New Growth Turning Black

I have tried to other times and been semi-successful and growing a few plants but for various reasons something always went wrong. This season I have been more successful than I had been in the past but now I have a problem that I am afraid is going to ruin everything. The new growth started turning black in places. I was under the impression that it was this bright white scale insect that I kept finding on them now and then. Nothing near an infestation but scale insects are sapsuckers, right? I thought they were sucking the juice out of the new growth before it had time to grow much. I can’t find any information online that really matches my problem. I’m thinking possibly a fungus? I thought maybe phosphorus deficiency? but the mature leaves look fine. I treated with neem oil twice. Trying to get rid of the bugs but I read that neem oil is a treatment for fungus also. That didn’t help at all. I got a few photos I’m really hoping someone can help. I know that all this is pretty vague but there’s just so much to it that I’m not even sure what to include ask me any questions and I will answer them as best I can. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide.

Edited to add:
I also have photos of the little white bugs. I had a hard time identifying them. I decided maybe a white fly nymph? I’m definitely not sure but I think whatever it is might be something that metamorphoses into something else?

Edited again b/c Just got a pic of the only other bug I have seen on my plants.

 

That would be great if that’s what it is. I considered that too but I don’t have enough experience to identify for sure. It is happening on 4 out of 5 of my plants. The only one that has no signs of the black/dark purple stuff is the little one.

Two tall ones in back were freebies from the seed bank. One looks like an Indica and the other a sativa. The short bushier one in the front is Chocolope. The smallest one(started it late but it’s a late October harvester so hoping it will still grow more) is strawberry cough and the one in the big pot is pineapple chunk.

*Nothing is in the big yellow pot

 

They all died?? Ahh!! Hopefully mine don’t have what theirs had.
I thought maybe leaf hopper on the last one and my mom also said the white ones could be too. They definitely do hop. Quite a long way actually lol

 

Thanks for your help. I can’t wait to watch the buds grow!

 

I’m completely at a loss on what to do..

It absolutely looks like some of them may just be “Purpling” but there’s one in particular(the shorter bushier one in the front of pic) that it really doesn’t look like that. Where it is happening the buds look like they started to grow and then just totally stopped. The sooty mold you were talking about sounds like it could be right because it does look like soot on the leaves but I think that this one plant is likely ruined I know you guys feel my pain. I just put so much ❤️love❤️ into these girls this summer...

other than this, the plants have been totally healthy and I’ve had no problems. I do want to point out that the plants may look a little sparse but it’s because I have removed a lot of the large fan leaves in order to remove shade.

 

These pics are of all of the one plant that I think has a problem.
More leaves turn black every day. Buds seem to have stopped growing. The sites where it’s happening the leaves look twisted and gnarled. It lookr very much like a pic I saw of bromine deficiency, except that turns the leaves brown not black. I think that there are two separate things going on for sure. Purpling... yay! And who the hell knows what(mold? Sooty mold?)... boo! The new leaves on the ones that are purpling don’t look twisted and the buds are still growing.

I looked up sooty mold and I think you diagnosed it right with that. it says you can just wipe off the sooty mold but I can’t. The sites of the mold re also areas that are covered w/ trichomes...

 

Idk if everyone is as stumped as I am(it’s just that seems unlikely to me because I know that there are so many experts here) or if so many new posts come in, I just keep getting bumped down the line but I am at an extremely critical juncture and I really need some sort of guidance.

Maybe I am freaking out for no reason and they are all prurpling. I have a question about that though. Do all buds on the plant purple, or can some of them have completely no purple turning of the leaves at all and some with lots of purple turning of the leaves? I also thought that it would be strange for all four different strains to be purpling. All strains don’t purple do they?
Also it just seems like the buds aren’t growing and they look twisted or just not right, like the ones that aren’t doing that.

 

Thank youso much. I definitely feel better hearing that from an old she wolf! and now that I’ve heard it from 2 of you guys/gals, I feel much better.