Every year for as long as we have lived in this house I have noticed these green and red speckled balls that look a bit like grapes. They are about the size of grapes too. Some yeras there were many and some years there were none.

They would drop from where I could not figure out and in just one small area of the yard. Then they would disappear.

When I cut one open there was like a siderweb radiating from the center of the ball out to the sides. I took them to the children`s science teachers at school. No one knew what they were.

Then one year I noticed a brown paper textured ball that was bigger around the size of a quarter. They had one tiny perfectly round hole in it. I cut one of the balls open and it had that same spiderweb like center.

I finally put 2 and 2 together. What we were seeing was part of the life cycle of a gall.

The very next year I looked up when I found the very first green and red speckled ball and sure enough on the leaves of my white oak I could see many still attached on the leaves.

I won`t tell you how long it took me to figure out my mystery!!

cool pictures from another that was mystified!!

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They don`t seem to hurt the tree it is growing like crazy.

LOL I shouldn`t tell, almost 5 years.

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Galls can be formed by insect larva or plant diseases. In low levels there is little impact on the plant but high infestation can stress the plants.

Galls come in all shapes and sizes. For insects they are usually flies or even wasp larva. The larva is on the inside of the swollen plant tissue. The bump or ball is the plants reaction to the larva on the inside of the plant tissue.

Galls can happen on trunks and branches.

Good detective work!

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The Buglady
Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, www.bugladyconsulting.com
Educating the world... one bug at a time