This thread has reminded me of one of my many nightmare stories about fire ants. These ants are simply a part of life in much of the warmer parts of this country. I was living in S. Carolina at the time. I got into my car, backed down the driveway, and started down the road. After about two or three minutes, I felt a sharp sting on my calf. Immediately, I felt stings all over, including down my blouse. A huge swarm of the ants had entered my car at some point from the time I had driven it earlier in the day till the moment they all tried to sting me at once. The nurses counted dozens and dozens of stings from my toes to the top of my head. I was bothered by 'phantom' ant stings for months after that, lol.

Nice pics. I'm growing Anna and Golden Dorsett in my Ca zone 10, and the Dorsett has about 8 or 10 nice fruit - 2 already eating size. The Anna did well last year, but is just now leafing out and blossoming - very slooowly. I'm watching it as it did have a fairly good crop last year for such a young tree. About aphis, I use the duct tape-Tanglefoot combo on most of my fruit trees - especially citrus, and have had good luck with it. Also like to blast young growth from time to time with water from the hose - not too hard tho - as it will blast blossoms/setting fruit if not done properly, and should only be done early so as to dry leaves before night fall. Thanks for sharing - my trees are doing very well this year - apricot (2), almond (2), Bonanza peach (low chill), macadamia, fig. This is the best fruit set yet for my Fuyu persimmon, hope they stay on. Also have a new banana (in a pot) doing quite well, a jujube and a pineapple guava, along with mandarin, lime, orange, and Eureka lemon (which is looking much better this year - has hard rind, but juice is great). Bejay

chauna, jean is correct, the ants are harvesting the honeydew from the insects. If you have scale, then you need to kill that insect and the ants will go away. Water alone will not work, but simple treatments such as insecticidal soap with the water will solve your problem. For a good list of controls, try the attached link. Here is a link that might be useful: citrus pest control

The black powdery stuff sounds like sooty mold and can be washed off with soapy water. I would inspect for insects other than the ants as this is usually found on trees infested with aphids and/or scale.These insects produce honeydew that allows the saprophytic fungi that allows the sooty mold to grow. The mold blocks the sunlight from reaching the leaves and therefore the tree is unable to photosynthize. Kill or deter the ants as they are attracted to the honeydew and can kill the tree. Amdro works really well for killing ants but it does smell(like rotten eggs),it also won't hurt the tree as its sprinkled on the ground around the ant hill.