Cleaning and Stain Removal - Artillery fungus on vinyl siding

I've tried researching this on the internet as much as possible. Unfortunately, most sites say that it can't be removed without damage. Can anyone here provide any help? It's on the front of my house, mostly confined to the first floor, but some spots did reach the second story.

For anyone who doesn't know what this is, they are tiny black spots that stick to whatever they land on, usually a bright or sun reflecting surface. They are literally "shot" out of fungus plants, which grow in your mulch. They say they can be launched up to 20 ft.

I was doing searches for "fly poop on siding" and came up with this artillery fungus. I don't know if it's what I have but I do have spots on my siding that I tried rubbing off with a kitchen sponge scrubber, a little dish soap and water with very little luck. Well, I was outside trying to clean the vomit smell out of my daughter's upholstered car seat (don't ask) with baking soda and white vinegar. I had vinegar and baking soda all over my hands and glanced up to see more "spots" so I just walked over and started rubbing them with my finger and to my delight and surprise they came right off!! When I get some time, a ladder and a break in the temperature, I'm going to do the rest! I'd be curious to know if it works for you.

Someone told me that I had mildew on my vinyl siding so I took a gallon sprayer and filled it with bleach and attached my hose and put my hose on the strongest pressure and I sprayed down my whole house. I did this twice and the siding never looked better. I'm noticing these spots again so I'll be repeating the process. Hope this helps.

Hi. My dad has shotgun fungus on his front porch pillars and trim, and he uses a product called Super Clean by Castrol (available at auto parts stores).

It works well, but it WILL REQUIRE elbow grease. It's the only thing that we've found that works on this fungus. The fungus looks like little bits of tar, and is about as easy to remove as tar, but with the super clean, it can be done.

if you want it to stop, get rid of the mulch that's causing it and replace the mulch with a mulch that has been treated wih a fungicide, or do that yourself.


Best of luck

Scroat, thanks, that's great information on that product. I've already removed all the mulch, as I'd previously read that as a necessary step. I'm going to pick up that Super clean and give it a try. Did you just apply to a rag or was it necessary to dilute at all?

We used it full strength, but you may have good results with dilution, but we did not try.

Also, you may want to have on some rubber gloves as I remember the super clean usually is supposed to be diluted and is harsh on the skin.

Good luck.