Plant fell on WHITE carpet-help getting stain out?

I was working in my sunroom today and a freshly watered hanging basket came crashing down onto my white carpet. :( Not a smart color of carpet to have, I know......it was given to me for free, so color wasn't an option. Anyway, I immediatly started moving things out of the way, and scooped up as much of the soil as I could.....got out the vaccum and the carpet cleaner. Thank goodness I have a carpet cleaner! But, as I expected, it didn't all come out. I don't know what else to try.......and I'm sure I'm not the only person to have a hanging basket fall. So I was wondering if anyone has any magic tips for getting wet soil stains out of carpet? My husband suggested using a combo of Shout and Tide. Jenny

Jenny,

I would let it dry completely and then deep vac again. Trying to do anything while it is wet will grind it in more.

Poor baby.......

BTW, did the plant survive?

Nancy Lee

That's a good tip. See I wouldn't have thought of that. It was a wandering jew that I was going to repot anyway, but I was out of potting soil. I can save some of the plant, and take cuttings from the rest. Thanks Nancy Lee. I'll update if there is any change.

I guess it REALLY was a Wandering Jew!!! LOL

I guess it does give new meaning to the term wandering jew.....doesn't it. LOL I guess I can laugh now. :O) Jenny

Hi Jenny it's Janet, just e-mailed you the final details of our trade
Sorry to hear you had an accident, but happy to hear I'm not the only one that it happens to.
The first time it fell on a hardwood floor, so that was easy to clean. The second time it fell on a carpet, but it was beige. blackish brown dirt isn,t easy to get out of a beige carpet either but not as hard a on a white. Happy 1 is right, I let it dry first, vacuumed all the dried dirt, then speayed it, almost soaked it with Shout stain remover, let it sit for half an hour then used my carpet cleaner on it. Thank goodness I had a carpet cleaner, iI wish I had one when the kids were growing up.
Anyway tpretreat the carpet, use carpet shampoo or agod cleanewr like 409, let it dry, If you have to because the carpet is white. vacuum and do it again. You probably already fixed the problem. I just read this.

Hi Janet. I just emailed you about another possible trade. :O) I haven't totally resolved this yet. I'm still waiting on it to dry. I'll work on it more in the morning, and post my progress. Thanks for the tips. I sure wish I would have let it dry to begin with, but I paniced and just started cleaning it up. Jenny

Jenny, my Haley's Hints book says table salt is supposed to be good for mud on carpets. Sprinkle liberally and let it soak up the moisture. Then vacuum. Here are some other things to try:

Foamy shaving cream
waterless hand cleaner
talcum powder

thanks! The stain looks much better, but it is definately still there stairing me in the face. I'll try some of these ideas.

I've used hydrogen peroxide on my carpet for "organic stains" (cat puke, etc). It worked REALLY well for me - just poured some on, let it sit for a few minutes and then blotted it up. If your carpet isn't white, or light colored, it may bleach it, so be careful, but since yours IS white, you may want to give it a try :-)

I just have to respond to this thread...I was reading it this morning and was thinking "oh my" what a mess you must of had to clean up and that i hope the plant survived it alright. Then i went on with my housework, as usual, and picked up my pot with my english ivy or what i call a "charlie" and the side of it broke and went flying to the floor and SPLAT all over the floor and my off white area rug. I thought of this thread and said I have to go get my camera and take a pic and just laughed. I had watered it yesterday so the soil was still went....and i took all the wonderful advice from this thread and it clean up nice

and btw most of the plant survived..you can say now that I have some that I am gonna have to try to root and replant.

Char

Oh NO! I'm so glad that you had this thread to refer to. My stain came out pretty good, but I think if I would have known to let it dry first....it would have come out better. I think I'll try the hydrogen peroxide trick kbuzz suggested. Jenny

I have in excess of 100 house plants and a DH who's a tidy-freak. When one drops and crashes, as happens sometimes a half dozen times a year, it literally drives him to drink that I won't let him touch it until it dries. Of course, there's no reasoning with the cats, who think I've done it so they can have something new to play with....

Glad you got the stain out Jenny, its quite a challenge, but we never forget once we learn that trick!!

