Episode 165: Leaf shine and cleaning leaves

These Peperomia polybotrya leaves are naturally shiny. Photograph: Jane Perrone.

Transcript

Episode 165

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Jane: This week's show is sponsored by PlantSpectrum32, the new full spectrum growlight from Mother. If you're looking for a sturdy, sustainable, waterproof light that will help your plants live their best life, look no further than the PlantSpectrum32. I'm so impressed with this light. Not only does it look great, it's also flexible, you can stand it vertically on the floor, attach to walls, or hang from racks and this is one growlight that really will stand the test of time. The PlantSpectrum32's casing is made from recycled aluminium and after eight years of use, when the LEDs wear out, the LED board is replaceable for a fraction of the price of a new light. The PlantSpectrum32 comes with a four year warrantee and costs €189. Visit Mother.life now to get your PlantSpectrum32. Mother ships globally, so wherever you are, you can make sure your plants get the light they need.

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Jane: Hello and welcome to On The Ledge podcast! How shiny are your leaves? That's what we're asking today! I'm your host, Jane Perrone, and this here podcast is On The Ledge: your passport to the world of plants! Sometimes a listener question comes in that's just so good that I want to dedicate a whole episode to it. Today, I'm talking about a question from Emily about leaf shine products and what's the best way of making your leaves look all beautiful and shiny? We'll also be hearing from listener, Beth, in Meet the Listener.

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Jane: My hand is aching today and that's because I've been spending so much time handwriting cards to my Patreon subscribers at the Ledge-End level. There are a lot of you! I've discovered that through doing this exercise for the December mail-out. It's wonderful, though, because what I'm discovering is I really do have Patreons all over the globe. It's been wonderful sitting there, looking at an address in Tasmania and wondering what it's like to live in Tasmania on the other side of the world from me here in the UK, or living in Long Beach, California, or discovering that I have three Patreons called Leah! How unexpected was that? So, it's been a real joy to write these cards. I'm still going with them and the SuperFans, who are getting posters, I am packaging up your posters also and you should be getting those before Christmas, hopefully well before Christmas. It depends on what the old postal service is doing, of course.

We've welcomed some new Patreons to the fold of late, Helen, Susanne, Nick and Emily have all become Ledge-Ends and Chris has become a SuperFan. I'm enormously thankful to all of you who do donate either via Patreon, or ko-fi.com, or just PayPal because you really do help keep the show going and so it's been lovely to be able to put together your rewards for all of your loyalty this year. I know there are loads of you who can't afford a financial donation, which is absolutely fine, but you do loads for the show in other ways, promoting it on social media, telling your friends and generally bigging-up On The Ledge and that's really important too, so thanks to all of you!

If you're thinking this sounds like a pretty nice club to join, then do check the show notes at janeperrone.com where you'll find details of how to get on board wth Patreon and if you prefer to give a one-off donation, well, you can do that via PayPal or via ko-fi.com

The wonderful Oscar Cheung, aka Oscars.Online, on Instagram, who designed my card and poster this year for the Patreon mail-out has his own gorgeous T-shirt which he is selling right now; it's the Watering Can 2020 tour. The shirt is a parody of band tour merch; the T-shirts you pick up at gigs. The band is called The Watering Can and the cities they're stopping off at are houseplants and also listing the countries where those plants come from. I'll stick it on my socials you can have a look at it there and you can also find the link in the show notes. 10% of the profits from the shirt are going to Mental Health UK, so please support Oscar if you can. it's a really lovely thing. As I speak, you've got ten days left to order the shirt. This works on a campaign basis, so ten days left, the campaign ends on 7th December, so do get in and order your shirt now and support On The Ledge listener and designer, Oscar Cheung.

Final bit of promo; Legends of the Leaf! We've reached 50%! Woohoo! I'm happy about that, as you can tell. If you haven't pledged yet, there is an amazing offer just for today, that's Friday 27^th^ November, you can get 25% off pledges up to £75 using the code BookFriday2020. So, if you haven't pledged, now is an ideal time to do that. You'll get 25% off with the code. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Legends of the Leaf is my crowdfunded houseplant book, which is going to tell 25 stories about 25 iconic house plants and also tell you how to grow them. I can't wait to get writing this book, so please support me if you can. Details are in the show notes or just go to unbound.com. Enough promo-ing, let's get on with the show!

