The artillery fungus or shotgun fungus is a wood decay fungus that likes to live on moist landscape mulch.
Removing artillery fungus from vinyl siding.
The black tar like spots that are all over your vinyl siding are more than likely a fungus called sphaerobolus stellatus better known as artillery or shotgun fungus although it s most often found on the east coast it can grow anywhere and especially thrives in areas that have cool damp springs or rainy fall weather conditions.
One of the worst parts about artillery fungus is that it can shoot spores up to 20 feet and usually aims toward the sun as the spores stick to light.
We have not found a good efficient way to get them off without leaving a stain or damaging the siding especially on old dry siding.
When it is time for it to reproduce the fungus lives up to its name and shoots tiny spores in all directions.
The spore masses of the artillery fungus stick like super glue.
These sticky black dots cling to vinyl siding like glue.
We found by accident that if you sprayed the area with easy off oven cleanser and let it set for 5 to 10 minutes it came off a lot easier.
The artillery fungus if sprayed with a week bleach and water solution will go away but if left unchecked it explodes and send these black particle 5 15 feet away from the source the mulch video how to get rid of spots on vinyl siding.
Thanks for the article regarding artillery fungus and how to remove the spores from vinyl siding.
My husband and i tried everything in the house to try and remove the spores.
You can do it with steel wool very gently so you don t take the paint off.
Its primary job is to decay dead wood.
Power washing may work on brand new only vinyl siding that still has a shiny oily sheen.
Or you can treat artilery fungus with a mildicide like jomax and a pressure washer used very lightly so you don t harm the siding.
If artillery fungus is left on a surface it can become nearly impossible to completely remove the spots making it beneficial to know where the fungus grows and how to clean artillery fungus.
How do i get the artillery fungus off my house siding.
In home gardens it often takes up residence in wood mulch.
