Oak Galls (gouty oak galls).....

Hey buddy. I agree with you 100%. I am in Kentucky and there are many oaks in my area(several in my woods) that have taken on these black balls from the wasp galls. They have killed and are killing many oak trees. But I have heard little alarm about this and very little discussion of this problem on this forum or otherwise. Another thing I have noticed is when a oak tree dies from these wasp galls it deteriorates very quickly meaning bark starts peeling and limbs start dropping. It seems the life goes out of these oaks fast. Hope this is not a epidemic in the making with the oak trees like the ash borer with the ash trees. Tony

I've been noticing it a lot lately too! My lot is mostly pine, but my dad has them all over his yard. They are getting real bad around here. It's bad enough with the Gypsy Moths and now wasps. I wonder if they are gonna do anything about it? I'll have to ask my friend who works for the township.

Oak decline.
Contributors:
sucking insects
root rot
root fungus
drought


they've been bombareded with all of the above for the last 5 years or so.
I notice trees going in patches or areas.

Most of the dead red oaks here have a black fungus on the wood under the bark. Whether that attacks (and is part of the decomposition process)after the tree is dead I dunno. Most of the tree "experts" around here are claiming the gypsy moths are what have done them in, but aroundme the gypsy moths have targetted mostle cherry and apple trees. I've seen another green larvae on the red oaks. Just one bad year of them, too. The trees have not been completely defoliated as gypsy moths have done in the past at all. I don't buy it.

Gypsy moths have been real bad around here. Last year we had big patches of forest that were stripped bare. After they eat all the good leaves they will even start eating Pine needles! Everyone around here puts the burlap collars to stop them little critters or at least slow them down. We even have companies that will pressure wash the trees to blow the eggs off.

billb3 said:

Oak decline.
Contributors:
sucking insects
root rot
root fungus
drought


they've been bombareded with all of the above for the last 5 years or so.
I notice trees going in patches or areas.

Most of the dead red oaks here have a black fungus on the wood under the bark. Whether that attacks (and is part of the decomposition process)after the tree is dead I dunno. Most of the tree "experts" around here are claiming the gypsy moths are what have done them in, but aroundme the gypsy moths have targetted mostle cherry and apple trees. I've seen another green larvae on the red oaks. Just one bad year of them, too. The trees have not been completely defoliated as gypsy moths have done in the past at all. I don't buy it.

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Trees don't necessarilly die because of gypsy moths. They die because they become weakend from drought and/or gypsy moths and then are attacked by other insects or fungus which finish them off. I have seen many areas hit by gypsy moth and canker worm very light to moderate and recover the following year.

SmokinPiney said:

It literally looked like winter time in august!!

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We get the Forest Tent Caterpillar here in about 10 year cycles with similar results. At their worst, they had to call out the snowplow trucks to sand the highways.

Lee is right, that the caterpillars in and of themselves don't kill the trees but weaken them making them susceptible to disease.

The gypsy moth defoliates the tree and that reduces food stores going to the roots and that basically starves the tree and reduces the number of viable buds for next years growth. The black galls are evidence of fungal growth on weak or dead portions of the tree and when there is in a weakened condition from starvation the fungus spreads under the bark. By the time the bark falls off the tree has been dead for some time. If the root system is not too extensive it can survive and usually send up new shoots a larger root mass will die of starvation and subsequent invasions. If the tree has been able to store sufficient starches prior to the onset of gypsy moths it can recover if not then a portion at least will die. Where I can I prune the the tents and burn them and prevent the next generation from that bunch. Some short visioned biologists at one point said the moths were basically harmless but about two to three years ago there was a "release" of a re-evaluation of the earlier determination and depicted the real long term damage done was not readily seen until two or three growth seasons had passed if the tree survived. There is no such thing as a mild infestation as a mild infestation is just a slow moving major infestation.