How to clean my orchids’ leaves

[Maru777]

Hello everyone! Now that I’ve finally managed to feel confident I won’t kill my pretty orchids (have them since February and they have all grown new leaves and are sprouting more roots) I have a more estethic question. One of them in particular has leaves that look full of dust. Not the new leaves but the old ones. I’ve tried giving them a shower when I water the plant but it still looks the same. They all sit on a screened porch but they look like this even after just being washed. My other flowers look fine. I don’t want to harm the leaves just because I think the leaves look dirty, but if I could clean them without damaging the plant I would love to do that. Any suggestions?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Either wipe with a wet towel or use leaf shine.

Do not use too much leaf shine or your plant's leaves will burn when it gets into contact with strong enough light.

[fishmom]

Milk diluted with water makes a good leaf shine. Dont wipe the bottom of the leaves; you can clog the stomata there and inhibit the transpiration process.

[charlesf6]

50% water / 50% rubbing alchohol / 1 tbsp dawn dish detergent in a large spray bottle does a nice job!

[Mountaineer370]

I have always cleaned the dust off my orchids' leaves with a damp paper towel. I run a paper towel under the faucet, squeeze enough of the water out so that it's not dripping, and use it to wipe down the leaves. I'm very gentle, I don't rub or scrub, I use not much more than the weight of the wet paper towel itself. I will use the fingers of my free hand to gently support the underside of each leaf while I do it. I use a fresh paper towel for each plant.

I might try something stronger like Charles's formula if I had a plant that came to me in a very dirty state. I've never felt the need to use a shining product.

[aliceinwl]

I fill a spray bottle with reverse osmosis water and give the leaves a good blasting. If that doesn’t work, I also gently wipe them with a moist paper towel.

[JDT]

Fresh squeezed lemons will do the trick!

[DeaC]

The damp paper towel method works for me but the lemon juice is great at removing the marks left by dried fertilizer. Doesn't need to be complicated.

[greenpassion]

Believe it or not, mayo works great! Better than the other methods I've tried. Put some on a paper towel, wipe the leaves so they have a THIN coat of mayo, then take a clean paper towel and wipe it off. Make sure you get it all off. I've done this for years now, and my phals all look super clean and healthy!

[Miri the Wildmage]

Just don't use commercial leaf shine on oncidium type orchids because I've learnt the hard way that they hate it!