Assessment required. Wondering what the black marks are? Any other relevant observations too please, Thanks

Hi! Welcome to Grow with Jane’s community.

It seems that your plant has bugs. While I can’t tell for sure which bug it is, I would guess spiders mites.
You should check the back side of the leafs, there should be more black spots.

Spiders mites are a ugly pest. They reproduce fast and will start to cover your plants with webs. I don’t know where are you from, so I can’t recommend commercial products.

For controlling your current plague, I would recommend this:

  • Embedding alcohol in a piece of cloth and rubbing it in the leaves (the upper part and the lower part)
  • A windy environment makes it harder for the spider mites to reproduce.
  • Spraying your plant with a soap based repellent. Repeat this step two or three times a week for two weeks.
  • Ladybugs! They have a symbiotic relationship with the plants, and eat a lot of different bugs.

For maintaining your plant spider mite free:

  • Try to keep you environment clean. Do not only spray repellent to the plant, spray around the environment.
  • Spray neem oil to repel bugs.
  • Use Diatomaceous Earth. It’s fossil dust. While it’s safe for humans, pets and plants, microscopically it’s super sharp, and bugs will teared apart because of that. It’s a grayish dust that you can sprinkle around your plants on top of the soil.

Happy growing!!!

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