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I have run into this problem numerous times and am a bit stumped by it. Potting soil, it seems to me should be a pretty straight forward type of stain to get rid of. Try as I may, I never seem top be totally successful with this problem. Any body out there have the same problem or a great solution?
Just had this problem this week. The number one problem IMO is just getting all the dang soil out. It appears to be a smaller, finer particle than standard dirt/soil. Makes it even tougher if the pot was just watered before it was spilled. Our situation, pot was spilled twice by dogs, was wet one of the times and the carpet is long and thick. Customer learned after second spill to just move pot to new safer location (wish they would do the same with their dogs!). We raked and vacuumed thoroughly. Then one pass with green turf pad. Raked. Extracted with ninja (was already brought in to address NUMEROUS dog spots). Raked again. One more pass with green turf. Raked. Extracted again (mainly “dry strokes”) and then buffed and raked whole hallway area as normal. In retrospect, maybe should have given one pass with napper brush before last extraction. Have used napper in past, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t. Carpet looked 100% better, but still had some potting soil at base/backing of carpet that you could only see if you got on hands and knees and separated fibers. We have had situations in past where some color remains from soil, but not this time. I hate potting soil spills. Sometimes customer tries to vacuum it up and beater bar just grinds it in. Not as easy of a clean as you would expect like you said. Feel your frustration Mr. Ferris.
Bryan,
I’m guessing your talking about the brown mark left from over watering the plant.
It is a real booger of a problem. I have even tried Red Out on this problem, with poor results. I haven’t had the opportunity to work on such a problem in awhile. I would like to know how well Coffee remover would do in this situation.
I too feel the pain. Even after a very good job of vacuuming, extracting and cleaning, these stains tend to resurface. I usually use coffee remover at the first try and always plan to return for Round 2 to give it the knockout blow by lightly spraying coffee remover on the stain and work it in with my fingers. I let it sit for 10 to 15 min and then extract any that may be left. I go over it with a woven pad and absorb any remaining moisture. Minimal moisture is the key.
Loren,
About 5 minutes with a good hair dryer saves from bringing in the buffer on that return trip. It may also eliminate the return of you and the stain! I keep a hair dryer in my red dye kit because I don’t seem to need it in the bathroom. 🙁
I may not have been clear enough in this particular post. The problem I speak of is the actual potting soil that the cat throws out of the pot and onto the carpet. Or when someone actually tips over the pot and the dirt falls out onto the carpet.
Will coffee remover work on this??
Bryan,
Dwell time with this stain works well for me. I normally hit it with coffee while it’s dry. Let that set for 5 – 10 min. I then blast it with pro-spotter and let that dwell for 10 or more min. This will usaully do the trick.
I had a similar experience but with Black Magic Potting soil. I pre vac’d with the hoover porty, used Pro-Spotter, let dwell, agitated and used a spotting towell with a tamping brush. It seemed to clean the top half of the tufts but you could still see darkening below the top half and to the base or the tufts. This was on white carpet. I would say that perhaps there are tough dyes that we are dealing with or once a particular type of potting soil gets to the base it’s going to be challenging.
Ed H.
i have noticed that in some potting soil the fertizer in it helps discolor the carpet.that has been the main issue for me. the discoloration is a definite yellow from the fertizer,that i have never removed.i have been through all the above,even kept flushing out with straight water first, for sometimes 20 min.usually have good luck.but occasionally that fertizer turned the carpet yellow around the pot.red dye remover no luck either.i think the chemicals in the fertiler ruined the carpet.
Having worked in a plant nursery and landscape retail store in my teen years I came to realize that potting soil is some nasty stuff. It would routinely stain my clothing. If it’s any consolation, its more than just soil you are dealing with. Many are chemically calibrated for a particular use, and how those chemicals interact with what we are putting down is any ones guess. I have only been in business 3 days, but if I run across some potting soil I’m going to tell it like it is…it may not be coming out.
Hey DE01
First off, thanks for the insight on the soil.
Second, Congratulations on making a post even though you are new to Heaven’s Best. You are already making the community stronger. Thank you
I have found on occasion, not always, that using coffee rmover will take out the stain if cleaner and pro spotter doesn’t remove it.
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