Best Leaf Cleaner For Plants [And How To Use]

Plants are popular with homeowners for a variety of reasons. They bring a touch of nature and greenery to our home. But to keep them in their prime, you need to clean plants from time to time. Just like any other surface, they will get dusty over time and will fail the white glove test. We've put together information to help you keep your plants sparkling.

The best methods and products for cleaning plant leaves vary depending on the plant, the type of leaves, and the nature of the filth. In order to remove dirt, the best methods involve mostly tools lying in your cabinet already:

• Use readily available tools such as a self-made soap solution and water to clean the leaves.
• If you don't trust creating your self-made concoction, use a commercial plant leaf cleaner solution instead.
• Alternative solutions such as vinegar or lemon/lime

Now that you know all the best methods for cleaning plant leaves keep reading this article as we will go into more detail about the best cleaner for plants and how to use them. Also, don't miss out on other more essential information about cleaning leaves.

Multiple Ways of Cleaning Plant Leaves With Readily Available Tools

Whether it's your first time gardening or taking care of an indoor plant. Cleaning leaves will remove dust build-up, which is important for aesthetics as well as for your plants' health: dusty leaves can't carry out photosynthesis as well as clean ones. Without further ado, here are multiple ways to clean plant leaves.

Using A Spray Nozzle or Hose

First, you would need to move your plants near a water source to hose them down with water easily. Ensure that you are using low water pressure and that the water is lukewarm. While spraying down the leaves, you need to provide enough support so that the water pressure will not injure your plant in the process.

Using A Soft Duster

This procedure does not always remove all of the dirt and dust, but it will get your plants from one cleaning to the next with less accumulation. It also makes the next time you undertake a more thorough cleaning of your plant leaves more manageable.

1. Brush the foliage gently to remove the dirt as possible without being too harsh and breaking leaves off the stem.
2. When you're finished, take the duster outdoors and shake it violently, keeping it near to the ground, to "clear" the dust from the feathers.

Submerging the Plant in a Bucket of Water

There are instances wherein dunking your plant in a bucket of water may save you time. This method is especially good for small plants with many leaves. Make sure that you are using a bucket of lukewarm water before doing this practice. Here are the steps for this process:

1. Lightly water the soil so that it stays intact throughout.
2. Grab the pot with your hand and gently turn the pot upside down. Remember to clamp the soil with your other hand so that it does not fall out of the pot.
3. Submerge the plant in the bucket of lukewarm water.
4. Raise the plant and let it drip before returning it to its normal position.

Using A Spray Bottle

There are plants that aren't capable of taking extreme amounts of water pressure, most of which are indoor plants. Cleaning them with a spray bottle is an effective way of gently removing dust without the adverse effects of hosing them down.

You can either use water or a soap solution to guarantee that you'll easily remove grime from the leaves of your plants. Here are the steps in misting your plants:

1. Grab the spray bottle.
2. Fill it up with water or with a soap solution.
3. Gently mist the leaves with water.
4. If you're using a soap solution, give the plants another rinse using lukewarm water. Ideally, you would want to use another spray bottle for this step.
5. Pat down the leaves with a soft towel.

Alternatively, you can use a plant leaf cleaner solution (commercially available) instead of the soap solution.

How to Make the Soap Solution

In order to make a solution, here are the steps:

1. Mix three to four tablespoons of mild dish soap per liter of lukewarm water.
2. Mixing all of these inside the spray bottle is easier to avoid the burden of transferring from one container to another.
3. If it's not possible to mix them all in the spray bottle, the final step would be to transfer the solution to the spray bottle.
4. You can now gently mist your plants with the soap solution.

Best Commercially Available Plant Leaf Cleaner Solution

Now, if you don't trust yourself with many of the methods listed above or feel like giving your plants extra love and attention,  here are a few commercially available plant leaf cleaner solutions for you!

Schultz Plant Shine Leaf Polish

The Schultz Plant Shine Leaf Polish is an excellent product for plant enthusiasts. It promotes shiny, hard-faced leaves with no oil residue, which is only visible and recognizable through healthy plants. This polish also prevents the clogging of the plant pores, ensuring your plants will be able to get the sunlight they need.

Bonide Leaf Shine

The Bonide Leaf Shine is a decent plant shine polish that constantly gives your plant leaves a shiny look. Before using this spray, you only have to ensure that your plants are healthy and watered. Simply spray on all leaves and wipe them down. You can use this spray monthly or as needed to maintain it.

Nu-Leaf Spray Artificial Tree and Silk Plant Cleaner

The Nu-Leaf Spray is not essential for everyone. This product is targeted toward people who own artificial trees or plants. It restores the shine and color of artificial plants, and you only have to spray this on the leaves; no need to wipe them dry! Remember that this is not usable on actual plant or tree leaves!

Other Alternative Cleaning Solutions

Now, suppose none of these commercially available options are up to your standards or even the classic soap solution method. In that case, there are a few more alternative methods with readily available ingredients.

Using Vinegar or Lime/Lemon Solution to Remove Grime

For this method, you'll need two cups of soft water and one tablespoon of white vinegar. Soft water is a type of water that contains lower levels of calcium and magnesium; examples are rainwater or distilled water. Simply mix the water and the vinegar in a bowl and use a cloth to wipe the leaves with the solution.

Alternatively, you can use a tablespoon of lime or lemon with the same amount of water. Lemons or limes would prove helpful as an introductory repellant for your plants as it keeps your pets away. Similarly, vinegar can also do the same thing for pests and insects, ensuring they won't go near your plants.

Why Should You Clean Your Plant Leaves?

As stated, you should regularly clean your plant leaves to prevent dust build-up. However, there are still many benefits to cleaning your plants, whether they are indoor or outdoor plants. Here are a few reasons why you should clean your plants regularly.

Keep Your Plants Healthy

Removing dust will allow plant leaves to interact with the sun appropriately, resulting in a much healthier life when compared to being completely covered in them. When plants do not receive enough sunlight, they will either grow in a poor state or, most of the time, lack of sunlight will kill off the plants.

Maintains Your Help Benefits

What's the most benefit that you'll get from indoor plants or even outdoor trees? That's right, oxygen. Not being able to photosynthesize appropriately will result in a much lesser oxygen production of the plants, which means that you would lose out on all of the benefits plants can provide for your health.

Also, if you have an indoor plant with lots of dust build-up on them, it may trigger your allergic reactions and may therefore be more detrimental to your health rather than beneficial.

Avoids Pest Infestations

Regularly checking on your plants and cleaning them will help you look for nasty pests that may have already been residing within its leaves and stems. This benefit lies in conjunction with keeping your plants healthy, so make sure to always be on the lookout for them!

Conclusion

You and your plants would have many benefits if you were to regularly clean and maintain their leaves. In this article, we talked about the methods of cleaning leaves, the best products to use, and other alternatives.

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