Not all was beautiful on the URI Master Gardener Tour. One gardener pointed out the small spots on her house's siding that are nearly impossible to remove: artillery fungus.
Hadn't heard of it until Saturday, but if you click on the photo below, which will enlarge it, you can see
that this fungus is polka-dotting the siding. Artillery fungus is from placing wood (versus bark) mulch close to the house or driveway. When the cells holding the spore packets burst, they can shoot the spores as far as 6 meters, creating more of these spots.
From now on, this gardener is using non-wood mulch ~ cocoa bean, buckwheat hulls, peat moss, stones, compost ~ near the house and driveway. This stuff sticks to cars also.
According to Cornell's Artillery fungus disease factsheet, the fungi are very light-sensitive and especially stick to white or light-colored surfaces. You can damage the finish of your car or siding if you try to remove it with abrasives. Another informative article on Artillery or shotgun fungus is from Penn State.
Whatever your gardening or farming problems, keep in mind that university extension services are goldmines of information. Seek them out first. Remember that the URI Master Gardeners are part of the URI Cooperative Extension Service here in Rhode Island, and they have a hotline for Rhode Islanders with questions. Call 800-448-1011 (Open from March 1 until November 15, 9 – 2 Monday – Thursday). The GreenShare Factsheets and many other publications are online now, and they have information specific to our Rhode Island climate and environment.
Comments