Dusting Day

I realized as I looked at my plants this morning that dusting day needs to happen soon.  Houseplants are just like any other flat surface in your house - they collect dust, greasy residue from cooking, and other pieces of debris.  Not only is "dirt" on your houseplants unsightly, it also isn't good for your plants. 

Plants need clean leaves to breathe, eat and absorb sunlight.  Plants take carbon dioxide from the air in through the pores in their leaves and, working with the sunlight they absorb, complete the process of "photosynthesis".  Photsynthesis is how the plant produces its food and then expires oxygen into the air for us to breathe.  Trying to complete this process through dust and greasy residue on leaves is sort of like us trying to sip mashed potatoes through a straw - it just doesn't work very well.

There are several ways to accomplish cleaning your houseplants.  You can give them a "sponge bath", using a soft sponge, like the type used for baby bathing, and wipe each leaf, upper and lower surfaces, individually.  You can also use a soft cloth, like old t-shirts, to do this wiping.  The key is a soft, non-abrasive cloth or sponge.  This works well for large, smooth leaves, but for those tiny leaved plants, it's a long, tedious process that requires far more patience than I possess.

So, I opt for giving my plants a shower or tub bath rather than a sponge bath.  Large plants are lifted into the bathtub and placed under the shower streaming with room-temperature water.  I still have to wipe some on the underside of the leaves, and other places where the shower spray can't reach.  If you have a flexible shower head, you can place the pot on a stool that gets them high enough to reach everything with the shower head and save yourself having to wipe the undersides and hard to reach spots.  

Any plants which will fit in my laundry room sink are placed there, where I can use the sprayer hose to spray the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves.  I try very hard to fit most everything there.  When I have to use the tub and shower, I usually end up wetter than the plants.  I can control this a little more in the laundry room.

Regardless of whether you use a sink or bathtub, the water should never be warmer than room temperature, and the planter must always be left to drain well after this process.    You also need to shake or wipe off any standing water, and let the plant dry well in a spot out of direct sunlight.  Keeping them out of direct sunlight until after the plants are dry will ensure that they don't get sunburned through the water droplets.

African violets and other fuzzy leaved plants also need to be cleaned.  I know we are used to hearing that we should never get water on the leaves of African violets.  That's true to a certain extent, but the little hairs on the violet leaves collect more dust and debris even than a smooth leaved plant.  So, what to do to clean them? 

Well, I just stick mine in the laundry room sink and spray away.  The "after-care" is what needs to be a little different.  After spraying, I give the plants a gentle shake to get the majority of the excess water off the leaves, then use a soft terrycloth towel to completely dry each leaf.  I need to make sure there are no water droplets pooling in the crown of the plant, as well.  Then, I take a hair dryer on the cool  setting and blow air across the plants for a few minutes.  I usually leave my violets set in a dark corner where there is no chance they will be exposed to sun for the next 24 hours or so.

Houseplants benefit from a good cleaning every couple months or so, but please don't use the commerically available "leaf-shine" products on your plants.  These are oil based products that clog the pores of the plants and will eventually make them sickly.  Likewise, shampoos and most other "human" soaps and detergents are not good for plants.  I do sometimes use a a small amount of liquid, non-detergent type soap for plants that have greasy residue, particularly those I keep in the kitchen.  Ivory is a good soap for this purpose.  I've also heard some people advise using milk to clean your plants.  In addition to the thought of souring milk hanging around on the leaves of your plants being kind of icky, the fats in milk can clog the pores. 

You'll keep your plants happiest with a shower of just plain, room temperature water every couple months.  This serves the additional purpose of saturating your potting soil well and when you allow that water to drain away, it's taking some of those built-up fertilizer salts down the drain with it.  so, clean away.