Vinyl Siding Black Spots

The artillery fungus or shotgun fungus is a wood decay fungus that likes to live on moist landscape mulch.

Vinyl siding black spots.

Use big pieces of pine bark or other bark mulch which are a less hospitable place for the fungus. Thankfully i only have one area that has plants next to it so the bleach solution wouldn t hurt them but not sure about my deck stains. Others have said it s a fungus from mulch. It goes all the way up to my second story windows and is even under my soffit and on my gutters.

They are almost like tar. The worst thing about this fungus is that it shoots spores up to 20 feet which often land on siding cars and anything else that surrounds the mulch. 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. The black stains on the vinyl siding shown at left may be a fungus or a black agae.

By the growth pattern we think this is almost certainly a dark colored algae. But testing is probably not justified. 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. It s on the porch my windows but it is worse on the siding.

It goes all the way up to my second story windows and is even under my soffit and on my gutters. Here is a photo of what the actual fungus that produces the black spores. We have these small black spots that look like specks of tar all over our white vinyl siding of our house. You have the infamous artillery fungus.

Artillery fungus is a wood dwelling fungus commonly found in mulch. We have thousands of tiny black spots pin head size all over the siding of our house. Add a fresh layer of mulch. 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. Though you may be stuck with a few black speckles for a while here s how you can keep the fungus from shooting any more spores at your house. We have these small black spots that look like specks of tar all over our white vinyl siding of our house. Some tell us it s from spiders.

A microscopy lab examination of a sample from this surface would be needed to know for sure. It s on the porch my windows but it is worse on the siding. Small black spots on siding. Thousands of them about the size of a ballpoint pen tip.