The culprit of the dark specks on your siding could be hiding in your mulch.
Mulching around your plants helps soil hold onto moisture, keeps the weeds down, and looks tidy.
But with certain types of wood-based mulch, you might be providing a home to shotgun fungus, too.
Credit: Doug Hetherington
This fungus likes to live in damp, decaying wood, such as decomposingshredded bark mulch.
You’d probably never notice it except as its name implies, shotgun fungus can forcefully shoot out spores.
The good news is, the mulch fungus isn’t toxic to you or your pets.
What Is Shotgun Fungus?
It’s hard to see shotgun fungus itself, because it’s only two millimeters wide.
What Causes Shotgun Fungus?
They just won’t come off very easily.
