Winter is nearly done, and after months of shut windows the first mild morning is a relief. That's also the moment Adelaide's pollen season quietly begins. It runs from about August through to November, tree pollen first, then the grasses building to a peak late in spring. After a wet winter there's a lot of green in the Hills and across the northern plains waiting to flower.
Nobody manages hay fever with a mop, and this is not medical advice. But the pollen that bothers you most is the pollen that got inside and stayed there, settled on a sill, a flyscreen, a rug, a pillowcase. That part is a cleaning problem, and it's one you can get well ahead of. Here's how to set your home up now, before the counts climb.
The Golden Rule: Keep pollen out rather than chasing it around. Every gram you stop at the window or the front door is one you never have to vacuum out of the carpet, and never have to breathe at two in the morning.
Why Adelaide's Pollen Season Starts Now
Most people think of hay fever as an October and November problem, and for grass pollen they're right. But the season opens much earlier. Through August the trees go first, and Adelaide has plenty of them: plane trees along the eastern streets around Norwood and Kensington, olives and cypress through the Hills, wattle everywhere. By the time the grasses take over, a lot of pollen has already made itself at home indoors.
How the Season Builds
- August and September bring tree pollen as the first warm days arrive
- October and November are the grass pollen peak, the worst stretch for most people
- A wet winter means more grass growing, and more grass means more pollen later
Why Adelaide Feels It
- Pasture in the Mount Lofty Ranges sits directly upwind of the suburbs
- Warm, gusty spring afternoons lift pollen and carry it right across the plains
- This is also when we throw the windows open after a winter of keeping them shut
Pro Tip:Do the prep in the first weeks of August, while it's still quiet. Getting the house ready in the middle of a high-count October week means opening every window and stirring up dust at the exact moment you least want to.
How Pollen Actually Gets Into Your Home
Pollen grains are tiny, light and sticky. They drift in on a breeze, but far more of them are carried in on things: hair, jumpers, school bags, the dog, the washing off the line. Once inside they settle on soft surfaces and stay put until something disturbs them. That's why a house can feel worse than the garden on a still evening.
The Ways In
- Open windows through the warm, breezy part of the afternoon
- Clothes, hair and shoes after an hour in the parklands or the backyard
- Pets that spend the day outside and sleep inside
- Washing brought in after an afternoon on the line
Where It Settles
- Window tracks, sills and the mesh of the flyscreen
- Rugs, lounges, curtains and anything else with a nap to hold onto
- Bedding and pillows, the surfaces you breathe against all night
- Ceiling fan blades and the tops of doors and wardrobes
Watch For:Symptoms that spike indoors at night rather than outdoors during the day. That pattern usually points at what's settled in the bedroom, not what's in the air outside, and it's the part a good clean genuinely fixes.
Clean the Entry Points First
This is the one job worth doing before anything else, and the one almost everyone skips. A flyscreen that has held a winter of dust becomes a pollen sponge in spring, shedding fine grit into the room every time a gust hits it. Same for the window track, where a season of grime sits waiting to be stirred up the first time you slide the window open.
Windows & Flyscreens
- Lift screens out and hose or sponge them down, both sides, then let them dry fully
- Vacuum the window track before wiping, so you lift the grit instead of turning it to mud
- Damp-wipe sills and frames weekly once the season is running
The Front Door Zone
- Shoes off at the door, so pollen never gets walked down the hallway
- Hang outdoor jackets by the entry rather than carrying them into bedrooms
- Shake the doormat out weekly, or it just re-coats every shoe that crosses it
Pro Tip: Do the screens on a still, overcast day, and start with the bedroom windows. If you only get half the house done, those are the ones that pay you back every single night.
The Weekly Low-Pollen Routine
Once the entry points are sorted, keeping the level down is a matter of habit rather than effort. Three changes do most of the work, and none of them add much time to a clean you were already doing.
