How to Use sooty mold in a Sentence

sooty mold

noun
  • These pests can drain the tree's strength and cause sooty mold.
    — Sj McShane, Martha Stewart, 16 Jan. 2026
  • Worse yet, sooty mold, a nasty black fungus, will grow in it.
    — Neil Sperry, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 July 2024
  • Leaves covered in powdery black sooty mold are your first clue to these pests.
    — Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Honeydew may lead to a buildup of sooty mold, a type of fungus.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 18 May 2026
  • Problems with sooty mold will clear up when the insects are controlled.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2024
  • Control of the insects takes time and the sooty mold slowly sloughs off the leaves.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 10 Oct. 2020
  • Problems with sooty mold will clear up when the insects are controlled.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 1 Oct. 2025
  • When sprayed, the sooty mold fungus slowly sloughs off the tree portions.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 6 July 2019
  • Check the undersides of foliage, where aphids hide, and keep an eye out for sooty mold.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 18 May 2026
  • Aphids leave a sticky substance called honeydew on leaves, which can lead to the growth of sooty mold.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Black sooty mold doesn’t harm plants other than cutting down on the amount of light that reaches leaves.
    — Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Feb. 2025
  • Within a few days, honeydew draws a black fungus called sooty mold.
    — Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 26 June 2019
  • The black material is growth of a sooty mold, a type of fungus which feeds on this residue.
    — Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 1 Sep. 2022
  • Often, leaves covered in powdery, black sooty mold is your first clue to these pests in citrus.
    — Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Mar. 2024
  • This liquid forms a sooty mold, discoloring or killing plants.
    — Liliana Webb, Detroit Free Press, 11 Aug. 2022
  • Be alert for scale insects that suck juice from stems and leaves, encouraging sooty mold to form on the leaves.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 29 May 2021
  • The sticky matter is food for a sooty mold fungus producing the black coating.
    — Tom MacCubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Apr. 2023
  • The black, sooty mold is another clue that there is an insect problem in your garden.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2023
  • The sticky honeydew secretions can attract ants and wasps, as well as lead to sooty mold.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 4 Mar. 2026
  • The sticky honeydew secretions can attract ants and wasps, as well as lead to sooty mold.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2025
  • This sticky sap coats the surface of plants and encourages the growth of black sooty mold, which damages the plant or tree.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 20 Sep. 2019
  • The black substance is sooty mold, which feeds on the exudate from sucking insects.
    — oregonlive, 27 Mar. 2022
  • Black sooty mold, a fungus, is growing on many of our citrus trees and ornamentals.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 29 Aug. 2020
  • Notably, black sooty mold can also indicate other pest problems, such as aphids or scales.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 1 Feb. 2025
  • The black is a fungus, called sooty mold, present due to the feeding of these or other piercing-sucking insects.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Oct. 2020
  • That’s sooty mold, a fungus that gets started in the sticky honeydew residue left behind by aphids and scale insects.
    — Neil Sperry, ExpressNews.com, 16 Jan. 2020
  • This, in turn, grows black sooty mold, which covers tree foliage and drips onto anything underneath the trees.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 1 Oct. 2025
  • The sticky residue can cover a plant (and your garden furniture and car), allowing a black, sooty mold to grow.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 30 May 2026
  • For the record, neither of the insects or the sooty mold causes any serious damage to the crape myrtles.
    — Neil Sperry, San Antonio Express-News, 9 Apr. 2021
  • The lanternflies excrete honeydew, which encourages the growth of black sooty mold.
    — Julia Musto, Fox News, 23 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sooty mold.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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