Soaking and reporting help...

[Jenna376]

Hello All...
I have recently been remodeling and now my Phil leaves are covered with dust from sanding spackle and wallpaper glue. I put them in the sink and gave them a good rinse with the sprayer at a luke warm temperature and also allowed the water to run through for a couple minutes.
All of the dust from sanding the walls did not rinse off.
1. Is it ok to let water run through them like that?
2. Do i just carefully rub it off?
3. How do i get it out of the center since its crevesas that i cant freely wipdcant wipe?
4. They all have limp wrinkly leaves now too. Dehydrated maybe?
5. I have new ceramic pots for all of them. Should I wait to report them?
I tried to upload a picture too but got some type of error message

Thank you...

[estación seca]

It's OK to run water over plants. Let them dry before dark if your home is cooler then.

The dust and glue might be stuck to the plants. I would not try anything more than spraying with water to get it off, or you might damage the leaves. Chalk it up to experience. If it won't spray out of the crevices, it's stuck there. I would not try to remove it or you might cause damage.

Limp leaves mean insufficient water. Either you are watering too little, or the roots are bad and the plant can't take up water.

Phals can be repotted at any time.

Most people have to post 5 times before they can post photos. There is a thread that tells how to post photos. From the left yellow menu choose Forums then About this forum. It is near the top in the sticky threads.

There is also a good thread here for learning how to take care of Phals. From the left menu choose Forums, then Beginners. Near the top look for The Phal abuse ends here.

[Jenna376]

Thank you

[AnonYMouse]

I think it would be okay to use a very soft paint brush (artist kind, not wall kind) and a drop of dish soap (in lots of water!) on the leaves. I do this when I'm cleaning leaves.

[camille1585]

As a note, you can also get error messages when posting photos if you try to attach a photo that is too large, or too many photos at a time (more than 2-3 usually is too much).

[Ray]

A little bit of Dawn dishwashing detergent might help remove the dust, as well. Soft paper towels or microfiber cloths can be used for gentle scrubbing.

Just rinse the soap thoroughly afterwards.

[Jenna376]

I saw a video on Orchid Nature of "Miss Orchid" rubbing lemon juice on her Orchid leaves with a cotton pad to clean them and keep them shiney...anyone ever hear of doing this? Or tried it?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Jenna376

I saw a video on Orchid Nature of "Miss Orchid" rubbing lemon juice on her Orchid leaves with a cotton pad to clean them and keep them shiney...anyone ever hear of doing this? Or tried it?

If you are removing hard water spots, that could work (I would dilute the lemon juice, though) - hard water spots are alkaline (calcium mostly) so the acid in the lemon juice would dissolve the stuff. Might work on spackle or other similar substance if it was high in calcium. Paint or glue or whatever else is in the spots, no. The treatment has to match what you are trying to remedy. They haven't repealed any of the laws of chemistry...

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Roberta

They haven't repealed any of the laws of chemistry...

[Jenna376]

WOW...UHM OK