First up, let's hear from our Meet the Listener victim, well I won't call them a victim, I'll call them a star! Our Meet the Listener star, Beth.

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Beth: Hi, On The Ledge podcast! This is Beth calling from Ontario, Canada. I live on a farm near Lake Erie and I am a big fan of On The Ledge. I'm very excited to be on Meet the Listener.

Jane: Question one. You've been selected to travel to Mars as part of the first human colony on the Red Planet. There's only room for one houseplant from your collection on board. Which plant do you choose?

Beth: I think I would take my, I call it 'the pot of succulents'. They're a gathering of succulents that I had in my wedding bouquet when I married my husband six years ago and they're growing and thriving. I don't really know what plants they are, but they always make me so happy and remind me of that day.

Jane: Question two. What is your favourite episode of On The Ledge?

Beth: My favourite episode of On The Ledge is episode 4 about microgreens. I absolutely love to cook and, being in Canada, our winters are long and fairly dark, so I usually end up growing some microgreens in January/February just to make it through the darkest times of the year. It's always nice to have something fresh on your plate. I also have two little boys who love the fact that they can plant some seeds and, in pretty short order, be eating them. I'm always pretty impressed with how the next generation loves to see where their food comes from. I'm always suggesting to my friends that microgreens are awesome. They ask me questions about it and I refer them to your podcast because it's a really good 'How To'.

Jane: Question three. Which Latin name do you say to impress people?

Beth: I don't use many Latin names for the houseplants that I have. I don't know a lot of their names. I just enjoy their shapes and try to look after them the best I can. Mainly because I've heard it so often said on the podcast, the Pilea Peperomia, is something I have said to my mom a few times because I was able to gift her some of the little babies from my plant, so I told her the Latin name of it and I think she was pretty impressed with that one, although she didn't have the right conditions for it so it came back to me, but that's okay. I think that's what houseplants are all about.

Jane: Question four. Crassulacean acid metabolism or guttation?

Beth: I would say guttation is my favourite. It is such a cool thing to see. I haven't seen it on any of my houseplants thus far but maybe one day, if I get the right ones and the right conditions. I have looked at pictures online and seen those little droplets of water. It just has a little sense of whimsy to it, so I quite enjoy that.

Jane: Question five. Would you rather spend £200 on a variegated Monstera, or £200 on 20 interesting cacti?

Beth: I would go for the large, variegated Monstera as I'm sitting here looking at about a dozen small pots of various succulents. I quite enjoy them but I think having a high-impact plant like a Monstera would really do well and it would light up part of the sun room that I have in my home and give me something to look at, in those long dreary months, that reminds me of a more tropical, warm summer.

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Jane: Thank you to Beth and if you'd like to be a part of Meet the Listener, we'd love to hear from you! Drop a line to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com and my very capable assistant, Kelly, will send you details of how to take part. I'm particularly interested in hearing from people in parts of the world that we haven't heard from yet. So, if you're in India, the Philippines, Spain, Poland, or one of the other countries we haven't yet featured, step forward! It's your time to shine!

Talking of shining, it's time to get on with this week's topic which was inspired by a question from listener Emily with the subject line: "Leaf Shine?" Emily writes: "I recently received several Peace Lilies from a funeral, sadly. Fitting time, with the Katie Vaz episode". Yes, you'll remember my episode with Katie Vaz, the illustrator, where she talks about Peace Lilies, aka Spathiphyllums, being a common plant at funerals, which they certainly are. Emily goes on: "I noticed one in particular seemed to be sporting UNNATURALLY shiny leaves, it got me wondering about these "Leaf shine" products I've seen in the garden centre and I wonder if you could teach us a little more about them? What are they made of? Where do they come from historically? Are they detrimental to the plants you intend to keep long-term, i.e. do they interfere with photosynthesis or some other leaf functioning? Will these products come off with my routine wiping/dusting of the leaves? I've never felt compelled to add extra shine to my plants' leaves, so I find this all very curious and interesting."

