What is the best way to get pine needles out of the carpet?

Question

I had a real tree this year and though vaccuming does help some I think I need to try something else to get the pine needles out of the carpet. Any tips?

Answer 1

Sounds redneck but true...Duck Tape is the BEST to get pine needles. Wrap a strip around your hand and go for it. It will take as little time and a lot of tape, but it is a sure fire worker. Best of luck and Happy New Year. Nana

Answer 2

The best way is to just vacuum the rug normally with a good vacuum cleaner. The Electrolux worked best for us. We always got every pine needle.We had a real pine Christmas tree every year. Pine needles were always everywhere on the floor because they get stuck in socks etc. We would have to vacuum the whole house. Our Electrolux vacuum cleaner had extremely high air flow and it has a high speed vibration style power head. These are not beater bars. Electrolux vacuum cleaners are more expensive and they will preserve your carpet like new for many years.
One rule about the water in the Christmas tree. Do not use bleach if you like your rug. One accident or an ambitious cat jumping on the tree and that is it.
Rule two. Do not use tape as this will put a reside on the carpet that will pick up dirt and make it dirty very fast. These people using tape had poor vacuum cleaners or no vacuum cleaners so they resided to the nightmare of tape.
Same for those who use a nozzle only to pick up the needles.
Same for those who get needles stuck in the machine tho if you see a big pile you should pick up a hand full as they are like small sticks.

Answer 3

Pine needles come up best with sticky tape. The problem is, there's a lot of them, and sticky tape isn't too wide. But here's my trick: take a rolling paintbrush and wrap the sticky tape facing out all around the roller. There are several types of tape out there, but the best for pine needles is good ol' duct tape or electrical tape. "Paint" your floor with the tape until the tape isn't catching any more needles. Then throw the needly tape away and repeat.

If there are needles down deep in the carpet pile, try vacuuming to bring them further up. Also, a carpet rake is handy for this task: you can get them at many hardware stores for about $15. You should use a carpet rake anyway, about once a month, to keep your carpet's pile nice and fluffy.

Answer 4

Try these suggestions I found for you from a website, Webmd.com .
http://www.webmd.com/

MEMBER QUESTION:
Pine needles! The yearly curse of the Christmas tree. What's the best way to get rid of them? I always vacuum, but there are always some that just won't come out of the carpet.

COBB:
First of all, when you bring your tree home put a plastic tablecloth under the base. That will help to catch the needles and it also keeps any water from going through to the carpet when you water the tree. Then cover that with your favorite tree skirt.

To remove the runaway needles, use just the suction hose on your vacuum cleaner to draw them out of the carpet, and be sure that when you're vacuuming always use a vacuum that has a beater bar, because that's what brings the dust and needles out of the carpet so you can get at them.



MEMBER QUESTION:
My problem every year is Christmas tree sap. How do I get rid of it when it gets on the rug or on the walls?

COBB:
You can use glycerin. You buy glycerin in the hand cream section of the drugstore. Mix it with a little warm water, about a half-and-half mixture, apply it to the sap, and let it sit until it dissolves. Then on the wall use a dull straight edge to wipe it up. On the carpets gently pull up with some paper towels to remove the sap and then spot clean with your favorite carpet spotter.

Answer 5

I also have a real tree and every year I fight with the dried pine needles. What you can do is run over you carpet with a damp mop sweeping toward where you want the pine needles to go. Just like in a sweeping motion. This does work for me and deodorizes at the same time.

Answer 6

I like the answer regarding using the duct tape. A word of caution, be careful when you are vacuuming up the needles. I ruined a high dollar cleaner because it clogged my system and caused the motor to burn up. Good luck. Another tip: Next year try spreading a sheet under the tree as far out as the tree is round. When you start to remove it, if you have a big tree, spread another sheet over the top of it and pull up the bottom sheet as you are trying to remove it, it eliminates quite a bit of the needles falling into the carpet. Hope this tip helps.

Answer 7

If you don't have extremely long shag carpeting, you can try using a new or clean paint roller with extension handle. Wrap one to two inch masking tape in reverse (so the sticky side is exposed) around the paint roller and roll back and forth over the carpet. If the tape gets filled with pine needles. Remove the tape and put fresh tape on your roller. If you still have a few stubborn needles left, put some tape on your hand. Happy cleaning! ;-) Daniel M.

Answer 8

This may have been answered all ready . . . when we use to have carpeting (bamboo floors now) we used to have to use a roller brush thing to get the pine needles that had wedged themselves in the carpeting and vacuuming wouldn't remove them.

It's a roller that has a big roll of masking tape type tape on it. It has a sticky side and you roll it around on the carpet and the pine needles stick to it. You'll go through a lot of sheets on the roller.

Answer 9

From our experience, a heavy duty vacuum cleaner helps but simply cannot pull out some of those needles that "sew" themselves into the carpet. Spruce trees are the worst. One year, I had better luck with a rented steam cleaner than with our own vacuum which became clogged with needles. The best bet is get a fir tree, they shed less and have lighter needles, and keep the tree stand watered

Answer 10

Over the years, the best way I've found to get rid of pine needles from my Christmas trees is by using duck tape. Just wrap a wad around your hand and press down on the floor. In maybe 5-10 minutes tops you're done!

Good luck!

Answer 11

To remove the runaway needles, use just the suction hose on your vacuum cleaner to draw them out of the carpet, and be sure that when you're vacuuming always use a vacuum that has a beater bar, because that's what brings the dust and needles out of the carpet so you can get at them.