I have got two bright yellow lily pollen stains on my beige carpet, which despite washing with water and treating with several doses of Vanish refuse to disappear. I know washing them was a mistake, but I must get them removed as I am moving out in less than a month. Please help, as there seems to be no solution other than ripping up the carpet!
Emma
Washing with white vinegar and/or hydrogen peroxide may help. Brush the stain and blot with a towel. Good luck. (08/02/2005)
By Seagrape
I have had great luck with Blue Magic.
Get it at an auto parts store. It's an upholstery cleaner.
I had a grease stain on my car carpet and sprayed it on.
I walked inside to get a cloth to rub with and when I got back I couldn't find the stain.
Now I'm never without it at home.
It works great on my house carpet too.
Good luck.
Debbie (08/11/2005)
By reddlb
I was told by a person who grows and sells lilies that all you need to do to remove lily pollen is put the item in direct sunlight and the stains disappear. I understand this gets a little problematic with a stationary object like carpet. (08/14/2005)
By Guest
I too had a pollen stain on my beige carpet and tried without success numerous methods. But I went to my local hardware shop and found an item called 'De-solv-it' stain remover and pre-wash in a handy small aerosol can. Absolutely brilliant stuff, it removed the stain without trace. Bearing in mind it was a fresh stain I couldn't promise that it could work on a old one! (08/09/2006)
By Tina from Somerset
Lily Pollen stains.
Gently dab a strip of cello tape onto the stain.
The pollen will stick to the tape.
Do not rub.
Or
Pollen Stains. If lily pollen (the golden or reddish "dust" on the anthers of each bloom) gets on your clothing, let it "dry", then carefully brush it away with a dry, soft brush or facial tissue. Or gently dab pieces of adhesive tape on the fabric until the pollen is gone. Do not brush the pollen away with your hands (oils from your skin will set the stain), and do not use water or a wet cloth (this will spread and set the stain).
[Ed: Carefully remove the anthers from the flowers as they open. Pollen can be "stuck" to flowers (such as lilies, arum, calla, etc.) by giving the flowers a quick spray with hair spray if the flower is to used for a short use, such as a wedding bouquet.]
(08/19/2006)
By Michael M
I got a great tip to use Sainsbury's sterilising fluid. I spilt lilies and water onto a cream carpet and thought it was completely ruined. I dabbed the area with the sterilising fluid and in seconds it disappeared!! Trust me this really works. (06/25/2007)
By Gill
Rusty red pollen stains on clothing can be readily removed by pouring 99% isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) over the areas and soaking up the now yellow coloured solution with paper tissue. This solvent, obtainable in the pharmacy section of Zellers, etc. will not harm fabrics and would probably be equally effective on carpets. Methanol (wood alcohol) will not dissolve such pollen stains; thus the more lipophilic isopropyl alcohol (or toluene or xylene) is need. The regular 70% isopropanol rubbing alcohol (like the ethanol variety) will not work effectively because of the higher water content. If some light hue remains, one can apply the pharmacy variety of 2% hydrogen peroxide or simply expose the garmet or carpet to sunlight for an hour or so. (08/27/2007)
By George
It really works! Had a shirt that I'd tried to get the pollen out with water (and made it worse). Tried 'Vanish' which didn't help. And then I left it out in the sunlight for about half and hour and the pollen stain has completely disappeared. Amazing!
Thank you for the tip! (09/10/2007)
I had spots from lilies. Carpet cleaners I had in the house spread the stain. I tried vinegar, hydrogen peroxide which also did not work. Nearby, I had a bottle of mineral spirits. Poured that on a paper towel. Blotted at the spots and they came right out. (05/31/2008)
By LB7
Thank you to George Neville for his suggestion of isopropyl alcohol. I happened to have some in the house and set to work where the cat had knocked a vase of lilies over our beige carpet and the stains were enormous. What a life saver! The pollen simply blotted out of the carpet on kitchen paper towels. I really thought this was going to be an insurance job. Thank you! (06/01/2008)
By Hanna
I had a large pollen stain on my carpet from some lilies. I tried alcohol and carpet cleaner. This only spread the mark. I bought Stain Slayer from Asda (it is in a spray can about the size of an impulse can) and it worked like magic and one spray later the marks had gone. 22/06/08 (06/22/2008)
By Lilly
De Solve It has just worked a treat on pollen stains on my boyfriend's cream carpet much to my immense relief! £1.94 from Wilkinson's, small aerosol can in the stain remover section. Thanks so much for the tip! (07/19/2008)
By Archcatt
Goo Gone works like a champ. (11/10/2008)
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OMG ! after many attempts at removing lily pollen stains from my carpet I read this article about Goo Gone, I had some so spayed the stain with it
...total gone. thanks for the tip. 04/06/9016
Hi, thanks to the person who suggested pure alcohol. I had some upvc solvent (the stuff that tradespeople use to clean white upvc windows). I had spread the pollen onto the carpet because the brush I had used was wet and then I tried to wash it out with carpet cleaner. What a mess. then I read a post here and used kitchen paper soaked in the solvent and gently rubbed at the fibres. The kitchen paper soaked up the yellow and the carpet is now stain free!!
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