Well, so do I, Emily, and that's why I wanted to get to the bottom of the leaf shine business! Joining me to help answer this question is Larry Hodgson, aka The Laid Back Gardener, and the first question to tackle is, what's actually in that can of leaf shine?

Larry: The thing is, you never know, because if you look on the label it won't tell you. However, it contains various products. It could be silicone. It could be different oils. No-one really knows what's in them! You could check it out. You could contact the company and they'll probably give you the information, but essentially, it's a shiny coating that's applied over the top of the leaf.

Jane: Larry's right. It's really hard to find out exactly what is in that can or spray bottle of leaf shine. I've done some digging and looked at various product sheets for different leaf shine brands and there's not a lot of illumination to be had there. Some of them list various things like Naphtha, which is a petroleum-based solvent. Some of the products list butane because I think that's what's used as the propellant for the aerosol, while another listed its active ingredient as Pinene. What's that? Well, it's a chemical that's found in the essential oil that you get from pine trees and one type of Pinene is the main component of turpentine. Other than that, it's just vague references to mineral oils and waxes and very little specific information about the ingredients.

I did find a recipe for a plant leaf shine spray in a book called Practical Formulas for Hobby or Profit by Henry Goldschmidt. This came out in 1973 and it lists the ingredients as PVP-VA I-535, 3%-5%, carbowax 1500 at 0.2% to 0.35%, isopropanol at 31% - 29% and propellants at 65%. So, obviously, that's roughly what we're talking about here.

How long have these leaf shines been around? Well, I couldn't find an enormous amount of information on the history of leaf shine sprays, but I did find a book dating from 1933 called The Chemical Formulary by Harry Bennett and it did list a recipe for a leaf shine spray in there which didn't sound that much different from the ones we use today. So they've obviously been around for at least 90 years and probably a bit longer. So, could leaf shine actually help our plants? Over to Larry.

Larry: No, it's not going to be good for leaves. It's not going to be good for several reasons. The most obvious one is that many leaves have the stomata at the top and the bottom and if you spray it on the top of the leaf, you're blocking their breathing pores; stomata is how they breathe.

Jane: Yes, a reminder, stomata is the breathing holes of the plant and if you spray something onto the leaf that's going to block those holes, well, that's going to reduce the amount of gas exchange that plant is able to do.

Larry: You're keeping the plant from breathing correctly, so that's not going to be good. Also, some of these products, not all of them, some of them make the leaf more sticky and that will pick up dust and that'll block the plant as well and cut off light. And if you happen to have cats at home, for example, or dogs that shed, it'll make them covered in fur, which is not good either. One thing people don't think about though, is that if the leaf is shiny, extra shiny, abnormally shiny, it is actually reflecting light, it's not absorbing light, so you're cutting back on the light the plant gets and that's a major one. It only decreases by a small amount but still, most plants indoors just get barely enough light to survive. You don't want to block the light that gets into them. So that's three different reasons why they're not such a good thing.

Jane: Yes, I don't know about you, but I really don't fancy - Wolfie doesn't shed very much - but I don't want his hairs sticking to my Aroid leaves! It's not a good look. That point about reflecting light, that's a really good one that I hadn't thought of: every little drop of light counts when you're indoors, where light levels are so much lower, so by spraying on leaf shine, you might actually be reducing your chances of optimising photosynthesis. There are other factors to consider when thinking about shining your plant leaves and that's to do with the location of the stomata because monocots and dicots have different stomata distribution. What's a monocot? What's a dicot? Well, a monocot is a plant that has one seed leaf when it germinates and a dicot is a plant that has two seed leaves when it germinates. That may seem kind of irrelevant to how the stomata is arranged but here's Larry to explain why it's pretty crucial.

Larry: Dicots germinate with two seedlings. They usually have the upper surface doing all the work as far as absorbing light and the undersurface is where the stomata are formed. So they're not going to be as harmed as much as plants that have stomata on both surfaces and that would include all the monocots, the ones that germinate with just one seed leaf and that does include a lot of plants that we grow in our homes. Orchids, for example, are monocots, the entire family of Aroids and we grow Monsteras, Philodendrons, Dieffenbachia. They all have stomata on both sides of the leaf. The Sansevierias, the Dracaenas, we're slowly ticking off most of our common houseplants that shouldn't use it. Plus, if you read the label on these shine products it'll say things like: "Do not use on plants with hairy leaves or fuzzy leaves". Okay that's one down. "Do not use on new growth". Well, that's another thing down! You end up saying, "Exactly what plants can I use it on?" It'll say don't use them on succulents: they usually have stomata on both sides of their leaves too. So you sort of say, "Well, what exactly can I use them on?" A limited number of plants would be the answer.

