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Top 7 Ways to Clean Orchid Leaves That Actually Work
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Oct 3, 2024
Have you ever seen those beautiful orchid leaves that almost shine so much they look fake? Don’t get me wrong, they’re gorgeous, but how do you clean an orchid leaf to make it shine like that? They’re so reflective and healthy looking, it’s like the orchid’s leaves are polished. What is the best way to clean and polish orchid leaves so they shine? To remove the mineral deposits or dust on orchid leaves, wipe the leaf clean with one of these solutions diluted with water: mayonnaise, lemon, mild dish detergent, baby shampoo, vinegar, isopropyl alcohol, or distilled water. Milk also is beneficial in cleaning orchid leaves. If you want the full explanation of this video in writing, go to https://orchideria.com/clean-orchid-leaves/ On Orchideria.com, you can find more in-depth guides and all the access to our information, tutorials, guides, and much more... all for free! Happy Cultivating! ______________________ HASHTAGS: #orchidcare #orchid #Orchideria #AmandaMatthews _______________________ SOCIAL MEDIA: Website: https://orchideria.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orchideria.orchid.terrariums Instagram (Orchideria): https://www.instagram.com/orchideria.orchid.terrariums/ Instagram (Amanda Matthews - personal): https://www.instagram.com/amanda_june_matthews/
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0:00
One of the best parts in orchid care is when your orchid actually blooms a year later after you've
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had it in your care for a year and it re-blooms. That just means you are providing excellent care
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so keep up the good work. But then when it does bloom, you want to take all these awesome pictures of it
0:18
and you get up close, you aim with your camera, and then you realize that on the leaf there are these
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white spots. They first look like dust, but it's not dust because dust is a little bit dark
0:30
There'll be white spots on the leaf and their mineral deposits. So your first instinct is to get a damp cloth and just gently wipe the surface of the leaf to get rid of these mineral deposits
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Well, when it's wet, it looks like it solved the problem. But when it dries those mineral deposits, come right back
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So in this video, I'm going to talk about how to clean the orchid leaves and how to get rid of these mineral deposits
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What causes the mineral deposits? why it's important to actually clean the leaves every once in a while
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I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidarium, where I share my tips of how to grow orchids indoors and craft herariums
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Why is it important to keep these leaves clean? Well, orchids will breathe through mechanism called stomata
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which are the breathing mechanism or pores of the orchid. And they are usually on the majority, are usually on the understores
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side of the leaf. So that is the most sensitive part of the leaf. The top will still have
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somata, but not as many. So they will breathe through their leaves. A thicker leaf like a phalanopsis
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orchid will do the majority of its breathing at night when the temperatures are cooler and the humidity
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is higher. But thin-leaved orchids like symbidiums, phragmopediums, pithopelums, miltonias, miltonioopsis
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that have thinner leaves, they will do the majority of their gas exchange during the day
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They do that because they don't have to keep that humidity inside their leaf at all cost
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They have the privilege of breathing whenever they want to. It's important to keep these leaves clean
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Even if you don't have mineral deposits built up on your orchid leaf
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you might have dust if you haven't cleaned them in a while. Every once in all, go back to your orchids and take a look at the leaves
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because if they aren't, that will inhibit the gas exchange. There are several things that cause these mineral deposits
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and sometimes it's not only demineral deposits. So let's take a look at what could be on your orchid
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It could be dust, salt build up, hard water stains, mineral residues
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excess fertilizer, leftover pesticides, or even bugs that lay eggs, and you think that it's dust
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but it's actually bug eggs. how to clean that leaf and to make it shiny. What I want to say right up front, do not use a product
3:01
that is out there in sale and I usually don do this a lot but I read so many bad things about it It called Leaf Shine See what Leaf Shine will do it will make your leaves beautiful and like a polished look that will really shine
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But it interacts with the leaf and that leaf will start to, it won't wilt all the way, but it does interact
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I've read of people who use Leaf Shine to go to an orchid event. And when the orchid got there, the leaf started like collapsing
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in several places on the leaf so it's just not worth it
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In these methods they're all safe and I'm gonna start with the most controversial one
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and when people read this they really click away from my channel. I even had a comment
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once like really? Are you even serious? So let's just get that out of the way then I can
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present the other six with a lot more ease. So the first one is mayonnaise. Don't click off
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mayonnaise is usually made up of lemon juice or vinegar, egg yolk, oil and a very small
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touch of salt. And some people make mayonnaise at home. They're all natural ingredients. Now, how does
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mayonnaise interact with the leaf? See, the acidic properties in mayonnaise, especially with the lemon
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juice or the vinegar, are going to break down those mineral deposits because the mineral deposits
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are very strong bonds that hold together. That's why this with water, it doesn't break those bonds
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You need that acidity. So the lemon juice or the vinegar in that mayonnaise is going to actually break
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those mineral bonds and they're going to be easier to wipe off then with the mayonnaise. And then with
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the egg yolk that goes into the mayonnaise, it's going to give it that extra shine. And it does not
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clog the pores as some people think it does. So that's why mayonnaise is an excellent solution to
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just a product you have around your house to clean the orchid leaves. Again, if you're using mayonnaise
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never use mayonnaise on the bottom side of the phalanopsis leaf. Never. First, mineral deposits
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don't build up on the bottom of the leaf. And second, you are going to hurt the stomata because they're very, very sensitive
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So if you want, just put it on the top of the leaf and you don't have to do your entire orchid
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the same day. I mean, if you want to just do a leaf here and then the next time you water, do another leaf
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the next time do another one, you do not have to, you know, go overhaul on cleaning OCD
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and get those leaves absolutely sparked. The second method is diluted lemon juice or lime juice
