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After a period of rain, homeowners are sometimes perplexed by the sudden appearance of tiny black dots all over the side of the house, the car, or the lawn furniture. Because the pinhead sized spots can occur on the roof of the car, or high on the side of the house, the assumption is that trees are to blame. In this case the culprit is a tiny mushroom growing in the mulch.Commonly called artillery fungus or cannon fungus, this little mushroom actually shoots out an “egg” or spore packet. The “egg” which may be ejected up to 14 feet from the fruiting body, has an oily or sticky surface that enables it to adhere to most surfaces it encounters. Once stuck to a surface the “egg” dries to a disk shape and adheres tenaciously. Unfortunately, the spots can be very difficult to remove, often requiring a lot of scrubbing or scraping. There is no chemical treatment effective in killing this fungus. The only solution seems to be to remove the mulch (most often hardwood or wood chip) and replace it with pine bark or pine needles, which seldom seem to support the growth of this fungus. For more information, please visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/oldnotes/gp1.htm. (Images provided by buncombecounty.org.)
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