When you are fertilizing your garden, you may notice that you have accidentally splashed the solution onto your walkway or patio pavers (especially if this is where you prepared the mixture).Often, orange rusty stains (due to the iron in the fertiliser reacting with moisture) or white salty stains form. It is possible to remove these stains without damaging the pavers themselves, providing that you follow a few simple steps:
Pour some fresh lemon juice onto the stained area of your pavers, leaving it to soak into the stain for around 5 minutes. Then, take a nylon bristle brush and scrub at the stain. Leave the lemon juice to sit for another 5 minutes before rinsing the pavers with clean water. You can repeat this process until the stain has been completely removed.
For the orange rusty stains, you will need to purchase a commercial rust remover, preferably one that contains oxalic acid as one of the main ingredients. Apply the remover to the pavers (being sure to follow the instructions carefully), ensuring that you wear gloves and eye protection throughout the process.
For the white salty stains, you can often scrub them away from your pavers with water and hard bristled deck brush. If any of the stain remains, try the lemon juice solution or even the rust remover.
If you were unable to completely remove the stain, you can instead flip the paver over. Loosen the sand surrounding the paver, pull it out of the ground, give it a good rinse and replace it upside down. In the future, you should avoid preparing your fertiliser solution on your pavers and spray around the edge of the area very carefully to prevent more stains from forming. If they do manage to get stained again, however, at least you’ll know how to effectively clean your pavers.