Black Spots On White Vinyl Siding

Small black spots on siding.

Black spots on white vinyl siding.

If you re seeing dark specks on your siding the culprit could be hiding in your mulch. It goes all the way up to my second story windows and is even under my soffit and on my gutters. Bleach is one of the most popular remedies to zap those black spots but it requires lots of scrubbing and a little muscle. Artillery fungus is a wood dwelling fungus commonly found in mulch.

These spore masses have a very sticky surface and stand out as black spots on sides of homes. And of course the black spots show up better on white surfaces so they are noticed more easily. Are those spots alive. As these structures dry the spore mass is shot out of the fungal vessel to a distance as much as 10 or 20 feet.

There s also hydrogen peroxide at a strong strength. We have these small black spots that look like specks of tar all over our white vinyl siding of our house. 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. In nature the artillery fungus shoots its spores towards sunlight.

Shotgun fungus can shoot black spots on your house here s how to avoid the mess. In the absence of direct sunlight it shoots the spores at highly reflective surfaces such as white house siding. You will find it nearly impossible to remove these spore masses from a home without removing the paint. You have the infamous artillery fungus.

Allow it to bubble on the siding and then sponge it off mouthwash is another bizarre solution to remove artillery fungus but don t laugh. 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. Lots of folks swear by it.