Over the last couple of weeks I have been getting a brown deposit on my cars and lawn furniture. Seems to happen over night and not every night. I h...
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Brown Spots on cars #211526
Asked September 09, 2014, 11:53 AM EDT
Over the last couple of weeks I have been getting a brown deposit on my cars and lawn furniture. Seems to happen over night and not every night. I have been putting out sheets of white paper to collect samples. Happened last night Monday Sept 8th and a couple of nights ago. Last week I found the deposits on both cars and could not wash it off. Spots are very dense about 5 to 10 per sq. inch and from pin point size to about 1/8 inch. Any ideas? My neighbor also has some but in other areas of the county, I do not see this. I am in Upper Burrell Twp, Westmoreland County.
CountyPennsylvania
Expert Response
Hi: Is your car parked under a tree? If so, do you know what tree species?
We are on 19 wooded acres so there are lots of trees. The problem happens whether parked under trees or not. Closest to our driveway are Walnut, Maple and Oak. There are also lots of Cherry and Pine. Also all manner of weed trees such as Ash. Ragweed etc. I n the 15 years we have had the property I don't recall this happening before.
Do the spots wash off? They look like they start to smear after getting wet. (I'm assuming that is what caused the spread, particularly the ones on paper.)
I can wash them off but it is very difficult. Ordinary car wash doesn't do it. I find that in the early morning when the car is covered with dew, I can wash it off but when it has dried, it won't come off. I used Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner with some success.
Yes, as near as I can tell it first appears as a small black dot and when it gets wet, it spreads into the brown ring.
I think you would have mentioned this, but I'll ask. Have you noticed lots of house flies around? They leave fecal spots wherever they land. The spots are usually black. It would have to be a lot of flies to make so many spots, but you would have noticed them.
Artillery fungus grows in mulch or leaf litter (lots of decaying material). They shoot spore packets up that stick to surfaces, but they don't fade and don't come off with soap. I don't think it is them. I've never seen them like this either.
