Black Substance On House Siding

Shotgun fungus can shoot black spots on your house here s how to avoid the mess.

Black substance on house siding.

If you re seeing dark specks on your siding the culprit could be hiding in your mulch. By the growth pattern we think this is almost certainly a dark colored algae. And of course the black spots show up better on white surfaces so they are noticed more easily. In nature the artillery fungus shoots its spores towards sunlight.

Are those spots alive. Whether it s mold or mildew your siding is no place to have things growing. Use these simple landscaping tips to prevent this from happening. The dark spots are indeed spores but they do not come from your oak trees.

They are the reproductive structures produced by artillery fungus sphaerobolus stellatus one of several fungi common on wood mulches used around plantings in home and commercial landscapes. Watch as lou manfredini ace s home expert shows you an easy and affordable way. In the absence of direct sunlight it shoots the spores at highly reflective surfaces such as white house siding. The black stains on the vinyl siding shown at left may be a fungus or a black agae.

But testing is probably not justified.