Spring Time means New Mulch!

Black Spots on Your home

New Mulch means Artillery Fungus!

 Artillery Fungus is a problem. These spores of the genus "Sphaerobolus" will attach themselves to your Knoxville home siding and Windows. Though not harmful, it is a nuisance and, if left to set, the spores can cause permanent staining.
 
   The artillery fungus, or shotgun fungus, is a wood-decay fungus that likes to live on moist
 landscape mulch. The worst thing about this fungus is that it shoots spores up to 20 feet,
which often land on siding, cars and anything else that surrounds the mulch. It seems to
have become a serious problem this year for many homeowners here in East Tennessee.
   
    Every year we have a lot of customers come in with this problem  Unfortunately no natural mulch can resist the artillery fungus – Penn State Plant Pathology department has tested 27 different kinds of mulch  and found that with enough time all of the mulches were supporting the evil spore-shooting mushroom.

   As far as getting rid of the spores on your siding – that’s not a fun job. The most important
 part is to get them quick, as they are covered in sticky substance that will stay on the
 siding for good if not taken care of in a timely fashion. New vinyl siding that still has
an oily residue on it can be power-washed within the first week. In other cases pressure-washing
 will be fruitless.  Scraping the spores off one-by-one with a scraper or steel wool is
 tedious but effective. After that there will still be a stain left, which can be taken
 care of with an ink eraser or possibly bleach.

 No mulch is completely safe from the artillery fungus!
                                   
                                             Call Innovative Glass TODAY! 865.455.9871

 

 

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