Jane: So how come it's still so common to find plants that are sprayed with leaf shine? Particularly if you buy them from florists? Well, if you take a look at the advertising around, some of these leaf shine products, you can see the attraction from the florists' point of view, because they advertise themselves as reducing transpiration, in other words, the loss of water vapour from the plant through those stomata and how does that benefit the florist? Well, of course, if the florist has got a plant sitting in their shop for a few days waiting to be sold or, indeed, sitting at a funeral, if transpiration rates are reduced via the use of leaf shine, the plant is much less likely to suddenly wilt and, as we all know with Peace Lilies, that's something they're very prone to do. The florist can keep the plant looking nicer for longer and therefore have more chance of selling that plant.

These leaf shines were also used on cut foliage displays for a similar purpose, like wreaths and things like that, to preserve the foliage for as long as possible, even when it's detached from the plant. So, I can really see why they're popular with florists, but I'd argue that they're not a product that you need to use on your plants at home. I think the first thing to do is change our mindset about shininess and leaves because, yes, some leaves are naturally very shiny. Very few have that high gloss that leaf shine gives. The idea that this should be our aesthetic, it's a bit off-track to me. Let's enjoy the natural patina and texture of our leaves as they are, but not worrying if we can't see our face in them because applying leaf shine is a bit like applying a really bad Instagram filter. Yes, it may make things look a bit better from a distance but look up close and it looks really odd.

Emily asked if this product will come off her leaves? Yes, it will over a period of time, I'm sure. With wiping with a damp cloth, the leaf shine will gradually come away and the plant will be absolutely fine. It won't cause any long-term damage.

So, how do you keep your leaves free of dust and debris without using leaf shine? There are so many remedies out there and most involve using something from the kitchen cupboards it seems. I've heard of mayonnaise, milk, castor oil, coconut oil, lemon juice, the inside of a banana skin and even vodka being used to shine leaves - what a waste of vodka! Before you raid your kitchen cupboards, let's go back to Larry to find out what he thinks.

Larry: Most of those products are quite sticky, so you're going to have that problem of dust accumulating and you don't really want that. It's one thing to want to make your leaf shine on day one, but if on day 25 it looks awful, that's not going to be any good. So, I'm not in favour of putting anything on a leaf. I just say let it live its normal life.

Jane: There is some evidence that a spray containing milk can help with powdery mildews as a way of killing the fungal spores that cause this condition. I'll link in the show notes to an article that goes into the science behind this. If you're looking for a general cleaner for your houseplant leaves, the non-hairy ones, the best thing you can use is a damp cloth. Ideally water that's distilled or rainwater, so it doesn't contain of those mineral salts that can cause those white deposits on leaves. If you can, it can really give your plants a boost to give them the occasional shower, this will not only clean off the leaves but also help the potting medium too. Here's why:

Larry: Over time, as you water, and especially when you add fertiliser to the water or fertiliser into the soil, minerals slowly build up in a pot. Outdoors that wouldn't happen because rain is going to flush it out, so outdoors you're getting that happening. Indoors, when you water, the water goes into the tray at the bottom, just a little bit, and you leave it there and it never goes anywhere. So, as time goes on the minerals start to build up. At first that's not a problem but over time they eventually get to the point that they become quite toxic. What happens is that when the mineral concentration is greater outside the leaf than inside the leaf, it pulls the water out of the plant's roots and it's never good. In fact, most of the time when you see brown leaf tips, people tend to blame it on chlorine or something like that. It's not chlorine causing the problem, there's a build-up of minerals in the soil and it's time to either rinse it out or repot, one or the other.

Jane: Thanks to Larry Hodgson for providing such expert advice this week. You can find Larry on the internet as laidbackgardener.blog

Do you want to come with me while I go and clean some plant leaves? Yes, let's do it!

