Small Black Spots On Vinyl Siding

We have these small black spots that look like specks of tar all over our white vinyl siding of our house.

Small black spots on vinyl siding.

The black tar like spots that are all over your vinyl siding are more than likely a fungus called sphaerobolus stellatus better known as artillery or shotgun fungus. Lawn garden we have thousands of tiny black spots pin head size all over the siding of our house. The black stains on the vinyl siding shown at left may be a fungus or a black agae. Use these simple landscaping tips to prevent this from happening.

But testing is probably not justified. It goes all the way up to my second story windows and is even under my soffit and on my gutters. Artillery fungus is a wood dwelling fungus commonly found in mulch. By the growth pattern we think this is almost certainly a dark colored algae.

Although it s most often found on the east coast it can grow anywhere and especially thrives in areas that have cool damp springs or rainy fall weather conditions. A microscopy lab examination of a sample from this surface would be needed to know for sure. It s on the porch my windows but it is worse on the siding. If you notice lots of tiny black or dark brown spots developing on your siding above a landscaped area of your yard as seen below it is most likely artillery otherwise known as shotgun fungus.

Some tell us it s from spiders.