Hi everyone,
I'm a new member, and this is my first post, so excuse me if I break any
"rules".

My husband was out in the front yard earlier today and came in to tell me
that something was growing on one of our two Oak trees. They don't look
*ANYTHING* like acorns, and I don't believe the trees are old enough to grow
acorns anyway.

As far as I can tell, the trees are probably somewhere between 10-15 years
old...I doubt they are any older... They were transplanted from the forest
about between 5-8 years ago by our home's original owner. I'm not exactly
sure of the time frame, but we've been here 4 years, so I'm going from
there...

Anyhow, if someone could take a look at the picture I've uploaded to my
photobucket site and see if they look familiar to you, and if so, what are
they??? They seem to be actually growing on the tree, and look, as my
husband so elegantly put it, like "little green alien eggs".

Here's the link
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...7/IMG_3362.jpg

Christine

It looks like a praying Mathis cocoon? I have lots of oaks and find them on
the ground this time of year after something climbs out of it. I was told it
was a Mathis cocoon but not really sure. I could see an escape hole in each
one and when I pulled it apart it was filled with a web like substance.
Elaine
"Christine D" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member, and this is my first post, so excuse me if I break any
"rules".

My husband was out in the front yard earlier today and came in to tell me
that something was growing on one of our two Oak trees. They don't look
*ANYTHING* like acorns, and I don't believe the trees are old enough to
grow acorns anyway.

As far as I can tell, the trees are probably somewhere between 10-15 years
old...I doubt they are any older... They were transplanted from the forest
about between 5-8 years ago by our home's original owner. I'm not exactly
sure of the time frame, but we've been here 4 years, so I'm going from
there...

Anyhow, if someone could take a look at the picture I've uploaded to my
photobucket site and see if they look familiar to you, and if so, what are
they??? They seem to be actually growing on the tree, and look, as my
husband so elegantly put it, like "little green alien eggs".

Here's the link
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...7/IMG_3362.jpg

Christine

In article ,
says...
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member, and this is my first post, so excuse me if I break any
"rules".

My husband was out in the front yard earlier today and came in to tell me
that something was growing on one of our two Oak trees. They don't look
*ANYTHING* like acorns, and I don't believe the trees are old enough to grow
acorns anyway.

As far as I can tell, the trees are probably somewhere between 10-15 years
old...I doubt they are any older... They were transplanted from the forest
about between 5-8 years ago by our home's original owner. I'm not exactly
sure of the time frame, but we've been here 4 years, so I'm going from
there...

Anyhow, if someone could take a look at the picture I've uploaded to my
photobucket site and see if they look familiar to you, and if so, what are
they??? They seem to be actually growing on the tree, and look, as my
husband so elegantly put it, like "little green alien eggs".

Here's the link
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...7/IMG_3362.jpg

Christine




It's a type of gall. Usually they are made by tiny wasps that sting the
plant tissue or various flies that injects liquid into the plant tissue
which causes the gall to develop. The larval stage of the insects feed
of the material inside the gall and later emerge. Though galls can be
made also from beetles , moths, aphids and thrips on different plants
along with bacteria, viruses , mites and fungi.
--
Lar

Christine D wrote:
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member, and this is my first post, so excuse me if I break any
"rules".

My husband was out in the front yard earlier today and came in to tell me
that something was growing on one of our two Oak trees. They don't look
*ANYTHING* like acorns, and I don't believe the trees are old enough to grow
acorns anyway.

As far as I can tell, the trees are probably somewhere between 10-15 years
old...I doubt they are any older... They were transplanted from the forest
about between 5-8 years ago by our home's original owner. I'm not exactly
sure of the time frame, but we've been here 4 years, so I'm going from
there...

Anyhow, if someone could take a look at the picture I've uploaded to my
photobucket site and see if they look familiar to you, and if so, what are
they??? They seem to be actually growing on the tree, and look, as my
husband so elegantly put it, like "little green alien eggs".

Here's the link
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...7/IMG_3362.jpg

Christine

These are galls, sometimes called "oak apples".

They are caused when an insect lays an egg inside the fresh, young
tissues of the tree. The larva that hatches causes an irritation that
causes the tissues to swell. The larva then eats out some (not always
all) of the excess tissues.

When the larva matures and forms an adult insect, it bores its way out
of the gall. The galls you show in the image will eventually turn black
and fall from the tree. They will be very light in weight with a corky
internal texture.

These galls are generally quite harmless to the tree, although cleaning
them up from driveways and lawns can be a bother. Other galls (but not
these spherical ones) can be symptoms of disease, which can cause
serious damage to a plant.

During colonial times, these galls were gathered and boiled to extract
tannic acid for making ink and dyes and for tanning leather.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

Well many thanks David and Lar you have solved this mystery I have always
wondered about. I really didn't think it was the praying mantis as someone
told me but I could tell it was something inside eating it's way out.
Elaine
"David E. Ross" wrote in message
.. .
Christine D wrote:
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member, and this is my first post, so excuse me if I break any
"rules".

My husband was out in the front yard earlier today and came in to tell me
that something was growing on one of our two Oak trees. They don't look
*ANYTHING* like acorns, and I don't believe the trees are old enough to
grow acorns anyway.

