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Oak tree leaves being eaten


Question
I live in Tampa and have a 15ft Southern (I think) oak that has pea-sized seed type attachments to the under side of almost every leaf. Mamy of the 2 inch skinny leaves have 6-8 of these and the leaves are being eaten. What can I do?  Thanks

Answer
These are called leaf galls they are made by an insect. Generally the insect lays its eggs on the leaf and the chemical from the egg laying will cause the cells on the leaf to expand and cover the egg. the eggs hatch and the young insect feeds inside the gall.
These galls are not a health problem to the tree and cause little more than a spot on the leaf. the worst case would be the leaves may drop a little sooner than normal. No control is needed. The population will vary greatly from year to year so next year you may not see any galls.
I would not be concerned about this since it will not damage the tree.

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