Will vinegar kill my houseplant?

December 4, 2007 2:28 PM

Help me clean my plant's container and avoid killing the plant itself.

I have a "lucky bamboo" (Dracaena sanderiana) plant in a glass container filled with water. As the water evaporates, it leaves white deposits on the inside of the glass that do not come off easily.

If I were to temporarily dump out the water and scrub the inside of the container with vinegar, could this harm my plant? Is there a better way to get rid of those water deposits?

Help me beautify the container and keep my plant alive.

posted by meggan to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

I've let mine dry out completely before now. Taking it out of the water for a minutes should be fine.
posted by Rabulah at 2:31 PM on December 4, 2007

Forgot to add, yeah, vinegar will probably fetch them off, depending on what they are. If it's just calcium salts, etc, you'll be fine. If it's fertiliser salts, you might have a bit more trouble.

To stop them appearing in the first place, use rainwater.
posted by Rabulah at 2:33 PM on December 4, 2007

Rinse the container well after using the vinegar and it'll be fine.

Rainwater would work, but your climate may not allow for adequate collection. (Mine certainly doesn't.) Start using bottled water instead of tap water. Sounds like you have hard water, like I do.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:12 PM on December 4, 2007

vinegar will work just fine. rinse well.
posted by twistofrhyme at 9:14 PM on December 4, 2007