I don't clean my leaves often at all. When I do, I use milk. Pour a bit into a bowl, dip paper towel in milk, gently buff leaf with milk towel, and rinse leaf by buffing it with paper towel dipped in warm water. Repeat, if necessary. Gets rid of mineral deposits and does not clog leaf pores.

I once dunked one hoya that had really gross mineral deposits (like thickly encrusted...never bought from that vendor again) in a milk bath, submerging all but roots. Left for 10 minutes and rinsed really, really well. To this day, there is still some residue.

Other than aesthetics, there really is no need to clean them.

Thanks aurorawa. I never would have thought to use milk. I really like that option as it seems to be very gentle on the plant.

Milk does wonders indeed. I used it before my Hoyas modeled at a photoshoot with my brother's expensive camera, and before bringing some of them to my gardening society. It's practical only with non-small leaves and non-huge plants though. I made milk cleaning a bit faster by showering off the milk from the whole plant rather than wiping. If your shower water is so hard that it puts the spots right back on the leaves, then the water can be wiped after the shower, rather than wiping the milk off.

I've heard advice to spray them with a lemon juice solution to get rid of mineral deposit stains, and that is much easier than wiping leaves one by one. I tried it, but my leaves were not nearly dirty enough to see if lemon juice worked any better than simply plain water. So, I can't vouch for lemon juice.

I shower them occasionally, and that does wonders for them too. They look amazing after this. I start with a soap solution spray, let them sit for a little, then shower off. This advice is not for hard water stains though - it's more for thorough dust removal and fertilizer salt leaching.

I meant to mention, too, that for shine, Amy from this forum sent me something called Brand X that does a fine job of shining leaves. It's supposed to be a plant friendly product, so no leaf clog.

Denise in Omaha

Sounds great. Thanks.