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Homemade Pine Cleaning Spray
I love all things natural, and the fresh scent of wild pine is one of my favorites. In an effort to capture that wonderful fragrance in a household product, I created a pine cleaning spray made with wild foraged pine needles. This easy recipe is great for your home as well as a seasonal host/hostess gift.
This simple pine cleaning recipe relies on the natural antibacterial, antiviral properties of pine for its amazing ability to clean up messes.
October is such a beautiful time in the natural world. Betwixt mid-fall and wintertime, the colorful splendor of a New England fall day converges with cool nights that have the chill of winter in the air. The days fluctuate between warm and sunny one day and gray and rainy the next.
It’s usually during this time of year that I find myself wanting to surround myself with the cozy scents of fall and winter. It’s also the time of year that I look forward to doing some nesting within the home. This means some deep cleaning that I put off during the busy gardening and harvesting months. For me, this is a time for bringing lots of nature into my home. The flowers have faded, so I turn to our evergreen allies.
Pine trees, along with other evergreen trees such as fir, cedar, spruce and juniper, are some of the only plants that thrive throughout the year. These varieties can be foraged at any time of year, so they make an excellent ally when the seasons change. Pine also offers amazing antimicrobial properties — perfect for making homemade natural cleaning products, like the pine cleaning spray recipe below.
Pine Cleaning Spray
Ingredients
- 3–4 handfuls of wild pine needles (I am using white pine since that is what grows wild on my property)
- 1 ½ cups of distilled white vinegar
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ¼ cup rubbing alcohol
- large glass jar
- 16 oz. spray bottle (I love these glass amber spray bottles)
Instructions
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Harvest 3 -4 handfuls of wild pine needles.
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Gather only the needles from the branches of a pine tree and pack them tightly into a large glass jar.
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Fill the jar with vinegar and place the jar in a sunny window for 7 days. After this time it will be infused with pine scent and anti-microbial properties.
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After 7 days strain the vinegar from the plant material using a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer.
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Fill a 16-ounce spray bottle halfway with the wild pine vinegar extraction solution.
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Add ¼ cup rubbing alcohol into the spray bottle and fill the rest of it with water. Shake well before using.
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For more intense scent, you can add 10–15 drops of pine essential oil.
*If you substitute olive oil for the rubbing alcohol, this same recipe can be used to clean and polish wood. OR, if you’d like this to cut through oil and grease, add a couple drops of dish soap and give it a good shake before using.
So there you have it, this cleaning solution is so easy and simple to mix up, and it smells great too. So before you run out to the store and start throwing chemicals into your cart, give this cleaner a try and see how you like it.
FREE Printable Labels
These printable cleaning labels are made to be printed on full sheet label paper and then cut out. To print them, you will need to download or print the PDF version of the Cleaning Labels HERE!
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Thank you for this recipe. I’m making it right now with Spruce needles.
Awesome, enjoy!
Can you store this? Either before straining, or after completion?
I strain mine into a spray bottle to use daily on my kitchen counters etc. It will keep indefinitely.
Hi Barbi, thank you for the recipe, but the link to your labels doesn’t seem to be working. 🙂
It’s been fixed! Thanks for letting me know!
Can I expect the same cleaning properties from a blend if I substitute hydrogen peroxide for the rubbing alcohol?
Thank you for your question! Substituting hydrogen peroxide for rubbing alcohol in a pine cleaning spray will have slightly different cleaning properties. Hydrogen peroxide is a great disinfectant and works well for breaking down bacteria and viruses, making it a good alternative for sanitizing surfaces. However, it doesn’t evaporate as quickly as rubbing alcohol, which means your surfaces might stay wet longer, and it won’t cut through grease as effectively as alcohol.
If you’re looking for a stronger disinfectant, hydrogen peroxide can be a great option, but if you need quick-drying and grease-cutting power, rubbing alcohol is the better choice. You can always experiment with both to see which one works best for your cleaning needs!
Let me know how it works for you!
I made a pine cleaner for my kitchen and my sister loved it. However, she can’t use vinegar on her counter tops in her kitchen. Can you use straight rubbing alcohol?
I’m not entirely sure about using straight rubbing alcohol as a substitute for vinegar in your pine cleaner. It might work, but I’d want to double-check to ensure it’s safe for her specific countertops and effective for cleaning. Some countertop materials, like wood or certain types of stone, can be sensitive to alcohol, so it’s worth researching further or testing on a small, inconspicuous area first.