Household cleaners are some of the worst culprits in your home known to contain endocrine disrupting chemicals. But on the flip side, you also want to make sure your home is clean and sanitary for your family. So what’s the solution? Make your home homemade DIY pine needle cleaner with free supplies from your own backyard!
Not only are DIY pine cleaners safe, but they are also incredibly effective. In fact, I was stunned at how well my first attempt at a DIY cleaner worked to wipe away the grease from my stovetop. Even better still, making your own natural household cleaner only takes a couple of minutes. Here’s how to do it.
What You’ll Need
You truly need very few supplies to make your own cleaner. You can experiment with adding different supplemental ingredients, or go for a super-basic pine-only recipe. Here’s what I used:
- Half-gallon (64 ounce) glass jar with lid
- Enough pine needles to fill the jar
- Distilled white vinegar
- The peel from 1 orange
- Strainer or cheesecloth
- Spray bottle
Steps to Make DIY Pine Cleaner
The most time-consuming part of making your own pine cleaner is waiting for the pine needles to infuse the vinegar. Otherwise, this process should only take a couple minutes.
1. Collect pine needles.
You can use needles from any type of evergreen tree, including those with short or long needles. You’ll want to harvest enough to fill your jar, packing them in as you go. While you don’t have to strip the needles completely off the branches, avoid including thick stems or branches in your jar.
2. Add vinegar and optional orange peels.
Add 5% concentrated distilled white vinegar (5% concentration is what you find in most stores) to your jar filled with pine needles. Cover the pine needles, leaving about an inch of room at the top of the jar.
If you want, you can add citrus peels from oranges or lemons for a fresh scent and boost of cleaning power. I peeled one orange and added that to the pine needles.
3. Put a lid on and wait 4 to 6 weeks.
Now, all that’s left to do is wait! Put a lid on your jar – it doesn’t necessarily need to be airtight – and store the jar in a cool, dark place for 4 to 6 weeks. During this time, you can periodically shake the jar, but otherwise, you can sit and forget it until it’s ready to use.
Using Your DIY Pine Cleaner
Once your homemade pine needle cleaner has infused for 4 to 6 weeks, you can now prepare it for use. Get an empty spray bottle and use a funnel or DIY funnel (I made a quick one out of an old gallon water jug) to transfer the cleaning solution from the jar into the bottle. During this process, I held a strainer over the mouth of my makeshift funnel to remove any large pieces of debris. You could also easily use a cheesecloth for this step.
Discard the pine needles and orange peels in your compost pile, and you’re ready to get cleaning!
Frequently Asked Questions
Does DIY pine cleaner actually work?
Yes! I was skeptical at first, thinking the pine cleaner might only be good for a quick wipe-down of countertops. But I recently tried it to clean the grease and grime off of my stove, and it worked like a charm – way better than other cleaners out there that claim to be nontoxic (but still contain some questionable ingredients).
Moreover, pine needles have been scientifically found to contain a variety of antimicrobial peptides, proving them effective against potentially harmful bacteria.
How long does DIY pine needle cleaner last?
Vinegar never technically expires, though the effectiveness of the pine oil can fade away over long periods of time. It’s safe to say you can store your homemade pine cleaner for at least a year before you might want to think about making a fresh batch, just to ensure optimal effectiveness.
Can I use apple cider vinegar (ACV) instead of white vinegar to clean?
Yes, you can absolutely use ACV instead of white vinegar in this recipe. Apple cider vinegar doesn’t smell as strong and white vinegar and still has powerful cleaning properties. However, white vinegar has a higher acid concentration than ACV, making it slightly more effective at cleaning stuck-on messes.
Bottom Line
Making your own homemade pine needle cleaner is easy, cheap, and safer for your family than using harsh chemical-based cleaning products. While it takes a few weeks of waiting, you won’t have to set aside much time at all for this DIY project around the homestead.
