Sooty mould

What you see

Black soot-like film wiping off leaves and fruit. Not attacking the plant - it grows on honeydew excreted by aphids, scale or whitefly ABOVE it.

Conditions

Wherever sap-suckers go untreated, especially citrus; ants farming aphids make it worse.

Treatment

Treat the INSECTS, not the mould: oil spray for scale, controls for aphids; the soot then weathers off. Wash fruit - it's cosmetic.

Prevention

Band trunks against ants; keep scale and aphids down with summer oil; encourage ladybirds.

Months: not recorded

Plants

Orange

Remedies

Not recorded — the field is blank rather than guessed.

The thing people get wrong

Not recorded — the field is blank rather than guessed.