cegarbage, you can post a photo directly in your message simply by uploading the photo to Photobucket.com. Then, copy the .HTML code and paste it right into the body of your message. Your photo will then be embedded into the body of your message. Hard to say what is going on with your Improved Meyer until we can see photos. More than one would be helpful.

Patty S.

Thanks. It's here:

http://s1163.photobucket.com/albums/q548/cegarbage/

cegarbage, your photo is a little bit blurry, but to me it looks like sooty mold (black stuff) caused by sucking insects which in this case I suspect is scale (light yellow-brown spots on the underside of the leaves). If this is truly the case, you'll notice that the underside of the leaves are also sticky, and you may also have some ants which tend to farm the scales. Take a look at the following website for more pictures and diagnosis/treament.

Keep us posted on what it turns out to be after all!

Tim

Here is a link that might be useful: UC Davis - Integrated Pest Management site

Wow, certainly looks like sooty mold. That same side in the photo does have some light brown spots too, the other looks ok.

I live in the Los Angeles foothills. It's about 65/50 in Winter and 95/65 in summer. What can I do to prevent it, and what's the best to remove it?

I currently have it on a small portion of my tree. I think a chemical I used last year cleaned part of it, not sure why it didn't clean the whole tree.

I also got it a few years ago and removed it with a chemical the store no longer has.

Since it's the least toxic thing out there, I would suggest using horticultural oil and apply following the instructions EXACTLY. Most important is to spray late afternoons AND when tempertures are less than 80F so that you don't scorch the leaves.

Tim

cegarbage, float your mouse over your photo. A "Share:Copy" window will come up. Select the HTML code and left click it once. That will copy the HTML code to your Windows clipboard. Then, just right click in the area you type your message and select "Paste". That will paste the HTML code string (and not the URL as you've done) into your message. When you preview your message, you will then see your photo right in your message. Saves having to pull up another page to look at photos.

And, I concur with Tim, it definitely looks like sooty mold, which is a secondary symptom of some sort of sucking insect, and horticultural oil will work. Even insecticidal soap and a hard blast of water if it is aphids (as well as ant control - you must control ants and keep them out of your trees so they stop farming these insects.) Check out the link Tim gave you, it will give you treatment options for the insects that can cause the sooty mold to appear: aphids, cottony cushion scale, citricola scale, brown soft scale, black scale, mealybugs, and whiteflies.

Patty S.

The disease is on the back of the leaf. Does the spray kill the insect if I spray the front of the leaf? I tried but it's not easy spraying the back of hundreds of leaves.

Nope, to really get rid of them you gotta get to them on the underside. If your tree is smaller, you can use a pump up sprayer (I rotate the head so it's easier to spray upwards), but if it's larger then use a hose end sprayer and just douse them from underneath.

Here's your picture cegrabage...

{{gwi:567006}}