Welcome to Randy Lemmon's "KPRC TALKRADIO Gardenline" Tip of the Week Text-Only Edition Date- June 20, 2002 Issue #27 http://kprcradio.com By Subscription Only! You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter. ------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE ------------------------------------------------------------ => Insect Galls What are they? ------------------------------------------------------------ Gardenline Tip of the Week - Randy Lemmon ------------------------------------------------------------ Much like the recent slate of questions concerning bark lice, there's another set of questions I'm getting on the radio program at this time of the year. And they too are centered around something that looks bad, but are relatively harmless. I'm talking about Insect Galls. Here's how the question usually comes to me: Randy, I've got all these funny little balls growing on my wood of my live oak tree. What is it? OR Randy, there are these fuzzy little asps on the underside of the leaves on my oak tree, what are they and are they dangerous? Surf here to see the different types of insect galls... http://kprcradio.com/listenernewsletter/Galls.htm In both cases, they are simply INSECT GALLS. And the easiest way to describe how they got to be there is that a beneficial wasp came by and laid some eggs. And, to the tree's credit, in a defensive move it created the wood or the fuzz around the eggs. In other parts of the world, other insects like mites create a varying number of galls, but for this neck of the woods, it's almost always on hardwood trees like Oaks, and Elms and Cypress trees. But remember, while they may seem unsightly, they will never kill a tree. And in most cases, insect galls usually cycle off the tree in less than a year. Galls commonly occur on smaller stems and on the undersides of leaves, but may also occur on flowers, fruits, trunks and roots. And while most people usually describe the growth as a woody ball or fuzzy ball, my favorite description in a recent email question noted it as Aneurysms on the tree's limbs. Again, these aren't harmful to the tree's health, but if you want to control them from cropping up again next year, you have to be willing to spray the tree down in 30-day intervals usually beginning in early May and going through early July. Insecticides with a residual effect in the tree will deter some of the wasps from laying the eggs that the galls are usually formed around. The ultimate method for control is a healthy tree. That's because the weaker the wood the easier it is for the wasp to lay the eggs. If you want to know how to keep a tree healthy, you need to see the tip sheet I produced just three weeks ago. http://kprcradio.com/listenernewsletter/GardenTalk_05-23-02.htm Until next week, here's to Great Gardening from the GardenLine, heard exclusively weekend mornings from 8 to noon on Talkradio 950 KPRC. ------------------------------------------------------------ AT THE TALKRADIO 950 WEB SITE: ------------------------------------------------------------ Introducing your source for some of the best buys on the Internet. Check out The TALKRADIO Discount Warehouse every day for new brand-name merchandise ... even FREE items if you pay a few bucks for shipping. Brand names in almost every product category ... jewelry, apparel, books, computers, electronics, health and beauty products, housewares and more!!! http://www.itswholesale.com/ar/iwc.arw_reseller_home_body.jsp?id=1033 ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright Information ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2001 Clear Channel Interactive List Maintenance: To subscribe-- Send a blank email message to "kprc-epub-text@ev1.net" with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. To unsubscribe-- Send a blank email message to "bobgunner@clearchannel.com" with "Remove Gardenline Tips- Text Only" in the subject line. Online TEXT issue can be found at http://kprcradio.com/listenernewsletter/GardenTalk_06-20-02.txt http://kprcradio.com