As a Florida native, I am aware that all of Florida is trying to kill us. We have alligators, thousands of snakes including boa constrictors, burmese pythons, as well as bears, bob cats, poisonous Bufo toads the size of kitchen appliances, lightning, hurricanes, HOAs, spiders, sharks, jelly fish, zombies, mosquitoes larger and more aggressive than badgers and heat and humidity which can melt granite. This just for starters.
I thought I was OK with all that, but today my wife informed me that we now have Artillery Fungus in our yard! What the hell??? Immediately I knew this was not good. I mean, the official name is Artillery Fungus!!! It is also know as Shotgun Fungus. Wonderful.
Apparently this fungus grows in mulch, producing spores internally. When mature, the fruiting body splits open forming a cup-like shape. I guess that is the canon? And the canon shells are the mass of spores which is known by scientists as the glebal mass. Nifty name guys. About five hours after opening the spores are blasted into the air! The discharge mechanism generates 1/10,000hp and can shoot the glebal mass six meters!
The spores are fungus, and look like it. Black, sticky and gooey. They land on the side of your house, your car, the Amazon delivery guy, cats and dogs.
How to get them off the house? Power-washing may not be effective if you wait long, especially if you have vinyl siding. You might try scraping the spores off one-by-one with a scraper or steel wool. After that there will still be a stain left, which can be taken care of with an ink eraser or possibly bleach.
Your car is another story. You probably just want to sell it on Ebay and buy a new one.
Artillery Fungus. Amazing What next? Diarrhea spewing wasps???
I can’t wait.
Daaang! Now I’m afraid to mulch. Thanks for the heads up!