Office Plants – Keeping Them Clean To Protect Your Appearance

11 May 2018
 Categories: , Blog

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Live plants in the workplace can improve the environment, but they do come with the added responsibility of caring for them and keeping them clean. If the plants are cleaned regularly, they will look terrible and give your business the appearance that you don't care enough to keep up with the cleaning. Here, you'll find a few tips to help you keep your office plants looking great.

Regular Dusting

If you keep up with dusting the plants regularly, you won't have to worry about deep cleaning the plants often at all. During a regular dusting, simply use a Swiffer duster to remove the dust from the leaves. If you or someone who works in the office has allergies, you may do well to move the plants outside or to a different area as you dust them to reduce the effects suffered when the dust becomes airborne.

Utilize the Rain

When you hear that a nice, steady rain is headed your way, put the plants on a cart and wheel them outside to allow the rain to wash them off. The wind and the rain will get all of the leaves nice and clean. Once the rain has passed, allow the plants to sit out in the sun for a few hours to dry the leaves. Then, wipe the bottoms of the potters and put them back where they belong.

Detail Cleaning by Hand

If the plants have been neglected for quite a while, you'll need to give them a good hand-cleaning to remove the dust that's built up on the leaves. Unfortunately, you can't just grab a rag and some water and get cleaning – certain plants require particular techniques to avoid damaging them.

Leaves without Hair – Smooth leaves that don't have little hair-like finishes can be wiped with a soft cloth and some water. Wipe each leaf with a cleaning cloth and follow up with a dry cloth and gently buff the leaf to a shine.

Hairy Leaves – Leaves that are hairy need to be cleaned with a brush. You can use a small paintbrush or blush brush to remove the surface dust. If there is residue built up on the leaves that don't come off with the brush, dip a sponge in some water and very gently wipe the leaf.

Talk with a company like Metro Maintainers Building Services about including the plants in their cleaning routine. You may have to pay a small fee for the added service but keeping up with the plants is worth the expense.