Depends on the type and size of the plant, but I often put plants in the tub or sink and then use a either a watering can or a spray bottle of barely warm water to clean them.

I never even bother to think twice about it......in the bathtub under the shower or in the kitchen sink with the faucet spray nozzle.

Not enough exposure to hard tap water to be of concern. Just in and out, sprayed off and you are done. It is not something that needs to be done everyday but I'd encourage you to do so periodically.

get a manual pump bottle : set it to spray and spray away (in the tub or shower ..one at a time, but you can do several at once in a tub).

hardly any water will get into soil. if the leaves are very dusty you can add a drop of dish soap too. I find that showering spray can be too strong for some tender foliage, but manual spraying is very gentle.

and, yes I do this and I have a huge amount of houseplants. but smaller ones can be done at the sink even just under the running water, but spray nozzle is very handy.

I have a spray bottle and had actually thought about trying that, as you suggest Party and Petrushka. Since you both recommend, I think this will probably be a really good way for me to try. I do use my kitchen sink for small plants and it works well for them, I just get nervous about large pieces of perlite and bark going down the drain and getting stuck in the garbage disposal.
As far as only having as much as I can handle, that’s so hard for me😊!! I will definitely admit to being a serious plant addict. I don’t think I am at the point where I have so many that any are being neglected, but I did promise my husband that I would take a break from buying new plants since we keep running out space and he has already had to build me three different plant shelves to accommodate my addiction. So far I haven’t broken that promise for a whole month... oh, no, wait, I did. Ok, well, I’m trying to cut down. Like I said, I have issues. Very serious plant issues.
I am always looking to learn some helpful tricks or tips, because I am still basically a plant newbie. Even though I went crazy and have now amassed a ton of plants, I only started about 2 years ago. I started out cleaning my plants one by one with a wet towel, but as I got more and more, I felt like there had to be an easier way that I didn’t know about or hadn’t thought of yet.
Thank you all for your replies and help. I definitely appreciate all advice and am always happy to learn from anyone with more experience.

>> the perlite clogged sink ;)

put a paper towel over the drain, it'll collect the debris. it'll drain thru it very slow, but it WILL drain. then u pick up the towel and voila! no clogging !

What a great simple idea, that I never would have thought of! 😂 Thank you so much for the tip.

I am full of it :)))..running around 250 houseplants...necessity is the mother of invention...

I have several home made soil sifters. One of them has Aluminum insect screen attached for sifting out fine dust. Made out of 1x4 wood frame and they are 16" x 24" in size. I use it give the plants a shower in the tub. Catches all the dirt in the screen. I also change the hand held shower wand. Now it has 7ft long SS flex pipe with a hose fitting at the end. I can attach my hose end sprinkler (the one with multiple water pattern that one normally use outdoors). This makes showering the plants much easier. For cleanup, I take the screen outside and give it a good shake and it is done.

This is the half inch sifter - could not find a pic with the insect screen but you get the idea. Right now I prop it up with couple of scrap wood pieces., but I am thinking of building a simple open top table of sorts so I do not have to keep bending down.

if you have a balcony, take them out for vacationing in the summer. Rain will do the work.

not if you live in the big city: I have to wash my jades with soap solution to get all the dust off, even though I spray them regularly on the balcony: when it rains it does not get in at all, unless it's super windy and is directly into the balcony.

Getgoing- I do have a balcony and so wish I could put some of my plants outside for the summer, but we have serious problems with bugs outside. I don’t know why, or what the problem is, but every year all of my outside plants on my balcony get taken down by spider mites, and I can see major spider mite and mealy bug infestations on all of the plants around my building and throughout our neighborhood. It’s crazy; my husband always laughs, because I always point out all of the bugs every time we walk to our cars, and it’s a lot! We even treat the perimeter of the balcony, all around our doors, to prevent infestations from getting inside, but I’ve actually had some spider mites get to some of my plants that are right up against our French doors, between balcony and bedroom. It’s gross!! I would love to give some of my houseplants a vacation outside, but I’m terrified! I’ll either lose them to an infestation outside, or bring that in and, oh man, that would be serious trouble!!!!