🌤️ Air the House at the Right Hour
- Open up early morning or straight after rain, when the count sits at its lowest
- Shut the windows through the warm, breezy middle of the day, which is exactly when grass pollen lifts
- A still, cool evening is usually safe again — the air has dropped what it was carrying
🧽 Vacuum and Damp-Dust, Never Sweep
- Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter so what you pick up stays picked up rather than blowing out the exhaust
- Wipe hard surfaces with a damp cloth — dry dusting and feather dusters just relaunch everything into the air
- Don't forget the tops of things: fan blades, wardrobes, door frames and pelmets all hold a surprising load
👕 Manage the Washing Line
- The line is still fine for most loads, just bring it in before the late-afternoon rise rather than leaving it out overnight
- Give sheets and towels a good shake outside before they come through the door
- On genuinely bad days, dry bedding indoors — those are the fabrics your face spends eight hours pressed against
Best Value Trick:After a long stint in the garden, change your top and rinse your face and hair before you sit down inside. It costs two minutes and stops an afternoon's worth of pollen from moving onto your lounge and pillow.
Make the Bedroom a Refuge
If you only defend one room, defend this one. You spend a third of your life in it, breathing a few centimetres from the pillow, and broken sleep is what turns a mild spring sniffle into a miserable month. The goal is simple: eight hours where the allergen load is as close to nothing as you can get it.
The Weekly Bed Reset
- Wash sheets and pillowcases weekly, hot, right through the season
- Vacuum the mattress surface and the floor either side of the bed
- Air the doona on a clear morning rather than a breezy afternoon
Keep the Room Clear
- Keep the window shut on high-count days and open it early instead
- Wash or vacuum curtains and blinds, which quietly collect a season's worth
- Keep the dog off the bed while the counts are up, however unpopular that is
Pro Tip: Much of this overlaps with indoor dust and dust mites, which is the other half of the allergy picture. Our allergy cleaning guide goes deeper on bedding, dander and indoor air quality.
Book a Pollen-Season Clean
The pre-season clean is the one that matters most, and it's also the one nobody with hay fever wants to do themselves. Pulling out flyscreens, vacuuming tracks and turning over soft furnishings stirs up exactly what you're trying to get rid of. Our Adelaide team handles that part for you, working damp rather than dry so allergens get lifted out instead of redistributed. We cover the city and inner east, the Hills, the western beaches and the northern suburbs, with the same trusted, fully insured and police-checked cleaner each visit.
Windows & Screens
Tracks, sills and flyscreens cleared before the season's first warm, windy week
Bedrooms First
The rooms where allergen load costs you sleep, done properly and done first
Damp, Not Dry
Damp-wiping and proper vacuuming, so pollen and dust leave rather than move
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.When does pollen season start in Adelaide?
Adelaide's pollen season runs from about August through to November, building through spring and usually peaking with grass pollen in October and November. August is when tree pollen starts to lift and when the grasses in the Hills and on the northern plains begin their growth, so early August is the right time to get the house ready rather than waiting for the first sneezing fit.
Q.How do I reduce pollen inside my house?
Treat it as a barrier problem. Clean flyscreens, window tracks and sills before you start opening up, air the house early morning or after rain instead of through the warm, breezy afternoon, take shoes off at the door, and vacuum with a HEPA filter rather than sweeping. Damp-dust hard surfaces so you trap pollen instead of flicking it back into the air, and wash bedding weekly in hot water.
Q.Should I dry washing outside during pollen season?
For most people the line is still fine, with a bit of timing. Pollen settles on damp fabric and comes indoors with the load, so bring washing in before the late-afternoon rise rather than leaving it out overnight. If someone in the house has bad hay fever or asthma, dry sheets and pillowcases indoors on high-count days, since those are the fabrics you press your face into for eight hours.
Q.Can MyHomeCleaning help with allergy cleaning in Adelaide?
Yes. Our Adelaide team cleans the places pollen and dust actually collect, from window tracks, sills and flyscreens to floors, skirtings, blinds and soft furnishings, using damp-wiping and proper vacuuming rather than dry dusting that just moves allergens around. We cover the city and inner east, the Hills, the western beaches and the northern suburbs with the same trusted, fully insured and police-checked cleaner each visit. Tell us what your home needs and we'll sort a personalised quote.
