ABOUT ARTILLARY Spores and STINKHORN Mushrooms! It has come to my attention from a local dealer about a nasty fungus! Called 'Shotgun' or 'Artillery' fungus (Sphaerobolus), this stuff will grow in hardwood mulches and will amaze you as it shoots spores as high as 20 feet, generating an estimated 1/10,000th of a horsepower! While it decays the mulch, it also produces fruiting structures that resemble tiny cream or orange-brown cups that hold a spore mass resembling tiny black spores that will then attach to your home siding, or even your car if parked in the area. While these spores are quite small, removal is virtually impossible! Scrubbing does very little, and in many cases, you can break the spores open and make your house or car even worse as it spreads into a larger spot of black/purple ugliness! Even of more concern, many insurance companies will NOT cover this as it's put into the category of molds! Sometimes very little can be done to control nuisance fungi other than to spade the mulch into the surface soil layer followed by soaking with water. Another option is to remove the mulch, place it in a heap after thorough wetting to allow for self-heating to occur (110-140 degrees F). This will kill nuisance fungi. If fresh dry mulch is placed on top of mulch colonized by nuisance fungi, the problems may occur again the following year or even earlier. You can look at a wide range of articles on this fairly recent development by clicking on this link: SPORES!		Photo of Artillery Spore - To give you an idea of how big this is, 5 or 6 of these can sit on the head of a dime! Artillery spores on vinyl siding
Another item, Elegant Stinkhorn (Mutinus elegans), is a mushroom that grows in decaying wood, which is precisely what wood mulch is made of! This lovely little 'shroom' is actually quite nice looking, but the smell may drive you batty, as you'll smell if way before you ever see it, and it smells reminiscent of rotting meat. While the name sounds attractive, I doubt you'll find much attraction to the Elegant Stinkhorn! WARNING: Many species of fungus are poisonous or contain chemicals that can cause sickness. Never pick and eat any species of fungus that you cannot positively recognise or are unsure about. Some species are deadly poisonous and can cause death within a few hours if swallowed! These are just a few more reasons to consider switching to Future! Mulch!
Lets talk about trees! How many times have you seen a tree that seems like the trunk is buried up to your knees in mulch? Well, this is really a bad, bad thing. In the photo on the right, you see a big pile of wood mulch surrounding the trunk of the tree. You should actually be able to see the root flare, and even a little soil around the trunk. This photo shows precisely what NOT to do! Using wood mulch can suffocate your trees, putting it too high can make them prone to disease and kill them. The rules to remember: AVOID volcano mulch AVOID applying over 3 inches AVOID contact with the trunk AVOID sour mulch Instead of doing this, use 2" of Future Mulch, leave it a little lighter closest to the trunk and spread it out as much as 3-4 feet around the tree, protecting the root system closest to the tree. Following these steps will make your trees happy and healthy all year long.!!