How to Clean Baskets

The procedure for cleaning your basket will depend on what type of basket you have and its finish. Here are some general guidelines for cleaning.

1. Vacuum the basket using your vacuum’s hose and the soft brush attachment. This will remove most of the dirt quickly.

2. If you need to clean dirt and grim off your basket, use warm (not hot) water with a little Dr Bonner’s liquid soap mixed in. I use a cup of distilled water and 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Use only a soft dye-free clothe to clean. Old cloth diapers work great for this job. Dip the cloth in the solution and ring it out. The important thing to do is to make sure that your cloth is rung out and not dripping with liquid. You’ll need to experiment some to see how much liquid your basket can take. Different materials are affected in different ways.

Gently rub the basket in the direction of the weave. For those hard to get at nooks and crannies, use a cotton swab dipped in the solution. Squeeze out any excess liquid from the swab.

To rinse, use another dye-free cloth dipped in plain water. Ring it out before wiping.

Dry the basket immediately with clean clothe.

3. Checking for color-fastness. Many baskets that are dyed are not color-fast and will be ruined easily with liquid. Test it first by dabbing a bit of the soap solution on with a clean dye-free clothe. Wait 5 minutes to see if the dye is affected. If it is, do not clean it with any liquids. If the dye does not run or if it has no dye, then proceed with the cleaning method indicated above.

4. Remember to dry the basket immediately. I cannot emphasize this enough.

If there is visible dirt on the basket, brush it off with a brush (vegetable brush, toothbrush, whatever). If the wicker has been sealed with a clear varnish (it will look glossy), you can wipe off dirt with a damp cloth, or immerse quickly and dry immediately. You can also try scrubbing with a wet, soapy brush.

If the wicker is natural, without a finish, cleaning it is trickier. I have a lot of wicker myself, and sometimes you just have to resign yourself to living with stains. If the dirt is fairly recent, you could try scrubbing it with a wet, soapy brush, but the dirt may leave a permanent stain, and the water will definitely cause some discoloration.

Allow all wicker to dry thoroughly in a well-ventilated area before using it - mold can be a problem otherwise.

To keep wicker from drying out too much after several years of use, make it a practice to lightly mist your wicker with water in a plant mister every couple of months (I got that tip from Martha Stewart Living). This is especially important for wicker furniture.

To disinfect wicker, I would use tea tree oil, lavender oil, or oregano oil in vodka, sprayed onto the areas you wanted to disinfect. Let it thoroughly air dry before using item.

I agree, vacumming it first is a clever idea. Funny how common sense isn't always where one's mind falls first. *smile* Sheesh, I feel silly for not having thought of that.

Then I spray with a 8% strength hydrogen peroxide and water solution. We buy bottles of 35% strength that we store in the fridge and then mix our own spray to use around the house as a disinfectant. This worked great on our old wicker basket that I found when unpacking.