Flowers make for a beautiful addition to any indoor setting. They can instantly brighten up your home or office with a splash of colour and a whiff of plant freshness. That’s until some pollen falls from the flowers and onto your carpet, developing yellow to orange stains that can be pretty stubborn to get rid of. Today’s guide discusses how to remove pollen stains from carpet surfaces to help you find an effective cleaning solution.
Step 1: Remove Excess Pollen While Dry
The first thing you need to do is eliminate as much of the loose pollen as possible. However, you have to do this while keeping the pollen stain dry.
Don’t wet the stained area with water or any other liquid immediately. Also, please don’t touch it directly with your fingers to avoid dampening the pollen with the oil from your skin.
If you succumb to the temptation of such actions, you’ll only worsen the pollen stain. You’ll push the powdery material into the carpet’s fibres, making the stain more profound and harder to reach.
Using water on the pollen stain or trying to dust it with your hands will also spread the pollen, staining a larger carpet area.
Additionally, don’t attempt to rub the pollen stain off as if it were crumbs. The pressure will cause the fine powdery substance to wiggle its way into the fabric’s weave.
So what should you do then? Well, follow the directions below:
Shake the Pollen Off
Grab the carpet, take it outside the house, and give it a few firm shakes with the stained area facing the ground. This will knock most of the loose pollen off of the carpet.
Use a Vacuum Cleaner
If your carpet is somehow fastened to its place or you’re unable to take it outdoors for any other reason, then you can use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the loose pollen from the surface.
The trick is to keep the vacuum from touching the carpet but hovering over the affected area. You don’t want to apply any pressure to the pollen before applying a cleaning product.
Use Tape
Remove any pollen bits left behind after shaking or vacuuming the affected area. Tape is the perfect tool for this task.
If it’s sticky enough, you can use duct tape, sellotape, masking tape, scotch tape, or any other type.
Cut a piece of the tape and wrap it around your finger making sure the sticky side is facing away from your skin.
From there, lightly tap your finger over the stained area with a patting motion to pick up the leftover pollen.
Learn more: How To Remove Grease Stains From Carpet
Step 2: Spot-Treat the Stain
Once you’ve dealt with the loose pollen powder on your carpet, you’re facing the portion of the pollen that has already sunk into the fabric.
Luckily, there are a few cleaning techniques that you can resort to at this stage, all of which can help rid you of the stubborn stain.
Use Dry-Cleaning Solvent
A dry-cleaning solvent uses a different type of liquid than water to be more effective in treating organic stains, such as pollen stains.
Grab a clean rug and dab the solvent onto the affected area, working from the edges to the centre. As the stain transfers to the rug, use different cloth parts.
Use Lemon Juice and Baking Soda
Squeeze a lemon to get its juice directly on the affected area and gently work it into the fibre with a clean cloth. To better dissolve the stain, try adding some baking soda or salt.
Once cleaned, wipe with cold water and blot dry with a paper towel.
Use a Stain Remover
Another solution to your pollen problem is a fabric stain remover. After removing the surface pollen, apply your stain remover to the affected area.
You’ll have to let it work its magic for the duration specified on the product’s label, or at least 10 minutes. Wipe it with cold or warm water as indicated and then blot dry it with a cloth or paper towel.
Use Rubbing Alcohol
Spray some rubbing alcohol directly onto the pollen stain. Then, take a clean cloth or paper towel and use a blotting action to work on the affected area from the edges to the centre.
Wipe the area with cold water and blot dry with another paper towel.
Use Vodka
If you have some vodka stored and are fine not drinking it, you can use it to clean the pollen stain from your carpet. Wet a clean cloth with vodka, and dab the affected area until the discolouration vanishes.
You may need to spare quite a bit of vodka until the stain is completely removed.
Once that happens, blot dry the area with paper towels to remove the excess vodka and then wipe it with warm water to remove any vodka traces.
Use Shaving Foam
You can also try applying shaving foam to the pollen stain. Add some foam to the carpet and lightly rub an old toothbrush into the fabric.
Remove the excess foam with a clean cloth and wipe the area with cold water.
Step 3: Leave it to Dry
It would be best if you allowed your carpet to air dry, ideally in a sunny spot, only when the stain is gone.
Wrap Up
Remember that the efficacy of each of the methods above depends on factors like the severity of the stain, how long you left it before cleaning, and whether you do it correctly.
So, if one of these solutions doesn’t work 100%, repeat it or try another one before allowing the affected area to dry.
