40%. I got my first orchid yesterday and would love to put it near the window I have some other plants at but I have read that this one, Paphiopedlum, prefers humidity in a range of 40-55%. I tried making a humidity bed aroumd the pot using a hospital soaking pan and lining the bottom with sand, perlite and coconut fiber. My little zoomed hygrotherm reads it around 30-35% at best, before slowly dropping back down to 18%. What am I doing wrong? I keep reading similar techniques over and over again but I dont get the same results. Here's some pics of what I did.
The temp is perfect....the humidity has me totally stumped. I went and checked the meter after I made this post... Now its at 26%. That's less than ten minutes.



The temp is perfect....the humidity has me totally stumped. I went and checked the meter after I made this post... Now its at 26%. That's less than ten minutes.