That was a big yawn, Wolfie! We're in the front room now, I have readied my cloth. Are you going to sit down, Wolfie? On the sofa; up! I have with me my cloth ready for some leaf shining. This is just an old muslin from when my kids were babies. You can also use a ripped up T-shirt, any fabric that's soft and isn't going to do any damage to your plant leaves is ideal. I've just soaked this in a bit of rainwater. If you've got hard water use rain water or distilled water, if you can, because that way you won't leave any mineral salt deposits on the leaves, and make sure this is at room temperature as well if you really want to spoil your plants because that will make sure that the plant doesn't get a shock from freezing cold cloth. When you're deciding which leaves to shine, well, anything that is hairy is out, I tend to clean those up with the soft paintbrush or clean make up brush. Then plants that have got glossy leaves can be wiped down. We're obviously focusing on the top side of the leaf as we've discovered today many of the monocots do have stomata on both sides of the leaves, but, the top layer is the bit where you tend to get the most dirt accumulating, for obvious reasons. While you're doing this, you can have a really good look at the leaves and check for any pests that might be hanging out. If you use a white cloth then it's quite satisfying because you can actually see how much dirt you're getting off. Now the dog is whining to go with my husband! Hang on a minute! Go and find daddy - off you go!

Back to the plant leaves. I've got here a Tradescantia spathacea and there's actually three different varieties in here. While I'm cleaning the leaves I'm also going to remove a few dead leaves that have served their purpose and need to be picked off before they fall off. Just gently wiping those leaves, just gently wiping those leaves. Never press down or do anything harsh to the leaves, as that will damage them. So just be very gentle and place your hand underneath the leaf and then have the cloth in the other hand and use that to wipe, that way you're supporting the leaf as it's cleaned and it's not going to get damaged or crushed by the action of your cleaning. These leaves are looking better already. If you've got a spray like SB plant invigorator you could also spray your plants down with that first and then wipe, in this case I'm just using rainwater.

If you do find any leaves that are damaged, it's your call as to whether you want to remove those or leave them where they are. Damaged leaves are never going to totally recover, they're going to stay damaged, they're going to be replaced by new leaves, so you need to make a judgement call as to whether the damage that's there is so unsightly that you want to remove them, whether it'll leave too much of a gap and that really depends on the type of leaf and the arrangement of the leaf as to whether you want to do that. Right, let's put this Tradescantia back and in fact while I'm putting it back I'm going to leave it slightly turned so that the plant will naturally turn towards the light. By turning it regularly it means you're getting a balance for the plant. Now, I'm getting this umbrella plant which I think desperately needs repotting, let's have a look. Hmmm, well, there are some roots coming through the bottom. This may be due a repot. It's produced beautiful new growth. It's wise to be very, very careful with the new growth because new leaves are very, very delicate until they've matured and hardened off and they're very vulnerable and they won't have had much of a chance to build up a lot of a deposit either. I'm going to leave this very new growth alone. I'm only cleaning the established leaves because that way I won't do any damage. I'm really not a meditation person but I do find cleaning plant leaves is very therapeutic.

I have got a plant whose leaves I wouldn't really clean with a damp cloth. This is an Alocasia Black Velvet. I'm not sure if I'm going to clean this or not because the leaf has got a very slightly hairy texture and I tend to avoid cleaning this one with the damp cloth technique. I think it'll probably be fine but this is probably one that I would put into the bath and give a good shower to, rather than clean with the cloth, just because of the texture of those leaves.

I'm just going to go over to my table that's closest to the window. I've got a few things here which definitely need a wipe down. My Hoya Kerrii variegated form is very beautiful. I've got pine cones on this table and I'm knocking them now. The obcordate leaf of the Hoya Kerrii - so that means it's heart shaped and the heart joins the leaf stem at the pointy end, not the other end - these really are quite dirty actually. I'm just going to put a bit more water on my cloth. That's looking better already. Oh, crack, sorry about that. Finally, I've got my beautiful Rhaphidophora tetrasperma which I've recently taken a chunk off to propagate for listener, Lauren. This desperately needs a wipe-down. Again, this is a tricky one because it's got the very incised leaves, you've got to be really careful when cleaning it to make sure you don't damage them. My hand is underneath the leaf, as I gently wipe. I'm going to make the cloth a bit damper. The good thing about these old muslins is that they do absorb an awful lot of water, so it makes them ideal for this purpose. I've just removed one yellow leaf that's served its purpose and was ready to come off the plant. This plant's leaves look great when they're clean, but it's not a plant that needs a high gloss. That's just not how the leaves look naturally. This is why leaf shine, for me, doesn't do anything. This plant also needs watering and probably repotting as well.

