There’s really no need for store-bought leaf shine and clean products, as water is ususally enough. There are some ingredients that you can mix with water to get even better results, such as dish soap or vinegar. Don’t listen to just anyone when it comes to leaf shine products, both store-bought and homemade. I mean, someone can just whisk eggs and rub their plant leaves with them, but will it work? Yes…for the first three times, i.e., until the leaves rot and die! You can use mayonnaise to add some shine to your leaves. The vinegar and lime juice content will clean off the dust while adding a healthy luster to the foliage. Mayo is also efficient in breaking down and eliminating any built-up gluey gunk-like sap to ensure that the foliage is completely clean.

DIY Leaf Shiner Recipes for Lush and Glossy Houseplants 8 DIY Leaf Shiner Recipes for Lush and Glossy Houseplants

It would help if you rinsed your plant in clean and fresh water to remove any potential chemicals from the leaf surface. Water + Vinegar Lemon juice is also commonly recommended, much like vinegar. And it carries many of the same risks. Inside, however, neither rain nor wind will touch the plant; you water it from the base, and there are few air currents.Leaf Shine comes as an easy-to-use spray that’s ready to go right out of the bottle. All you have to do is spray down the leaves, let it sit for a moment, and wipe the leaves down with a soft cloth, and you’ve got clean, shiny leaves! Skimmed milk mixed with water is way better than regular milk because fats from regular milk can remain on the plant leaves and close the stomata. It does have benefits, such as vitamins A and K, which are important for leaf and plant health, and it can repel annoying pests, such as aphids.

Leaf Wipes 80 wipes | Gables and Gardens Baby Bio Leaf Wipes 80 wipes | Gables and Gardens

CLEAN, FORTIFY AND PROTECT your plants with our specially formulated, 100% cotton cleaning wipes, designed especially for houseplants. Safeguarding foliage against fungus and insects enhances plant health and highlights its beautiful luster. As a preventative measure, it’s also helpful to clean houseplant leaves to combat potential pests and diseases before they’re noticeable. Oftentimes once we notice damage, it’s more difficult to eradicate. Nipping issues before they arrive is key. Why Manufactured Leaf Polish Isn’t Great After mixing the ingredients together, you can either apply it to the leaves via a spray bottle or simply dip a cloth into the mixture. Either way, make sure to use a soft cloth (like microfiber) to protect the leaves from damage. Another option, to mitigate the risk of potentially spreading pests or disease between plants, is to use a disposable paper towel for each separate plant. (Or thoroughly rinse the cloth with hot water between each use). Jane: Hello and welcome to On The Ledge podcast! How shiny are your leaves? That's what we're asking today! I'm your host, Jane Perrone, and this here podcast is On The Ledge: your passport to the world of plants! Sometimes a listener question comes in that's just so good that I want to dedicate a whole episode to it. Today, I'm talking about a question from Emily about leaf shine products and what's the best way of making your leaves look all beautiful and shiny? We'll also be hearing from listener, Beth, in Meet the Listener. Leaf Shine is a healthy, all-natural way to clean your plant leaves and restore their natural luster, but also protect them from dirt, dust, insects, fungus, and bacteria. It’s like a gentle cleaning product, polish, and vitamin supplement in one!

Houseplant Care Bundle

Another thing I like to do is while dusting houseplant leaves is make a natural leaf shine spray by spritzing my damp microfiber cloth with some neem oil spray. What I love about neem oil spray is that it’s a natural solution for pest infestations like insects, mites, and fungus, too. It helps ward them off and prevent pests from settling in in the first place. The problem with commercial leaf shine is that many products do not reveal their ingredients because this is a trade secret – so it can be hard to know what you’re putting on your plant. It’s possible for the ingredients to clog up the pores of your plant’s leaves and make the problem worse, not better!

Really Need Leaf Shine Products? - Laidback Gardener Do You Really Need Leaf Shine Products? - Laidback Gardener

Why capital letters? Well, the winner for homemade leaf shine spray is… water. Yes, you read that right. There’s nothing better than clean and fresh water for cleaning plant leaves. Nope! Our Leaf Shine formula is made of chitosan, yucca, and sea kelp (which may contain shellfish), all of which are completely harmless to people and pets unless you are specifically allergic to them. We do not recommend ingesting Leaf Shine or spraying it into your mouth or eyes. Grow the Healthiest, Shiniest Houseplants Ever! Between baths, we recommend using Leaf Shine to keep your leaves clean, shiny, and protected. In fact, if you start with clean leaves, you can use Leaf Shine exclusively and not have to wash your plant leaves at all! When creating Leaf Shine, we wanted a formula that would be nourishing to plants as well as beautifying. After all, harming your plant won’t lead to long-term shine or growth! Temporary solutions that cause damage in the long run just aren’t worth it.First though, there is no disadvantage to applying leaf shine to cut leaves, as florists do when preparing flower arrangements. The moment these leaves were harvested, their death was inevitable, usually within a week or two. To make them shine for what’s left of their life doesn’t change the eventual outcome. And dust mixed with a rich fat like coconut oil will create gunk that sits on the leaves and clogs those pores right up. And you know what that means: your plant will have more difficulty breathing and making energy from sunlight. Lemon again! This delicious fruit makes for an excellent soil acidity booster, but can also help you clean the foliage of your houseplants and make the leaves shiny. Contributions from On The Ledge listeners help to pay for all the things that have made the show possible over the last few years: equipment, travel expenses, editing, admin support and transcription. When you start to make a list of the plants you shouldn’t really use leaf spray on, you’ll find it includes nearly two thirds of the most popular houseplants!

Houseplant Leaf Shine Wipes - The Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource

There are ways to prevent these with proper care, but even the most solid care routine can’t stop these factors completely. Leaf Shine provides a layer of protection on the leaves themselves to ward off damage that can impact the health and beauty of the plant. This is another leaf shine that you can use on your houseplants to keep them looking as shiny as newly bought from the garden stores. Rubbing alcohol will leave a long-lasting silky texture on the foliage. What makes things complicated is the ingredients often seem to be a company secret. It’s hard to know what they contain. And each leaf shine product is different. Some contain silicone, others different oils and waxes … and all these are products that can do some harm if not properly applied. Always test on a small inconspicuous area first Method of application: Wipe The formula with Almond Oil is mild and caring and is suitable for dry and sensitive skin Jane: Question one. You've been selected to travel to Mars as part of the first human colony on the Red Planet. There's only room for one houseplant from your collection on board. Which plant do you choose?Add a few drops of neem oil and 1 tbsp of Castile soap to a gallon of water, and the rub plant leaves. Since this is oil, I don’t recommend using it too often. Neem oil can actually burn plant foliage, so you should be cautious with this one. Milk? Imagine how cranky you’d be if you were covered in dust and no one ever cleaned you? Especially if no one ever cleaned where you breathe from! Pretty cranky, right? But don’t worry, generally plants don’t need to be cleaned as often as you and I do—a cleaning roughly every season is usually sufficient. Change the peels once they get smudged with dirt and dust. Banana peels have some natural oil that can help you keep the leaves shining and lush. Mix 4 cups of clean filtered water, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, 1-2 drops of dish soap, 2 drops of coconut oil together, and soak a soft microfiber cloth in the mixture to wipe off the dust.