• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ransom
  • Jay Angler
  • Timothy Norton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Tereza Okava
  • Nicole Alderman
master gardeners:
  • M Ljin
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • thomas rubino
  • Megan Palmer

How do you get dandelion milk stains out of a shirt?

 
steward
Posts: 22588
Location: Pacific Northwest
13331
13
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
  • Likes 12
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My daughter was having a blast picking dandelions today, and got the milky sap on her shirt. This has happened in the past, and I've never managed to get the stain out. It never gets lighter or fainter (they're little brown circles, kind of like stamps made by the stems).

Any ideas?
 
steward
Posts: 18874
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4777
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I use scraps of bar soap/water to make a stain remover.

Rub in the soap stain remover then let soak overnight ... wash as normal.

I must admit I have no experience with dandelion milk sap ...  only grass stain on boys football uniform.
 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 22588
Location: Pacific Northwest
13331
13
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
So, I put the clothes into laundry soap, dial soap (had some lying around from like 10 years ago), and hydrogen peroxide. Let it soak for 2 hours.

When I went to scrub them, the dandelion milk stains had changed from light brown to dark brown. The dark brown is what they always end up looking like, but I hadn't realized that either (A) the cleaning, or (B) the water reacts with the latex in the dandelion milk to turn it so dark and brown.

I left it to soak over night and haven't looked at it yet. But, I don't have high hopes...
 
Rusticator
Posts: 9756
Location: Missouri Ozarks
5371
7
personal care gear foraging hunting rabbit chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts medical herbs homestead
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Do you know the chemical compounds in the dandelion milk/sap? In other words, is it a battle of proteins - and which ones? Or oils? Or...?  Maybe try lemon juice or maybe isopropyl alcohol...
 
Steward of piddlers
Posts: 7755
Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
4382
monies home care dog fungi trees chicken food preservation cooking building composting homestead
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm spitballing, I don't know for sure, but perhaps something alcohol based might help cut through the sap stain?

I've used rubbing alcohol for tree sap stain removal so I'm making an assumption that it might be a similar vein.
 
Posts: 373
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
51
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dunno about dandelion staints, but liquid Cheer or Tide, applied straight, will take out underarm stains. It will also sometimes take out color, so test first.
 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 22588
Location: Pacific Northwest
13331
13
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I had let the shirt soak in the super strong, soapy, hydrogen peroxide solution over night. At about 10:00am, I took the shirt out and scrubbed it by hand in the sink. No change had occurred, and the spots were still dark.

I then put the shirt in rubbing alcohol in a jar (closed in a bag) to soak. It soaked there until about 3:00pm...so 4-5 hours. No change.

I tried scrubbing the rubbing alcohol shirt with laundry soap. No change.

I spritzed it with vinegar and scrubbed some more. No change.

I then took it outside to dry in the sun (and to get a picture.)
IMG_1402.JPG
The dandelion milk stain gave the the unicorn the appearance pooping. My daughter did not find this terribly funny, hahaha!
The dandelion milk stain gave the the unicorn the appearance pooping. My daughter did not find this terribly funny, hahaha!
 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 22588
Location: Pacific Northwest
13331
13
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My husband says the stains look like hoofprints. That's better than looking like poop, right?

 
Rez Zircon
Posts: 373
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
51
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dang, And here the rest of us go out of our way trying to find unicorn poop!

Hmm.  It's probably a protein stain. Try one of the urine-odor removers.

 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 22588
Location: Pacific Northwest
13331
13
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Rez Zircon wrote:Dang, And here the rest of us go out of our way trying to find unicorn poop!

Hmm.  It's probably a protein stain. Try one of the urine-odor removers.



Any idea how to make one? I don't have any urine odor removers on hand.

It makes me wonder: What is in a urine remover?
 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
Posts: 9756
Location: Missouri Ozarks
5371
7
personal care gear foraging hunting rabbit chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts medical herbs homestead
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I wonder if an enzyme solution might do it... Amway has "trizyme", but I'm not sure what other companies make a good one. That stuff used to get out everything...
 
Rez Zircon
Posts: 373
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
51
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Rez Zircon wrote:
Hmm.  It's probably a protein stain. Try one of the urine-odor removers.



Any idea how to make one? I don't have any urine odor removers on hand.

It makes me wonder: What is in a urine remover?



Mostly enzymes. A friend recommends "PET FORCE PET STAIN AND ODOR ELIMINATOR" (available on Amazon)

Another friend used it to rehabilitate her hallway carpet where her incontinent (old age) husband had dribbled for a year. It worked, and the carpet also looks much better.

I suppose you could make something similar from a pancreas, if you have a spare. :O
 
steward & author
Posts: 46408
Location: Left Coast Canada
18854
10
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
looks cool.

I seem to remember it's a latex stain but not set into the permanent form yet.  I remember heat and some chemicals set it into a dye/rubber.  Others remove it... I want to suggest alcohol or water without soap.  Possibly an acid.  Sorry, my brainbox has the low coffee light on right now so I can't retrieve the information I was seeking.  I'll make some coffee and try again.  

The other scrap of paper in my mind crawlspace (like a mind palace but less organized) box labeled "latex stains on clothing" says once it's set, very hard/impossible to fix.  The citation reads "grandmother told me when I was about 11 years old".  She was smart, but very 20th century and better with rayon clothing than cotton.  

But I see the experiment has already happened.  It looks pretty cool actually.  
 
r ransom
steward & author
Posts: 46408
Location: Left Coast Canada
18854
10
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Nicole Alderman wrote:My husband says the stains look like hoofprints. That's better than looking like poop, right?

:rolling: :rolling:



They do look like hoofprints.  I actually really love them!  

 
Rez Zircon
Posts: 373
Location: Brendansport, Sagitta IV
51
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hmm. If it's latex, then latex paint remover... acetone (nail polish remover) gets a double recommend:

https://diygeeks.com/things-to-dissolve-latex-paint/

 
r ransom
steward & author
Posts: 46408
Location: Left Coast Canada
18854
10
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hmmm,something to desolved set laytex without damaging cotton... tricky.

Maybe do a test area.

My go to is Murphy oil soap, but it isn't kind for my clothes.
 
pollinator
Posts: 527
Location: Oz; Centre South
173
trees books cooking fiber arts writing
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Just found:  sprinkle with baking soda, rub in slightly, then add vinegar and let it fizz.  No idea if this will work, but worth a try.
The sap is a mixture of latex and "Other things" and it seems it's the other stuff that makes the stain.  Heat sets the stains. . .
Best of luck.  But I do like the hoof print interpretation.  A unicorn must leave some traces or why would we still be looking for them?
gift
 
Native Bee Guide by Crown Bees
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic