Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

1 rating

Friday - October 19, 2012

From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Pests, Trees
Title: Are fuzzy oak leaf galls harmful to post oak trees?
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Are the fuzzy balls on the undersides of our post oak trees harmful?

ANSWER:

The fuzzy balls are galls formed by the tree leaf in response to the feeding of the larvae hatched from an egg deposited by a tiny gall wasp in the Family Cynipidae, Genus Andricus. Here are photos of Andricus quercusflocci galls that form on leaves of Quercus alba (white oak) and Quercus prinus (chestnut oak). Andricus pattoni is reported to be the species that lays eggs on postoaks, but I could find no photos for that species of gall wasp. Here is a link to an article about other Oak Cynipid Galls from the Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota. You can see other types of galls in this article from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and here is more information and photos from the University of Pennsylvania. Here is a link to an article on Randy Lemmon's Gardenline on KTRH radio about galls on oak trees in Houston in 2010.

In general, the galls are not harmful to the trees and there is really no insecticide that is effective since the wasps are tiny and not easily seen, plus the larvae are well-protected from pesticides within the galls. Additionally, insecticides applied are very likely to be harmful to beneficial insects.