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Need to increase humidity near a window

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.
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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. :(
 
Nice orchid!
Putting the orchid in a covered terrarium would help with the humidity..Paphs. are great terrarium plants..
I watched a video from a orchid grower (Missorchidgirl, on YouTube..) and they found that putting a water tray with pebbles only elevated the humidity by 1-5%, depending on the air circulation and heat. Either way, better than nothing.

Spray bottles don't work that well, but if you were to spray the windows, the light from the windows may do something.You could also buy a humidifier, or pick another room.
 
I think its because its a breezy window from an ac vent keeping it from maintaining humidity. Hopefully the paph is okay at 15-20%... Guess I will find out pretty quick. I can't spray the window or install any kind of humidifier. I might be able to squeeze it into my terrarium but its set up for dews- temp goes a bit high for an orchid.

Edit: I suppose I could try to enclose it inside that tray I am using.
 
As Dante mentioned, the humidity tray idea pretty much is a waste of time -- its affect on RH is negligible in an open area like that. You'd be better off closing off the area or using a terr (but you would likely need a fan in the area for air movement) or setting a humidifier by the plant with the humid air being blown/released by the paph. Bagging would not be a great idea. While many of the paphs do like humid conditions, they typically do not like humid stagnant conditions. Very few plants do.

Temp-wise -- with regard to your dew terr idea -- it would depend on what kind of paph. Some prefer very warm temps.
 
The paph is a hybrid. I have read those aren't as picky on temp and humidity.

The problem was solved last night. As it turned out the hygrometer I used was not working correctly. Another one showed that humidity levels were closer to 60%. Thanks anyway. :)
 
Put the probe higher, up by the l;eaves and get another reading. For academic purposes, of course.
 
Yeah, that's up at soil/leaf level. The whole area was holding over 50% for ages so I had wondered what happened. The area is still that high, if not a bit higher due to the fact I have put more plants there. :) I wish I had a better place for it but I can't afford a tropical GH.
 
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