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Pine Tree Black Powder: Sooty Mold from Scale or Aphids

Jack Pine Covered in Black Powder, Dying Fast

Black powder on foliage, sticky to touch. Not first tree lost.

Diagnosis: Sooty Mold

Sooty mold grows on honeydew excreted by scale insects (small turtles on twigs) or aphids (moving on foliage). Scale more likely.

Treatment

Apply Bayer Advanced Insect Control for Trees & Shrubs to soil. Roots transport systemic insecticide to foliage, killing sucking insects. Sooty mold then disappears or washes off.

Plant Diseases: Blue-Gray Growth on Tree Trunks: Lichens—Harmless, Indicate Light, Not Cause of Fruit Tree Decline; Cottony Growth on Douglas Fir: Cooley Spruce Gall Adelgid; White Growth on Mulberry Branches: Signs of Decline; Pine Tree Black "Fungus": Likely Sooty Mold from Insect Honeydew; Gall Rust on Pine: Identification, Pruning, and When to Call a Forester; Controlling Sooty Mold on Tulip Trees by Managing Aphids; Thinning White Pine: Fertilization for Needle Density; Orange Jelly Fungus on Walnut: Golden Jelly Fungus (Tremella mesenterica); Identifying Nepenthes ventricosa: Key Features to Look For; Environmentally Safe Mold Removal from Ficus Soil

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