Petrushka- wow!! What beautiful plants you have, and I’m sure those are a very small selection of your population.

I am sorry ND that you have such unusual infestation outdoors. You are wise to keep them indoors. I had my kalanchoes catch some scale/mealy bug/aphid infestation (could not figure out which one, they were dirt brown round, senispherical crawlies concentrated at the apex) and it took major effort to get rid of them all. But that's the only one I have had so far.
Petroushka, I think the difference is I have an open balcony (can't call it a terrace, it just the top floor condo balcony). And I do live in the biggest city in NJ right across from NYC. But I guess having the bay and the liberty state park next door helps except its windy as hell most of spring and fall.

Getgoing- lol, I also have the top level condo w/balcony, but I think that might be a huge difference between a city and suburb. Your top level is probably really high, while mine is the second floor (yup, that’s the highest level of our condos). It’s funny, I constantly complain about how dense/overpopulated Montgomery county, md is, but I know ny/nj residents would probably laugh at our buildings😅 I have told my husband, when we move, and we are currently looking, I would die to have an enclosed sunroom(OMG!!), but I really want one bathroom with window, window in kitchen, a space that he can convert in to a black and white darkroom for me (laundry room maybe), and I have to be on the highest floor (if we buy another condo) for maximum sunlight!

ND, I am not that high on the 4th floor. I do have a sort of sun room octagonal jut out in my living room but most of my windows face north. You may want to make sure you have maximum south/west exposure (windows and/or balcony). The north facing large windows in my kitchen are pretty useless. In fact all Noth facing windows (and I have lots) are useless for gardening purposes. Good luck with your search.

My plants do much better outside than indoors with respect to everything including pests. We live in a residential area in Pittsburgh city - it is not a large city but decent size. Outdoors I may end up using soap or horticultural oil may be 2-3 times and that too on specific plants. I do spray a few of my bonsai with systemic once, in the beginning of the season, in a very controlled/isolated fashion. I do not want to disturb good bugs since they do all the heavy lifting of keeping my plants clean of bugs. The only nuisance is Japanese beetles that go after very specific plants. I just tolerate them or collect them into a cup of soapy water and dispose them.

Indoors plants get a shower may be once a month mainly to flush the soil. Taking them outdoors is generally not feasible unless we get a warm spell during the winter and that is rare. Plus I have way too many plants to do the in-out-in shuffle within time constraints.

I eventually got rid of spider mites on my parlor palm by giving it a vacation outdoors (no amount of soapy water could do that). Now my foot rubber plant has spider mites after skipping the vacation last summer. It's got to go out this summer. I just worry about the winds damaging it....

I also find my house plants are happier outside. Scale and aphids hate it outside where they have to contend with wind and rain.

@getgoing100_7b_nj,

we are almost neighbours :), i'm in Newport JC, you must be in Paulus Hook, JC? facing Liberty park?

by the way, my balcony faces N-NE, so I get 3-4 hours of morning sun in summer. But it's a scorcher in the mornings! I put out plants early, while it's not that hot yet and only in the corner with no sun. otherwise they will all burn. then I move some to the sunny corner, but only the ones that can take heat and sun.

I would not recommend south-west balcony where the summers are hot. only succulents will survive there. even direct East will be very hot. Most houseplants will do wonderfully on the northern balcony without any direct sun.

without the balcony my sun-lovers will not be half as good even though I have gigantic floor to ceiling windows. But Calamondin, jades, crotons, amaryllis, caladiums, tropical hibiscus and many others do fantastically outside for me. I just won't be able to grow them as well without my balcony. But I do get mites and scale even high-up: i'm above 20th fl. Occasionally I see monarchs flying by :) in the fall. How bugs can get so-o high I do not understand...like scale? in the fall I get stinkers and soldier bugs. it's weird. I do use indoor (weak) systemic in the fall and spray-spray-spray. it's a lot of work.

you can see pics of my balcony in my ideas albums in profile (some people cannot see them, apparently, don't know why..), past year there was hardly any room left for me: I am under 'occupy balcony' attack ;).

petrushka: bugs are everywhere. Wind can carry them, or they can fly or accidentally carried (adults and eggs) by other bugs. Here is a video you may enjoy: https://vimeo.com/21493827

Mother nature at its best. I find them quite fascinating even though I may not like them damaging my plants. My target is to keep them under control rather than eliminate them. Truth be told, there are occasions when I want to nuke them (Japanese Beetles, Stink bugs) but resist the urge.

