Have you ever seen sooty mold? Sooty Mold lives up to its name and looks like the tree’s foliage has been covered in dark patches of soot. When pests such as Aphids or Spotted Lanternflies suck the sap they produce waste called honeydew and wherever that honeydew falls sooty mold can form. Sooty mold can be dangerous to trees as it can cause lack of light to reach the leaves and limit the trees ability to go through the process of photosynthesis which is necessary to a tree’s survival.
If you find out your tree has this problem you should find out the type of pest causing the problem and there may be a solution such as a beneficial insect . A beneficial insect will feed on the pest, and that will cause a lack of honeydew that sooty mold needs to survive. For example: If you have aphids you can release ladybugs that will feed on the aphids getting rid of them. As you can see sooty mold is not good for your trees and if you have sooty mold that means you most likely have a sap sucking pest in the area.
