My 15-20 feet tall garden Royal Palms here in SW Florida turn BLACK from the center leaves and outwards. Also black Ant's run up and down a lot... Picture: http://www.florida-miami.com/sunny/royalblack.jpg What happen? What is it? What can I do against it? Any help is very apriciatet as I have 11 of these large trees! THANK YOU Frank
Mouldy aphid poo. The plant has an infestation of aphids (or some other sap-sucking insect such as scale insects); these suck the sap out and excrete the excess sugars they don't need ('honeydew', which is just aphid poo), then sooty mould grows on the honeydew. The ants are also feeding on the honeydew.
