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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.

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