The worst has happened: while your back was turned, ooey-gooey pumpkin guts have gotten on your carpet. Not only that, it's had time to soak into your carpet. Before you lament the clean days of your carpet's past, know that there's a solution, and it's ridiculously easy.

There are two ways - one with a carpet cleaner, one without, but both super effective! - to erase the existence of pumpkin from your carpet, and which you use just depends on your cleaning arsenal. Let's review both of these methods!

Regardless of the method you use, the first step is to scrape up as much of the pumpkin pulp as possible without rubbing the it further into the carpet fibers.  A fork is a great tool for this this; not only will it scoop up any pumpkin seeds or pulp, it'll also comb the carpet fibers instead of pushing down against them.

Next, you'll want to saturate the spot with a pretreat solution. A powerful pretreat, such as our Hoover Oxy formula, will break down the stain while simultaneously removing the color as well. If you don't have a bottled pretreat formula handy, a mixture of non-bleach detergent with water (1 Tsp detergent to 4 quarts water) will do the trick.

If Using a Carpet Cleaner... 

Big, little, it doesn't matter what size machine you have, it'll get the job done. Once the pretreat has a chance to soak in and break down the pumpkin residue, go ahead and use your machine of choice for a deep carpet cleaning.  

We recommend using an oxy-based carpet solution because it's been proven to work against tough stains like pumpkin.  

If Not Using a Carpet Cleaner... 

Blot up the pretreat with a fresh rag! Once the pretreat is blotted up, give the spot a wash with cold water. Not enough water to totally drench the carpet, but enough to wash out any remaining pretreat. Then go back to blotting, getting as much moisture up as possible before allowing the spot to air dry.

Don't be shy, repeat these steps as necessary! The spot may not come out on the first go-around.