Life Hack: How to remove lily pollen stains from fabric
Lilies are a beautiful addition to your home but can cause problems
A big, beautiful bunch of lilies I had for a few weeks on the kitchen table really added to the room and gave it a summery look and a fragrant aroma, but they left something a bit less pleasant behind. On the tablecloth were the telltale orange marks of fallen pollen, a notoriously tricky stain to remove from all sorts of fabric.
Normally I cut out the stamen once the flowers open but sometimes they open and allow pollen to fall before I get a chance (and sometimes I just forget, we’re all human). The best way to cut the stems out is to do so over the kitchen sink. Hold the flower and use scissors to snip out the stamen. Don’t do it while they’re in a vase near anything they can stain, Murphy’s Law dictates they will definitely land on a white t-shirt. Wrap it in tissue carefully and dispose of it - lily pollen can be toxic for some pets so if you share your home with a cat, in particular, make sure they can’t find it and ingest it.
Faced with a yellow/orange mark, I turned to my friend Google for some advice.
Many of the tips that popped up suggested I shouldn’t get the stain wet or touch, blot or wipe it as that will make it seep in further into the fabric. Advice from Persil is to shake the fabric to remove the pollen - it is dust, after all.
An initial step that sounded like it made sense to me was to vacuum around the mark to suck up loose pollen and then gently place some sticky tape over the stain. For fresh pollen marks, this is often enough to remove most of the stain. However, I’m a procrastinator and didn’t tackle it straight away so while it removed a bit of pollen, a mark remained.
After the first steps to remove the pollen, to remove a lingering stain the tips suggested I apply detergent directly to the mark before washing it as normal. I let the detergent soak into it for 30 minutes before washing it at the highest temperature the fabric can tolerate (this is usually highlighted on a tag). The final step is to dry the fabric in direct sunlight, which is known to bleach and fade pollen stains.
For trickier marks, rubbing alcohol can be effective to remove them. Just apply it to the stain and blot it gently. If pollen lands on a carpet, the vacuum/sticky tape combination should remove it and a solution of one part vinegar to two parts water sprayed on any remaining mark will usually do the trick.
