Hello,<p>Sounds like 1 of two choices. Someone else mentioned "Dog vomit". This could be what it is. And yes, my extension calls it the same thing (always thought it was funny)<p>Second, it could be "shotgun fungus". You mentioned it 'shot' spores out all over the place. This is what shotgun does, and it is bad because it caused all of those little "black specs" over peoples nice new vinyl siding. If you ever looked at a house and seen black specs all over, this is a good reason for them. However, I believe shotgun is much smaller than what you described (need to really look to see it) so it probably isn't.<p><br>I can't remember treatment procedures, but I remember someone saying that hand removing it was probably the best bet.<p>As for causes, they are this. Fungus like to grow in cheap mulch.<p>Cheap mulch usually has a lot of "wood" in it. Fungus loves to grow in the woody part of the mulch. <p>One way to avoid problem is to use a higher quality 'Bark Mulch'.<p>The bark mulch does not have has many problems with fungus. An example is with old stumps. ever noticed how when a stump sits around for a few years, mushrooms and fungus begin to grow on top of it. They grow on the wood, not the sides where the bark is.<p>The bark has a natural 'chemical' to resist fungus growth. Thats why trees have bark (well, one of many reasons). When you buy cheaper mulch, they grind in a lot of 'wood', therefore the mulch is very prone to fungus growth.<p>These days, even though sellers say their mulch are "100 percent bark" mulch, it seems unlikely that it is. With more wood being used in the mulch, as with cheaper mulch, the more this problem is going to happen.<p>Steveair<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: steveair