Christine

Dear Red,

Sorry about your plant and rug and I'm sure it will survive, but I don't thinks it's an English Ivy...

Nancy Lee

Happy, your absolutely right, it is not a English Ivy...I think it is a creeping charlie...if it is not that, can someone please tell me what it is...

Thanks,

Char

Char, Yup, you're right..........creeping charlie...........

It must be a regional thing for up north, when I lived there, we called it swedish ivy....

Did you notice the "lived" is past tense... It's sunny, warm FL for me now..... Green all year..

Nancy Lee

Oh good grief, I just did the exact same thing on a beige carpet. I'm sitting here looking at a soggy mess. I got most of the big chunks of potting soil up, but I'm waiting until it dries to finish with a vacuum.

Ugh, what a mess! Will spring ever get here? ;)
Mary Ev.

Hi Mary Ev. I hope you can get your stain out. I've worked and worked.....but mine didn't come all the way out. It does look somewhat better, but I've had to put a rug over the area. :o(
Jenny

Jenny, have you tried Oxi-Clean on that? There is a carpet cleaning brand of Oxi-Clean that works really well on ANY stain. Worth a try.

Yeah, I have tried oxy-clean. When the carpet was wet, the stain looked like it was completely gone....but when it dried, the stain only spread. I was really excited cause I thought it worked. I don't know what else to try.

Jenny

Yikes. Their carpet cleaner is called "Oxi-Kic". The regular Oxi-Clean got some major ink stains out of clothing for me recently. I didn't think there was anything it couldn't fix. Sorry, I can't think of anything else. Good luck.

On last shot...... Jenny...


Lets bring out the BIG GUNS!!!!!!



Try this on a corner to see if it melt, comes apart, or any etcs..........

Dab on some straight bleach.....let it sit a bit...or maybe until the dirt color comes out .....then sop with water.

You have nothing to lose at this point. especially with just a 1 square of rug...

Good luck...

You know, I was considering that also. I think I'll try it this afternoon. Heck.....if all else fails, I just throw the rug back down. :o) I'll let you know.

Jenny

I have a hint my SIL uses. I have never tried this but he swears by it. He is into buying and selling autos and he uses _
oven cleaner on stains. I would not try it unless you can check it out in a closet or some where not noticeable.

I would be wary of using straight bleach on anything. I ruined a pair of white pants once "dabbing" it on spots from walking in the rain.... they became shorts because the bleach ate holes in the fabric. Best to dilute it to at least half bleach and half water.

I finally tried the hydrogen peroxide trick a few days ago. Was going to use bleach, but didn't realize I was out. The peroxide hasn't taken it all out.....but gosh, it sure looks better. I think I'll keep treating it with the peroxide and see what happens. Thanks kbuzz for suggesting this. It's the only thing that has really made a noticable difference in the stain. Jenny

Jenny.

A sure-fire treatment is scissors!!

LOL :O) Jenny

Spot shot..It's great stuff even works on blood, and thats an impossible stain. Good luck

never heard of it. I'll have to look for it. Thanks. jenny

I have found it in HD. When I do buy it I buy 6 or more cans at a time..I also have almost white carpet throughout the house and two large dogs and no lie hundreds of plants. This is a really needed product in my home..And my carpet is beautiful. No spots

HD? Home Depot?

Jenny

You got it Home Depot

Thanks!

I've been watching this thread, and last night I had a dream that I dropped a plant on my white carpet! Ha!

LOL I'm glad it was only a dream. :) Jenny

DO THE SHAVING CREAM!


Michelle

THE STAIN IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!! :o) Hydrogen Peroxide ended up getting it all out. :O) Thanks so much for everyones help and suggestions! Jenny

Cool! I'm glad it worked :-) I just did a "spot" cleaning of my own carpet with hydrogen peroxide which I had never used at my current house (my cats like to leave puke for me to find/step in sometimes...fun stuff). My carpet is a light cream color with those specks in it so common in berber carpet, so I was a bit worried it might leave a "bleached" spot, but no, it worked wonders....my last residence, I used it on tan carpet, and it DID leave a bleached spot, so be careful anyone who tries it!

Glad everything worked out for you.....

Hap