I'm a bit of a multi-tasker and I like to do things while I'm doing something else, maybe listening to a podcast but this is certainly not a job you can do sitting in front of the TV because you really do need to concentrate. It's really easy to end up damaging these leaves by accident, so maybe something to do while listening to On The Ledge. It's amazing, the dirt that's coming off these leaves! If you've got a wood-burning stove in your house, you may find that you get particular types of deposits at certain times of year or you may find that at certain times of year, or at certain times here in the UK, we get dust in the air and that can come inside and land on your plants and if you're having building work done, or you're sanding floors, or anything like that, do try and take your plants out of harm's way because they will be affected very easily. Just turning the plant as I go to make it easier to access all the different leaves. If you've got a big plant it could take you quite a while. This is why I don't do this tremendously often. You don't need to do it every week. It's something you can do whenever the plant seems to need it and that's more about observing your plant than anything else.

Well, that's all for this week's On The Ledge podcast, I hope you've enjoyed it and I'll be back next Friday. Have fun shining your leaves this week and here's to naturally healthy-looking plants. Bye!

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Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll, by The Joy Drops and I Snost, I Lost, by Doctor Turtle. The ad music was Whistling Rufus by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit janeperrone.com for details.

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If your new plant has super-shiny leaves, it may have been treated with a leaf shine spray. I find out more about these products with Canadian garden writer Larry Hodgson, and discuss the best ways to clean plant leaves. Plus we hear from listener Beth.

This week’s guest

Houseplant expert Larry Hodgson lives in Quebec City in Canada and has more than 50 plant books to his name, including Houseplants for Dummies.

Check out the notes below as you listen…

• Check out Larry Hodgson’s excellent blogpost on leaf shine here.

• Leaf shine products may make leaves super-shiny, but they also tend to block the plants’ stomata, aka their breathing pores, which can affect the plant’s ability to transpire and photosynthesise.

• Monocots are likely to be worse affected by leaf shine sprays, because they are monocots, and have stomata on both sides of their leaves. Not sure what a monocot is, or how it differs from a dicot? A detailed explanation here, but for our purposes, monocots include orchids and aroids, and these plants have stomata (breathing pores) on both sides of the leaves, whereas dicots such as coleus and Peperomia just have stomata on the undersides of the leaves.

• Why are leaf shine products popular with florists? Because these sprays tend to slow down transpiration rates, which means plants will last longer in the store without wilting.

• The vast majority of houseplant leaves are not naturally super-glossy, so try to change your aesthetic and enjoy your leaves in all their natural (clean) glory.

• Instead of using leaf shine, leathery leaves can be kept clean with a damp cloth - I use a rag made form an old T-shirt or muslin. If your water is hard, use distilled water or rainwater if you can, at room temperature. Be gentle: hold the leaf in the palm of one hand and apply the rag with the other hand, avoiding pressing too hard. While you’re at it, remove any dead leaves and check for pests.

• It’s also beneficial to give plants a shower every so often: either outside in the rain, or in the shower or bath. Not only will this remove dust from leaves, it will also flush buildups of mineral salts from the potting mix.

• Avoid using other home remedies for shining leaves, such as mayonnaise, coconut oil, a banana skin and even vodka! Many of these options are sticky and will actually encourage dust and dirt to accumulate as well as blocking the stomata.

• The only home remedy that may be useful is a solution of milk sprayed onto leaves suffering from powdery mildew. Scroll down this page for an explanation of why this works, and some possible drawbacks.

• Hairy or fuzzy-leaved plants can be cleaned using a soft, clean paintbrush or makeup brush.

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CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops and I Snost, I Lost by Doctor Turtle.

Logo design by Jacqueline Colley.