As far as I can tell, the trees are probably somewhere between 10-15
years old...I doubt they are any older... They were transplanted from the
forest about between 5-8 years ago by our home's original owner. I'm not
exactly sure of the time frame, but we've been here 4 years, so I'm going
from there...

Anyhow, if someone could take a look at the picture I've uploaded to my
photobucket site and see if they look familiar to you, and if so, what
are they??? They seem to be actually growing on the tree, and look, as my
husband so elegantly put it, like "little green alien eggs".

Here's the link
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...7/IMG_3362.jpg

Christine

These are galls, sometimes called "oak apples".

They are caused when an insect lays an egg inside the fresh, young tissues
of the tree. The larva that hatches causes an irritation that causes the
tissues to swell. The larva then eats out some (not always all) of the
excess tissues.

When the larva matures and forms an adult insect, it bores its way out of
the gall. The galls you show in the image will eventually turn black and
fall from the tree. They will be very light in weight with a corky
internal texture.

These galls are generally quite harmless to the tree, although cleaning
them up from driveways and lawns can be a bother. Other galls (but not
these spherical ones) can be symptoms of disease, which can cause serious
damage to a plant.

During colonial times, these galls were gathered and boiled to extract
tannic acid for making ink and dyes and for tanning leather.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

Yes, a big thank you to all of you. I was kind of freaked out when I first
read Elaine's message
but my husband tried calming me down by letting me know he's pretty sure
that it's not a Preying Mantis, since he's almost positive we don't have
them around here. (Eastern Canada)

Still, the idea of insects hatching inside my Oak tree kind of gives me the
heebie jeebies. There are around 8 or 9 galls total on one oak, and none on
the other two so far, and I have a HUGE insect phobia, so needless to say I
won't be going anywhere near that tree until they're all gone! *lol*

Again, thanks for looking and for all the info on what these are!
Christine


"Elaine" wrote in message
...
Well many thanks David and Lar you have solved this mystery I have always
wondered about. I really didn't think it was the praying mantis as someone
told me but I could tell it was something inside eating it's way out.
Elaine


"David E. Ross" wrote in message
.. .
These are galls, sometimes called "oak apples".

They are caused when an insect lays an egg inside the fresh, young
tissues of the tree. The larva that hatches causes an irritation that
causes the tissues to swell. The larva then eats out some (not always
all) of the excess tissues.

When the larva matures and forms an adult insect, it bores its way out of
the gall. The galls you show in the image will eventually turn black and
fall from the tree. They will be very light in weight with a corky
internal texture.

These galls are generally quite harmless to the tree, although cleaning
them up from driveways and lawns can be a bother. Other galls (but not
these spherical ones) can be symptoms of disease, which can cause serious
damage to a plant.

During colonial times, these galls were gathered and boiled to extract
tannic acid for making ink and dyes and for tanning leather.

On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:29:00 GMT, "Christine D"
wrote:

Yes, a big thank you to all of you. I was kind of freaked out when I first
read Elaine's message
but my husband tried calming me down by letting me know he's pretty sure
that it's not a Preying Mantis, since he's almost positive we don't have
them around here. (Eastern Canada)

Still, the idea of insects hatching inside my Oak tree kind of gives me the
heebie jeebies. There are around 8 or 9 galls total on one oak, and none on
the other two so far, and I have a HUGE insect phobia, so needless to say I
won't be going anywhere near that tree until they're all gone! *lol*

Again, thanks for looking and for all the info on what these are!

Hi Christine,

There are well over 600 known types of Galls/Insects that
attack Oak trees. The Oak Apple is just one of the better
known ones. There are plenty more, most likely on your tree
right now that you just haven't noticed...

Remember they are interested in the Oak tree, not you ;-)

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:14:37 -0400, "Elaine"
wrote:

Well many thanks David and Lar you have solved this mystery I have always
wondered about. I really didn't think it was the praying mantis as someone
told me but I could tell it was something inside eating it's way out.

Hi Elaine,

The Preying Mantis egg mass looks like brown foam and is
usually stuck to things like your garage door, siding,
posts... See this link for some photos:

http://whatsthatbug.com/mantis.html

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

Hi Leon and thanks for the link. I have always been fascinated by the
praying/preying mantis.When my neighbor was in the Navy at Key West he had
one for a "pet" that lived on a plant in the apartment they were in. (Don't
freak out now Christine.) It was harmless to humans but kept the fly and
roach population at bay! They also fed it hamburger meat on occasion.
Elaine
"Leon Fisk" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:14:37 -0400, "Elaine"
wrote:

Well many thanks David and Lar you have solved this mystery I have always
wondered about. I really didn't think it was the praying mantis as someone
told me but I could tell it was something inside eating it's way out.

Hi Elaine,

The Preying Mantis egg mass looks like brown foam and is
usually stuck to things like your garage door, siding,
posts... See this link for some photos:

http://whatsthatbug.com/mantis.html

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

In article ,
says...
Well many thanks David and Lar you have solved this mystery I have always
wondered about. I really didn't think it was the praying mantis as someone
told me but I could tell it was something inside eating it's way out.



Here are a couple of mantis egg casings
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/images/m...eggs_larry.jpg
http://www.purviance.com/photos/imag...ggs_031012.jpg

Looking like an asp may keep birds from ripping open the casings to eat
the young..
--
Lar