This mold disease makes your foliage look like it was close to the open fire. Thatās why a lot of people are confused by the diseaseās look. This mold mostly grows in the secretion that is produced by insects like scale or aphids or in honeydew. If your plant has some issues with pests already, it is more likely that sooty mold will appear. Gardenias and roses are especially inclined to this disease. In general, this disease isnāt deadly, it wonāt kill any plant, but the pests that produce secretion in which sooty mold grows can do it.
Sooty Mold On Plants
Signs of damage
- Dark spots. They are especially common on the upper surface.
- The noticeable activity of the sap-sucking insects. It can be a sign of feeding, appertaining of the sticky secretion they produce, etc.
- Sticky honeydew. Since sooty mold often grows in it, this symptom is very important.
How to prevent
Drought and high temperatures contribute to the problem because insects like aphids, which are connected to sooty mold, are especially active when thereās not enough moisture. So you need to water your plants regularly. It wonāt be an exaggeration to say that control of pests helps with sooty mold control. If you have noticed some problems with sap-sucking insects in your garden, it is better to use some chemicals to control their population. You can wash leaves with some of them to prevent the appearance of this mold.
Heal
Before treating this disease, you need to find out what has caused it; the sooner you indicate the source of a problem, the better. So start treating the original problem; itās probably something caused by pests. After this, you can just wash off the mold from the leaves. For this purpose, neem oil is great because it is effective with fungi and with pests as well.
Go Premium to continue reading
Also youāll get unlimited access to disease identification and all the other beneficial features
More problems
Magnesium Deficiency in Plants
Such a common problem as magnesium deficiency in plants usually results in ...
Black rot
This bacterial disease mostly affects crucifers. The diseaseās activity is ...
Feeding damage by insects
As insects feed on above-ground and below-ground plant parts, they inflict ...
Pentatomidae
Pentatomidae is an insect family with over 4700 species. Theyāre part of th...
Whant to know more?