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Sooty mould
snowy43
Posts: 118
The leaves on my lemon tree [in the greenhouse] are covered in black sticky stuff, which my friend calls sooty mould. What's the best way to get rid of this please? The tree has been fine all summer and this mould has only recently appeared.
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Posts
The sooty mould is caused by mould forming on a sugary secretion from aphid. You can wipe this off with tepid water (using cotton wool, kitchen roll etc).
You'll need to tackle the aphids or it will come back. I just wipe them off with my finger and thumb - but you need to keep on top of the little critters!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove's quite right (as ever
) I would just add that I spray with soft/horticultural soap.
Thank you both for your help. Have started cleaning the leaves this morning, but found tiny snails and a few tiny caterpillars on the leaves. It doesn't seem to bother the tree, as it has a lot of small and a few medium sized lemons, and some more blossom.