Black Spots On Vinyl Siding Mulch

Replace wood mulch with landscape fabric and small stones.

Black spots on vinyl siding mulch.

You can power wash them off of vinyl siding but such methods can be damaging to cars and wood siding. A first use a scraper or wire brush and scrape over a section of affected vinyl siding. The mulch is being contaminated by artillery fungus also known as sphaeobolus stellatus. A side of my house in new york is covered in the dots.

I have been experimenting with various solutions on my vinyl siding to remove the spots. Plant a low maintenance groundcover in the area instead of using mulch. There is no fungicide registered as an artillery fungus treatment. 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.

The artillery fungus or shotgun fungus is a wood decay fungus that likes to live on moist landscape mulch. John shows you images o. Artillery fungus is a wood dwelling fungus commonly found in mulch. I ve found the following over the counter product works with elbow grease to remove the spots.

These are microscopic flowers that shoot tar like substance up the 2. Here is what the spores look like on the vinyl siding. Add a fresh layer of mulch. The worst thing about this fungus is that it shoots spores up to 20 feet which often land on siding cars.

We have these small black spots that look like specks of tar all over our white vinyl siding of our house. Use big pieces of pine bark or other bark mulch which are a less hospitable place for the fungus. Some tell us it s from spiders. We have thousands of tiny black spots pin head size all over the siding of our house.

If you notice lots of tiny black or dark brown spots developing on your siding above a landscaped area of your yard as seen below it is most likely artillery otherwise known as shotgun fungus. This will buy you a year before the fungus reaches to the top of the new mulch. It s on the porch my windows but it is worse on the siding. Others have said it s a fungus from mulch.