Last August/September my Crape Myrtle was infested with aphids. During this winter the branches turned black and turned into the center like a cone. I assume the black is sooty mold, but is the tree dead and why did all the branches turn upwards. My neighbor has a similar problem, but not as black as mine. Also there is a tree down the street and behind me that looks to have the same problem. Any ideas?
I'm in zone 6 in southern NJ. Attached is a current picture of the tree.
If the branches turned black over the winter I think it's more likely cold rather than sooty mold. The sooty mold would have showed up on the leaves after the aphids had been around for a while so I think you would have noticed it there first, and if it got bad enough that it went on the branches as well I think you would have started to see that happening during summer/fall. I think crape myrtles aren't reliably hardy in zone 6, so in some winters they may die back. It may not be completely dead though, it may resprout from the base when the weather warms up so don't give up on it yet.
Sooty mold would be odd on a tree that is in full sun. In my neck of the woods sooty mold and crepe mrytles go together if they aren't in full sun, happens almost always. Doesn't kill the tree and it doesn't usually spread to the branches. In other words I don't think sooty mold has anything to do with what you have going on.
I'm interested in how this tree turns out. The branches pulling in and up is strange too.
Are you maybe thinking of powdery mildew instead of sooty mold? A lot of crape myrtles are prone to it and it does prefer shady conditions. I've had sooty mold on plants that were in sun before, anytime I've had an aphid infestation get out of control I'll find it on plants whether they're in the sun or the shade. Of course our climates are different, but what you're describing perfectly fits how powdery mildew behaves so I wondered if that might be what you were thinking of.
I might be confused on those two. It does always involve aphids. I'll have to look the two up and figure out the difference.
Crape myrtles here have problems in shade because of the high humidity I believe and that's what leads to any kind of mold problem. To look their best they need full sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooty_Mold, that is exactly what I get on my confederate jasmine that is in morning shade. Picture is dead on. Seen that on shaded crepe myrtles too.
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/powdery/powdery.htm, That's not what I really see on crepe myrtles.
I'll pay better attention this year, crepe myrtles are very common where I am.
Could be in your climate you'll only get sooty mold in the shade--I just know out here it does just fine in the sun even with our low humidity so that's why I thought maybe you were thinking of powder mildew instead. Poor crape myrtles are susceptible to a lot of problems! LOL
Either way, sooty mold and powdery mildew don't typically kill plants, they're unsightly but not normally deadly, and both would have caused their problems during the growing season vs over the winter, so I don't think either one is dottiemom's problem. I still suspect cold damage--zone 6 is a bit borderline for them and I know there were some unusual cold snaps across a lot of the country this past winter that could have caused damage even to plants that normally would be fine in a particular zone.
It's somewhat difficult to tell from the photo, but I wouldn't be surprised that the black branches are dead, but I'm not convinced they would be dead from winter temps. I've seen some winter die-back on Crape Myrtles before and normally they don't turn black. I'd bet they've died back from something else and they were in the process of dying back last fall. You could take a small twig and try to break it in 2 and if it's brittle and easily breakable then it's dead or you can do the scratch test and scratch a branch and see if you can see green just under the bark or not. Either way, maybe a better close up photo of the bark/branches that are black could help us to see what may be going on also.
