Has anyone had any luck removing artillery fungus?
Please provide personal success stories on how to get rid of fungus in mulch... not links because I have googled and watched others and tried. My daughter had a load of mulch delivered and it looked great until these black dots started appearing on the house and even cars...
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Currently there is no way to eliminate artillery (shotgun fungus). Prevention or eliminating the source is the only viable solution.
http://rayhaluchinc.com/getting-rid-of-artillery-fungus/
http://rayhaluchinc.com/getting-rid-of-artillery-fungus/
Hi Ocee, Artillery mold is known as a nuisance fungi, but that description does not begin to describe it. This mold, found on house siding, looks like small, black dots. In effect, it looks like someone shot your house with little, tiny bullets. In order to kill artillery mold, you must remove the spores from your siding and from the contaminated mulch that brought the spores to your home.
Pressure wash the siding on your house. This will probably not remove much, if any of the artillery mold. However, it will make the black spots easier to see and may loosen or dislodge some of them.
Mix up a mold-killing solution. In the pump sprayer, combine 2 cups of bleach with 1 gallon of hot water.
Spray the bleach solution on the mold. Let it sit on the mold for 15 minutes. Repeat the spraying process and allow another 15 minutes. Once this time has passed, rinse down the wall. This will kill the mold, but the spores will be stuck like glue.
or vinyl siding - Scrub away the stains left behind by the removed peridioles with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. If you cannot get hold of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, a Brillo pad will work. But, it takes a lot more scrubbing to remove the spots. You can substitute toothpaste for the eraser.
Sand off each individual spore. Take your sandpaper and scrub each little black dot off the siding. It is the only way to guarantee that the mold is dead and gone. Once you have finished, re-spray with the bleach solution to catch anything that might have survived; pressure wash again to prepare the surface for painting.
Put all the mulch around your house into a big pile. This should be far away from your house so that the artillery mold does not make the leap back to your walls before you finish killing it.
Soak the pile of mulch with the garden hose. It needs to be saturated. The pile should self-heat over the next week to 110 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the pile has been left on its own for several weeks, you should be able to safely use the mulch as the heat will kill the artillery fungus.
Good luck!
While there are no simple answers at present, research on this problem is continuing--- research looked at cleaning products to help remove the spores from aluminum and vinyl siding. While some were more helpful than others, complete removal required substantial effort and possible damage to siding. Bleech-White, Castrol Super Clean and Purple Muscle proved most effective on vinyl siding in experiments. Foaming Wheel Cleaner and Planet Solutions were most effective on aluminum siding.Artillery fungus orients itself toward bright objects, such as light-colored siding, windows or shiny automobiles parked nearby. The fungi eject the sticky spore mass, which can be blown by the wind as high as the second story of a house. As you have discovered, the spore mass is difficult to remove without damaging the surface. It is likely to stain, even if you remove it successfully. The only surefire solution is to replace wood mulch with river rock or other stone-based mulches in areas that abut houses and parking areas.There is no simple solution to preventing the fungus from colonizing mulch beds or to removing the persistent dark spots the spores leave behind.Straight Bleach on the stains.
While there are no simple answers at present, research on this problem is continuing--- research looked at cleaning products to help remove the spores from aluminum and vinyl siding. While some were more helpful than others, complete removal required substantial effort and possible damage to siding. Bleech-White, Castrol Super Clean and Purple Muscle proved most effective on vinyl siding in experiments. Foaming Wheel Cleaner and Planet Solutions were most effective on aluminum siding.Artillery fungus orients itself toward bright objects, such as light-colored siding, windows or shiny automobiles parked nearby. The fungi eject the sticky spore mass, which can be blown by the wind as high as the second story of a house. As you have discovered, the spore mass is difficult to remove without damaging the surface. It is likely to stain, even if you remove it successfully. The only surefire solution is to replace wood mulch with river rock or other stone-based mulches in areas that abut houses and parking areas.There is no simple solution to preventing the fungus from colonizing mulch beds or to removing the persistent dark spots the spores leave behind.Straight Bleach on the stains.
Thanks everyone.. we will keep at it.
Yes I have. I use 409 Multi Purpose cleaner (lemon scent). Method: Wear rubber gloves. Spray the area where the black spots are sitting. Wipe the entire area (especially the black dots) with your glove. Make sure the entire area is wet. Then wait 2 minutes. Make sure what you just sprayed doesn't dry up. Finally, use a fine weave cotton rag to wipe it all off. Keep rinsing your rag and wiping/scrubbing. For really stubborn ones you can scrape off with a plastic putty knife. I have found by using this method I can get it all off very well. The secret is to let the 409 sit on it for a minute or two and then that fine weave cotton cloth. Works wonders! PS. This type of fungus comes from animal poop...most mulches contain cow manure and if you have dogs and cats which "go" outside...
Hometalk an a great guide on this topic - all types of fungus are covered: https://www.hometalk.com/diy/in-depth-guides/how-to-get-rid-of-fungus-in-mulch-44455416
Power-wash the infected area with a strong chemical like outdoor bleach. Let the chemicals sit on the fungus for about 10-15 minutes. This has been known to kill the fungus, but not always. Again, Artillery fungus is tough, but bleach may keep it from spreading quickly.
I have had these black spots on the vinyl siding for last two years and always that it was from bugs from hitting the house or the tiny spiders. So I proceeded every thing imaginable to use to scrub and clean the spots off and nothing would penetrate it
So this year I did some research and found out that it is artillary fungus. So I looked at all the recommended products to remove them and it was the same products that I tried in the past that didn't work. So lo and behold I had a box of soapy Brillo pads and with a pale of warm water begain to pressure scrub the spots and it did the trick and even though it is time comsuming I just do sections at a time and take breaks. Hope this helps.