Cleaning Leaves on Outdoor Perennials

I have a couple of questions. The pollen is horrible this time of year and all of my outdoor perennials, and annuals, both in ground and in pots, are covered with yellow pollen. Will this interfere with photosynthesis? I would like to be able to spray them with something at least once or twice a week, during their morning watering. Is plain water ok, or should I use a little dish soap/water mix?

Second question: I "think" I have the scale infestation under control on my Pittosporum. Now I need to clean off the sooty mold on the leaves. Do I need to clean each leaf by hand? (Please say no LOL) Or can I spray a soap/water combo on the leaves?

Any suggestions for either question is welcomed!

Thanks!

You can try soap and water for both problems. 1 tablespoon of dish washing soap (the kind you wash by hand with) per gallon of water. It may take a fairly strong blast of water (especially for the sooty mold), so maybe this will work:
1) Put the soap through a garden sprayer to spray it on,
2) Then come back and blast off the pollen or the sooty mold with a strong jet from a hose.

The pollen ought to rinse off fairly easily, but the sooty mold clings really well. The soapy water ought to dissolve the sugar-water that the sooty mold lives on, and it can help against the crawler stage of the scale.

If you are treating delicate plants test a bit with the soap before using it. Spray a few leaves then come back in 24 hours and see if they are OK.

The rain should do this for you - tomorrow?

Purpleinopp is correct, better let the rain do it's job nature intended it to do, water the plants and clear off dust and pollen.

As for the Sooty Mould, it never lives off the sugary substance, the Black sooty colour is like all sugary things left to rot, it changes colour, BUT because it has been allowed to remain on the plant, when it forms a mould, it then becomes diseased, then you have a different problem,
The sugary substance is normally caused by aphids excrement, it is sweet and ants ect live off this substance and they will act as guards to defend the aphids that lay the sweet sugar liquid.

If the whole shrub is NOT covered in Mould, then yes !!!! the best results will come from using a soapy soft sponge or cloth, I use cotton wool you buy from drug store for make-up removal. dip the cloth ect into the warm soapy water and hold the leaf in the palm of one hand and wipe with the other, make sure you check the underside of the leaves too as it is sometimes spread to that area also.
You will be surprized just how fast you can wipe a bush full of leaves, try use a cotton glove and wipe the leaves between thumb and finger, even quicker results.

Good luck and happy wiping LOL.
WeeNel.

Thankfully we have gotten 2 days of really good, steady rain. Boy my gardens sure needed it! There is nothing like a good rain to wake up a spring garden :) I suspect the pollen has been washed off by now.

I will try Diana's suggestion of spraying the soap/water mixture & then following up with a strong blast of water to remove the sooty mold. If it is still there the next morning then I will follow WeeNel's advice and hand wash them.

Thanks for the advice!

WeeNel, there is an actual fungus called Sooty Mold. (Sooty Mould)

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74108.html
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=770

Sooty Mold is the common name of a fungus that lives on the sugary wastes (called honeydew) of insects such as aphids, whitefly and scale. It is not the rotting sugar. Actually, it is any of half a dozen species of fungi. They are not taking nutrition from the plant, though they can cause problems by blocking the light. They are really living on the honeydew.

Killing the aphids, scale or other pests will stop the sooty mold because there is no food supply.
Washing off the honeydew can also reduce the sooty mold, but if the scale or aphids are still there to produce more honeydew the sooty mold will come right back. Once the aphids (or other pests) are under control the sooty mold will weather away. You can make it go away faster by washing the leaves with a little bit of soap in the water. Do not over dose.

There are other molds (or moulds) that can appear black, but these are not the Sooty Mold found on leaves of many garden plants. These others live on different things, not the honeydew wastes of certain insects.