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Got a lovely bouquet of gorgeous smelling flowers? You rush to put them in a vase, of course, only to find on the following day that some pollen has escaped and stained your sofa or carpet. Tulips, fuschias, orchids can all readily become the culprits behind the colourful mess on nearby surfaces or of the unsightly stain on your white shirt.
But lilies are by far the biggest offenders.
So, if you:
Then this article is for you!
With their long filaments, decorated with plump anthers full of pollen on top, the spectacular lilies will shed their pigmented powder generously at the slightest movement of air. It’s Nature’s way of sustaining its beauty, in this case, at your cost.
Removing lily stains from fabrics is not as hard as you might think. And as long as you stay well away from the hasty idea to wet a cloth and start rubbing the stain, you will have every chance of succeeding. So, firstly, here’s what not to do.
Kids do this. In anticipation to see what will happen. So, restrain your innate urge to touch the vibrant dust and check if it tints your index finger. Your natural skin oils will worsen the situation by turning the dry matter into a smudge.
Don’t reach for the kitchen roll to dab the mark! You will only embed the pollen deeper into the fabric. The adhesive material that encases the pollen grains, called pollenkitt, will stick to the textile fibre if you try to blot the stain out with some paper.
Not a good idea. Regardless of what you use to wipe the yellow or orange lily dust, it will just “help” you smear the substance further into the garment, upholstery fabric or carpet. With wet wipes being the worst to use.
Using water may be helpful at a later stage but if you rush to wet the pollen stain as the first line of action, you will find that it will spread. Although pollen is not necessarily water-soluble, the powder mixed with water will easily form a much larger splotch.
So what can you do to eliminate plant pigment marks from clothing, carpets or mattresses?
Whether some pollen drops on a cushion while you are unwrapping a bunch of lilies or you accidentally touch the flowers with your sleeve, the orangy powdered hue will inevitably set in and tinge the fabric, leaving you with a stain to deal with.
So, here’s a list of things that you can do if this happens to you:
Clothes, pillowcases, linen and throw-overs can be shaken energetically until most of the dust falls off. Or use a soft brush and try to stoke off the pollen without rubbing it.
Gently lift the coloured powder from the fabric with strong sellotape or velcro tape.
Rinse your garment under cold water or soak large pieces of fabric, again, in cold water for a couple of hours.
Put the piece of clothing or fabric under direct sunlight for two to three hours before and after rinsing it with water. The carotenoids that make up the organic pigment of pollen undergo a process, called photodegradation when absorbing the natural UV light from the sun.
Have a go at treating small pollen stains with a UV torch if the day is rather overcast. The phytochemicals will decompose and the stain will fade away.
Enzyme spot cleaners are designed to break down biological substances, so they are especially suitable for use on organic stains.
Once pretreated with the appropriate stain removal, the pollen blotch will not stand a chance if washed in the washing machine at a high temperature. Then, use the sun again to naturally bleach the mark, if any, and make it disappear for good.
This method is your only solution if the stubborn lily stain has damaged a piece of clothing that can be only dry-cleaned. Follow carefully the manufacturer’s instructions but if unhappy with the result, you know where to go. Take your garment to the nearest dry cleaners! Or better yet, get them to come to you with a dry cleaning service.
As you’ll find it tricky to soak your fitted carpet or air it under the sun, you need to use a slightly different pollen removal approach if your floor covering ends up with a lily stain. The same goes for upholstery fabric that can’t be removed from your furniture and put in the washer.
There you have it, a bunch of effective methods of getting rid of pollen marks from fabrics and carpets. Still, to avoid doing more damage than good, always check the label on both the chemical solution you are about to use and the item you intend to treat.
On that note, isn’t it much safer to leave the task of cleaning your carpet or removing tricky stains from garments to the professionals? Take our word on this!
Find a professional to take care of your property.
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Did you find this article helpful? Do you have any tips on getting rid of lily pollen stains? Let us know in the comments!
Image source: shutterstock / Nataliia Krasnogor
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