Tips for keeping pollen out of your home
Spring is officially here! It's the time of year for cherry blossoms, longer evenings and plenty of outside activities. While warm weather makes it easy to forget about winter, we are now in the midst of what some are calling the "pollen vortex."
If you are like me and one of the sniffly multitudes, you wonder when you can wear your contacts again, when you can wash your car and have it stay clean and when you'll be able to breathe freely again.
In April, pollen season goes into full effect in our area and heads north soon after. While it may be tempting to crack the windows and enjoy some fresh air during this time, it's best to keep the yellow stuff out. Macon-Bibb Cooperative Extension offers the following simple tips to keep your home a pollen-free zone.
Clean off the car. If you don't have a garage, give your car a quick rinse whenever you can. Every time you touch the car, shut the door or open the window, you'll be spreading pollen around the car. I keep baby wipes in my car so that after I touch a pollen covered handle or window, I won't spread it to my face.
Wipe your feet on the mat and then remove your shoes and other outerwear as soon as you enter the house. Leave them there. Designate a spot in the entryway for your family to leave shoes.
Wear a mask if you must. Need to finish that gardening before the block club sends you a nasty note?
Wear a not-so-chic but ever-so-useful filter mask, which keeps the pollen out of your nose and mouth. They can be purchased at most home improvement and hardware stores.
Prevent your indoor-outdoor pets from bringing in the pollen. Give them a good brushing and wipe off their paws before they track it through the house. Wash the brush and vacuum the area immediately.
Decontaminate. If you've been enjoying outside activities, get the pollen off of your body and your clothes. Otherwise you will spread pollen all over the house.
Do not sit down; remove your clothing and wash them. Give your face a thorough washing as well.
Keep the windows and doors closed. I know, this is the perfect time of year to let fresh air in; unfortunately, this also lets pollen in. Keep windows closed and turn on the AC if needed. Be sure to change your HVAC filters.
Be diligent about dusting. Be sure to dust everything more frequently than you usually would. Don't overlook those hard to reach places like the ceiling fan blades (yuck).
Keep the porches clean or put off using them until the season is over. I am always reminding my teenaged son to hose down the porch during spring, because in spite of the pollen, I love to enjoy my screened-in porch.
Hosing rather than sweeping facilitates removing pollen from the screens, posts and flooring. I also remove all pillows from the furniture and the outdoor seating gets a good hosing down as well.
Try to enjoy this wonderful time of year. The pollen does have a nice trade-off; protectively sealed up in my yellowish-red car, I couldn't help but admire the beautiful pink cherry trees, the rainbow of azaleas and elegant dogwood trees providing the backdrop for my travels for the day. Then I sneezed. C'est la vie!
Contact county Extension agent Keishon J. Thomas at 478-751-6338 or thomaskj@uga.edu.
This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Tips for keeping pollen out of your home ."