Joanna: the milk should be rinsed or at least wiped off with clean water.
For the most part, this is WAY too time-consuming, but hey, Jack just
scrubbed them all with Neem, so I figure he's got time on his hands G.
I've used lemon juice, too, but had the same rinsing problem unless it was
weak to begin with [well, it wasn't the smell, but the ants seemed to think
the plant had become a Vitamin C dispenser G] Also, without knowing what
all he grows, I wouldn't want to say that ALL of them would tolerate
straight lemon juice. Same re the vinegar; it never hurt anything I used it
on, but ...

All of above is among the many reasons we switched to RO water several years
ago. If the plants don't get spotted up to begin with, they don't have to
be cleaned. Our system is obviously much larger (and more expensive) than
what a hobby grower would need (although it does also make good drinking
water, once you get used to the total lack of flavor), but I hear that there
are some really small [3-5 gallons a day] household units out now, at
relatively low prices. Kenni

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:Nue2g.129$BO2.28@trnddc02...
Kenni and Jack,
I remember someone here on rgo (I think it was Al, actually) pointing out
that if one grows orchids indoors then using milk to clean leaves is a
really bad idea, due to the sour milk smell. Why _weak_ lemonade? I have
cleaned Phal leaves with undiluted lemon juice with no ill effect that I
could tell.
Joanna

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Try milk (whole, not low-fat), cut 50-50 with water. [It will also leave
a slight, natural-looking lustre. If that doesn't work, try weak
lemonade or a weak vinegar solution. The key is the acid, different ones
work better on different kinds of spots. Or look for one of the bottled
leaf-shine products that contains citric acid. Kenni

"Jack" wrote in message
oups.com...
BTW is there something that I can use to cut throught the mineral on
the leaves, the neen oil leaves a nice luster, but some of the spots
are really hard to get off.

Jack

3 days until I get my new compots...