By carefully tweaking light, temperature, humidity, and air circulation over the years I have been able to keep bugs indoors at quite a low level. Of all things I think good air flow and not congesting the plants has the biggest impact. Second is I have reduced my expectations of wanting them to grow inside. I am happy with keeping most of my plants in sort of a limbo. But come March they will all want to grow again. That is the time I would have to be much more vigilant. Right now bug pressure is near zero and I have probably 300 plants mostly on the small side.

I keep temps cooler in winter, so most plants grow very slowly if at all.

But I have to be vigilant come equinox: my huge west facing windows heat up the rooms to 80F-85F fast. and that's when mites and scale wake up and create a lot of work for me :). since I started spraying my balcony plants in the fall with seaweed/fish emulsion solution, the scale is minimal, but still somehow gets inside, systemic or not. just on certain plants though like ivies. but I keep them isolated for that reason.

Concerned as I was to see bugs on video up 'n close ;), I clicked :).

no bugs, just gramps talking :). I knew that monarchs fly very high, but not the other buggies. I know that I have no scale indoors, and my plants are clean when I put them out, but once the temps start dropping: the bugs seek shelter and they all want to get inside...

Petrushka, hello neighbor. I am at Port liberte. Regarding the exposure, I like to grow annuals and perennials so north is not my friend
My balcony does get some east and then overhead and west sun, mostly a few months of spring/summer, the peak season so I get enough sun to scrape by. But I am constantly adjusting the location of the several containers and stands of all sizes to maximize their sun exposure. I get about half a days sun in all from May to August mostly. I did manage to grow a motley crew of Dahlias, poppies, sweet peas, petunias, Lobelia, verbena, pansy, portulaca, and delphinium, Dipladenia, night Jasmine, and God knows what else on the tiny 5x15 balcony. My neighbor on the hand has the opposite exposure which I am positively jealous of. Of course, I don't need to water as much.

Tropicofcancer, my houseplants are too many (not as many as yours though) and the balcony too small to all get a vacay outdoors, it is rationed as much as possible. I don't have much pest problem with houseplants, except the occasional spider mites, or mealy bugs. It is the annuals and perennials I brings indoors in September/October that are prone to fungal infections and aphids. But I love the blooms they provide throughout winter with the addition of some grow lights. I surrendered this year and resorted to bayer 3 in 1. It was a great success. Unfortunately, I can't avoid crowding, I have too much to grow in too few sunny windows.

Petrushka, I can't see your ideas either.

here's the link to 2019 album. can u see that?

and 2018 album and more: 2017

they are nor private. some people can see them when they go to my profile. don't know why.

Yes, I see you have quiet the tropical jungle going on there, nice.

We could probably get together irl and drool over each others collection. :)

I have much more inside :). I keep living room pretty , but my 2nd bedroom is quite stuffed with small plants: I prune/propagate, sprout..so it gets very stuffed in winter.

I was thinking of uploading pretty pics of my plants indoors into a sep album or 2 or 10 :))), but somehow don't get to it..too busy. I keep all my plants on water-wicks, so I don't have to constantly water. Even on balcony: can take vacations, no sweat! even in the heat of august. But loading the reservoirs with water takes a lo-ong time. but worth it for me, since I don't want to give up travel (need a break too from my jungle LOL).

I changed one of the settings in profile: can you see my public idea books now?

I might load up some pics of my best plants.

but if nobody can see them, seems like a waste of time.

when houzz did an update last year some people stopped seeing them, while others still could. it has smth to do with gardenweb merge with houzz: lots of things are iffy.

Petrushka: I can see several albums of yours. Very nice collection and they all look healthy and good.

getgoing: I can see one picture. Not sure if you have more out there since that is all I can see.