Thanks, Johnmerr! I didn't know I needed to be on the lookout for INvisible pests as well as the visible ones. :) I'll be sure to get that loupe. I found a thread that gave great reviews for a mix of Neem oil, Rosemary oil, and DynaGro Pro-tek for taking care of spider mites. I'm going to give that a try. Thanks so much for your help!

All of our flowering plants seem to be getting black spots. It doesn't seem to matter the variety, sun exposure, moisture, etc. It's our peonies, tree peonies, lilacs, azaleas, and more. Some are in the front of our house, some along the side and some in the back. Some get more sunlight than others and some are on our sprinkler system (with water restriction it's only 15 minutes every other day) and some have no additional water. Does anyone know what's going on and how to fix it?

Thank you for the sentiment. I'm glad you have some pass alongs from your mama. I do understand how much they mean to you. I read that it was either fly or possibly thrip poop. We are getting the last of the kumquats off the tree tomorrow and I'll be vigilant about harvesting the next round of them a lot quicker. I read that neem, castile soap, and copper are all good along with magnesium for the trees so I will get to work on that. I make the castile soap myself so I won't even have to buy that and I have neem on hand from using it in my doggy shampoo bars and in my balms. Glad I have so many things on hand around here from my business that have shown to be so multipurpose! I even have magnesium that I make mag oil with so I will just have to get some copper and I think I read that they also could be zinc deficient. My daddy hasn't fertilized them in no telling how long so I will get on that as soon as I find out which is the right kind. Can't remember if he said triple 13 or what! It's exciting to learn about growing citrus and I wish I had learned a long time ago. The parents don't really know much about the actual needs of the trees unfortunately. They just planted them and kept them fertilized and pruned. I will be watching some videos to teach myself how to do the pruning of them.

dish soap is a detergent ... and very harsh as compared to horticultural soaps ... why did you think they needed spraying in the first place ... how long have the trees been in situ ... where are you.. z5 is about half the US ... and wildly divergent .. in my z5 MI .... its been in the mid 90s for the last week ... up until it broke a the other day.. i would never spray a plant with anything during that kind of heat ... all that said.. those leaves are still green enough to be doing what they do.. converting sun to energy ... so i would be to worried about such superficial damage ... ken