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It doesn't matter which one you use lemon or lime. But whatever you do, do not use the store-bought lemon juice already in the store
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Get a lemon from home. Mmm, that smells good. You're going to squeeze this juice onto a paper towel and you can squirt it with water also
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Always dilute it. Now, one thing about either lemon or lime juice
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Do not use this if you are going to the same. sun and that applies to you and your orchid. Lemon juice interacts highly with sun. Even if you're
6:08
squeezing lemon juice like on outside on a sunny day and you do not wipe your hands that sun will interact with your skin and it will cause a burn The same happens with the orchid leaf If you are going to clean your orchid leaves with lemon or lime do not put them in direct sun even if it is morning sun
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Lemon and sun just don't combine ever. Lemon juice. Strangely enough, lemon juice diluted in water is the only one that is approved to use on the understance
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side of the leaf. It doesn't, the lemon juice, the acidity in the lemon juice does not react that much
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Now, why you would want to do that? I don't know. I'm against it. Don't. The third method is using
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vinegar. Now, you have to really look for the pH on the vinegar to use it because some vinegars can
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have a pH of down to 2.5. Most phalanopsis orchids will like a pH of around 5.5 to 6.5. The vinegar
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is going to bring that pH down. And that's what breaks the mineral deposits on the orchid leaf, is the lower pH
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But if you go too low, you can really harm your orchid leaf
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And especially if you have a terrestrial orchid. Terrestrial orchids are once the pH are going to be a little higher
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They're not instead of acidic. They're going to be alkaline. So their pH is going to be around 7.5
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Some can get up to 8.5, but not many. Now vinegar comes from the French word which means sour wine, and its name holds to be true
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So it will break up more mineral deposits than the lemon or the lime, but don't go overboard
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Again, the acidity in the vinegar is extremely low, and some orchids will appreciate that
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Others not so much. For the vinegar also, test it on one leaf only
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Don't go to all your orchids and clean every single one of them
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Test it on one leaf. If that leaf does fine, you can go ahead and use it on the others
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One big mistake is that people will use vinegar on one leaf and say, hey, it really cleaned the mineral deposits off after five or ten minutes when that leaf dries again
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And there's no more mineral deposits. And then they go back and clean the entire orchids
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Then they do their whole collection. Well, then the next day those leaves are starting to shrivel and wrinkle because they
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because they just had a chemical reaction that they did not tolerate
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So orchids are slow growers. They take a long time to react
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It's not going to be immediate. Before I go on to point number four
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if you are liking this video or if it's adding any kind of value, please give it a like or a thumbs up
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That just gives me some kind of feedback to know what kind of videos
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what topic of videos to do more of and what videos to say
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oh, please no, never again, not that topic. On the point number four. Alcohol, which is isopropyl alcohol. I never can say that
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Now rubbing alcohol, the one you have around your house, it's not the best method, but if you're
9:18
desperate and you don have anything else you can use it See alcohol does interact a little bit more with the leaf And usually the alcohol is used to clean pest and insects because it will break down either their protective coating or it will
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interact with their bodies. It doesn't kill them, but it makes them very vulnerable. So the alcohol
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will is more used in that aspect. If you know you have insects, if you know you have pests
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and the most common pests are listed right here. So use that alcohol
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you know you have those. That will be beneficial for the orchid leash so you don't have two or three
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You know, you're not going to clean the leaf with lemon juice and then the next day go and apply alcohol
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Just use the rubbing alcohol for once and it's better. The fifth method is to use dish detergent
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Use a mild dish detergent that you use to clean your dishes with. And as a mild, I mean 90% water, 10%
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I always do that. 90% water, 10% dish detergent. But if using a concentration that's too strong
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it's just gonna make more marks and signs on your orchid leaf
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So really dilute that dish detergent down. Method number six is baby shampoo
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Now you do not have to dilute baby shampoo. You can just give your orchid a whole bath
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and just rinse it out later. The seventh method is water. And you might be wondering, in the beginning of this video, I said that water would not break down the mineral deposits
10:54
That's true. But what if the stains on your leaf is not a mineral deposit
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What if it is something else in your house? For example, dust
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If you are having these salt buildups, you need to look into your water
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What is going to into your water? If you are using tap water to water your orchids, I suggest you switch to with your distilled water
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or another type of water so that you can get rid of the excess minerals
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Because tap water has all these wonderful things that are great for us
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but not so great for our orchids or not so great for our orchids in those proportions
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So the proportions tend to be extremely large and they will, when they evaporate
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they leave these minerals behind and they leave these salt builds up behind
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Another thing that could be causing the stains on your orchid leaf
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is too much fertilizer, especially if you have a fertilizer that is a one that you missed
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And now that your orchids are all clean, you can start to take pictures of them
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and show all your friends so that you won't suffer this addiction alone
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Don't stop your orchid care here. I suggest these two videos, and the first one is about mealy bugs
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and because sometimes the spots on your leaf might not be minimal
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deposits at all. It might be mealy bugs. So check that one out. This other one is going to be a
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playlist of orchid problems. In all, I wish you the best care. I wish you the best in orchid care
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and happy cultivating
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