To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!
By Irishwitch from Aurora, CO
Check out these tips.
I like the look of plants, so I decorate other areas with artificial flowers and plants. They get dusty, and then they look horrible when dusty.
I take my silk plants into the shower and rinse them off while I shower. Most silks these days are polyester. I then lay them upside down for the water to drain out and air dry them.
I spray Febreze generously onto the whole flower/foliage arrangement, tree, etc. This works just as well as commerical cleaners made specifically for silk flowers. Just spray, no wiping necessary.
Buy some cheap furniture polish and spray your silks with it. I sprayed mine over the dust and all and they now look great.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Due to health problems this year, my spring cleaning is also going to entail an attempt to remove quite a bit of dust and grease 'gunk' from some artificial plants which I have in my bedroom and above kitchen cabinets. (No, I don't want to get rid of them)
I was thinking of spraying on a diluted Dawn mixture, then taking them outside and hosing them off, but also wondered if anyone in the wonderful ThriftyFun community has a better or easier way to accomplish this yucky task? The arrangements are too large to do the garbage bag/salt idea. Thank you in advance for any info you can give me; hopefully next year they won't be as bad.
By Marilyn J Ference from Orlando, FL
I have both plastic and silk artificial flowers which I clean quite easily by swooshing them around in a bucket or basin of water and washing up liquid. I use fairy since dawn isn't available here. Then I leave them outside, if possible, to dry in the sun. Have had them for years and they still look great!
Do not try to put permanent flower arrangements in a bag with salt and shake them to clean them. That process is for individual stems of flowers. It would beat the arrangement in to an unrecognizable mess.
Polyester silk flowers can be cleaned with a mild detergent and water but again that is mostly used for individual flowers, not arrangements. Only assembly line manufactured arrangements like foliage designs will take the abuse, without ruining the arrangement.
You can wipe down the individual flowers in the arrangement flower by flower. Then rinse, carefully, to restore the original look of the design. Design Masters aerosol silk flower cleaner will do the trick if used regularly but try not to let the grease or grime build up.
I am a professional florist with over 45 years of experience, and this is the method we ask our clients to employ to keep their silk arrangements fresh and looking their best.
I am looking for a homemade recipe for cleaning artificial plants. I know one of the ingredients is liquid fabric softener. Does anyone know about this recipe?
I know you can dust silk flowers/ leaves by placing salt or rice in a brown paper bag, add silk flowers and shake.
On artifical plants and silk flowers I just use sudsy ammonia and water, and dip them in, rinse them off with clean water, air dry them and they are sparkling clean...
Calla lilies are beautiful and artificial ones look real, especially from a distance. However, they do get dirty over time and require cleaning.
Faux trees can collect a lot of dust on their leaves that requires cleaning. This is a page about cleaning artificial trees.
This is a page about cleaning artificial flowers. Artificial flowers can become dusty or dingy over time.
This is a page about removing smoke odor from artificial plants. Smoke from a house fire or cigarettes can leave an odor on your artificial plants.
This page is about cleaning silk flowers, swags and wreaths. Dusty artificial flowers and greenery need special care when removing the dirt.
