96°F
weather icon Clear

Iron sulfates can stain several surfaces

Question: My husband used a fertilizer that stained our pavers and the bottom of our pool in spots. Do you know of a solution to remove those stains?

The fertilizer most likely had iron sulfate in it. The spots would be dark reddish brown or brown. Muriatic acid would remove it. Be careful using it.

If it is in the bottom of the pool and water is in the pool, there is not much you can do about that unless the pool was emptied. The bag should have warned you to use a drop spreader if it was for a lawn.

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.

MOST READ
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
The sun sets on my days as RJ’s gardening columnist

Thanks to everyone who has supported my journey into journalism by reading my gardening column over the years and contributing questions.

What’s ailing my mature pine trees?

When native pine trees are grown on their own they will develop taproots or sinker roots for stability and to secure enough water.

Gaining control over this annual weed is not easy to do

To make sure it doesn’t return you have to interrupt the seed-to-flowering-plant cycle at least for a couple of years and fill the voids with something competitive.

Why did my bird of paradise plants quit blooming?

They were in bloom when we planted them five or six years ago, and they bloomed the following year as well. But they have not bloomed again.

MORE STORIES