Dorcascents

My camellia of 4 years has developed a black sooty substance on most of its leaves(not on new growth)I am .told its a mould and wash each leaf with soapy water, which to me sounds so time consuming due to the amount affected. I thought to cut back the stems of leaves affected, or even remove the shrub. If I remove it would I be able to plant another plant in same place.Also if I do decide to keep it would it mean the mould would appear in consecutive years
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The answer id that the mould is living on the sweet sugary honeydew that is excreted by aphids.
So what you need to do is to eliminate the aphids.
When you do that you will have a healthy camellia.
It's likely to be scale insects or possibly aphids.
There's some info from the RHS here (about 1/2 way down the page)
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=771
and info on scale insects here-
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=483
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.