I have hundreds of tiny black dots spread out all over my house. They wont come off with plain high pressure water, or a brush its even hard to scrape them off with my fingernail. Are there any chemicals recommended that wont ruin my vinyl, shrubs, or lawn. Thanks, J.T.M.
Small black dots on siding.
J.T.M.
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
I have hundreds of tiny black dots spread out all over my house. They wont come off with plain high pressure water, or a brush its even hard to scrape them off with my fingernail. Are there any chemicals recommended that wont ruin my vinyl, shrubs, or lawn. Thanks, J.T.M.
We had a customer one time have alot of tiny black dots all over his house as well. It ended up being "artillery fungi" ( where the mulch litterally explodes) from soft wood mulch. There was no way to clean it up (at least at the time) and he had a Professional from Penn State come up to verify and his insurance covered for new vinyl siding.
Its not seen to much up here from what I gather, but more frequent in the south from what I am told....not sure how true that is for the south but that is what the Penn State Pro said. The reason is mulch is made of Softer wood down south then it is up here. Who knows.....
Joined
·
1,677 Posts
Well the best i can do is do you have any pw store there,hotsy is good.
Joined
·
89 Posts
It most likely is artillery fungus and there is no way to completely remove it even if you hand scrub the spots.
We don't see it often in South Ga because pine straw is the bedding cover of choice.I've never heard of anyone gtting new siding because of it.
We don't see it often in South Ga because pine straw is the bedding cover of choice.I've never heard of anyone gtting new siding because of it.
Joined
·
49 Posts
i see it a lot in ct. or maybe im talking about something different but i cant budge it
You probably have shredded woodchips for mulch. Bark mulch should eliminate the problem. Since it's not a customer's house, a cheap solution is to cover your mulch with leaves. This is a good read on the subject: http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/artfungus/artilleryfungus.htm
Joined
·
234 Posts
http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/news/july97/fungus.html
Here's the Penn State article. We do mainly pressure washing, but also do lawn care. This is the first thing I look for when I see mulch near buildings and let cutomers know when talking with them that it will not come clean. We've had it come off on occasion, but only if you catch it before it's baked on by the sun. We carry this article with us, because most homeowners believe it's bug or spider doo. After we tell them what it really is, they usually give us that "yeah ok" look and they only believe it after we hand them the article. We land a lot of jobs when the homeowner compares us to the other guy that didn't even know what it was.
Here's the Penn State article. We do mainly pressure washing, but also do lawn care. This is the first thing I look for when I see mulch near buildings and let cutomers know when talking with them that it will not come clean. We've had it come off on occasion, but only if you catch it before it's baked on by the sun. We carry this article with us, because most homeowners believe it's bug or spider doo. After we tell them what it really is, they usually give us that "yeah ok" look and they only believe it after we hand them the article. We land a lot of jobs when the homeowner compares us to the other guy that didn't even know what it was.
Joined
·
355 Posts
Same here. Being on top of your field makes the difference in $40/hr and making $150+/hr.
Here is the article I send customers to on my site. http://www.firstchoicepowerwashing.com/artillery_fungus.html
Joined
·
8,082 Posts
Interesting.
I have these dots all over the house and vehicles. Mainly on the north side.
I always thought it was my trees spitting sap and then dirt settling on the sap and turning it black.
I was also told it may be insect poop.
Is this fungi visible with the naked eye?
I have mulched beds, but use quality hardwood bark mulch. The area in question is damp and shaded.
I have these dots all over the house and vehicles. Mainly on the north side.
I always thought it was my trees spitting sap and then dirt settling on the sap and turning it black.
I was also told it may be insect poop.
Is this fungi visible with the naked eye?
I have mulched beds, but use quality hardwood bark mulch. The area in question is damp and shaded.
Joined
·
2 Posts
Yes the fungi is visible. Look close and you will see a whole bunch of what looks like little tea cups. If you see the cups it is already too late, because they already opened and flung the spores. This is the way it spreads, ufortunately your house was in the way. One way to eliminate the fungi is to fluff the mulch so the fungi does'nt have a chance to get established.Clients dont mind the expense of turning over the mulch when they see the damage done by this pest.
Joined
·
1,501 Posts
Yup. I see it alot over here as well. I even see it on cars. I had some one accuse me of my equipment blowing out oil from the muffler because it looked like oil dots on their car and my truck had them as well. I told them i didn't know where they where coming from but it sure as hell wasn't from my equipment. I had a fallen out with that customer and they dropped me because i wasn't budging. They didn't pay me either. They owed me about $200.00
I let it go thinking it really was my equipment because my truck really did have them.
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
