Need more info. Is your tree inside or outside? Photos help. I am assuming it's outside if you have CLM. But, sooty mold is NOT found with CLM, so you have some other sort of sucking insect infestation, so look for scale, aphids, etc. And, treat accordingly. Also, be sure to control for ants as well, as they will try to maintain and "farm" those sucking insects for their sweet excretions (which will also promote the growth of sooty mold).

Patty S.

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place but here it is. I have a problem with my Mexican lime tree. I bought it this year and I got 2 small limes out of it which were very juicy. It had another 2 but they dropped as soon as they got to about an inch. Soon after I started seeing a lot of flower buds and everything looked very healthy. Some of the flower buds opened, dried out and dropped and the leaves were getting sticky and dropping one after another. I'm left with just a few leaves and I noticed some brown scale on them. The leaves were green when they started dropping. Don't know if I killed the tree . It is still under warranty. What should I do. Thank you

Listen to hoosierquilt~ She knows her stuff!

I also agree that CLM will not cause the black grime. The grime is usually from aphids and ants making everything dirty and that lets mold and bacteria set in.

Remove the ants/aphids and get a CLM trap that uses a pheromone to attract and kill the CLM. The CLM usually strike from late Spring to late fall outdoors around my area and I was hit with them pretty hard this year too so next year I am going to use this:

http://www.iscatech.com/ecommerce/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=70

Its a little expensive but it really gets rid of the CLM.

gardenlover11, instead of tacking onto someone else's message thread, please start your very own message thread. That way, you're not hijacking someone else's thread :-)

Patty S.