Fuzzballs in my trees? (gardening, pictures, camera)

[sh9730]

Ok, so Im still new to AZ and learning all sorts of local things. The latest question I have is about some little fuzzballs I found in my Oak trees? They are little brown furry things and are attached to almost every leaf!

They dont appear to be damaging the leaves at all? My guess is they are some sort of cocoon for one of the millions of butterflies/moths we have around here?

Or am I totally offbase?

Thanks - was gonna post in gardening, but seems like this might be a local AZ thing...

[nitram]

Try this site to match up your fuzzy's. What's That Bug: More Caterpillars and Pupa

[sh9730]

Thanks! But not on there - I dont see any caterpillars (yet) - just the fuzzballs! But of course lots of moth/butterflies every day all around, but not sure if they are coming from these fuzzballs or not...?

[nitram]

Can you post a pix?

[tnp]

We have them in TN too. So many this year that they made the news a few nights ago. I didn't catch the whole story and missed the part that said what they are.

[nitram]

Originally Posted by sh9730

Thanks! But not on there - I dont see any caterpillars (yet) - just the fuzzballs! But of course lots of moth/butterflies every day all around, but not sure if they are coming from these fuzzballs or not...?

Trying to help ypu here...check these out: Brown fuzzy caterpillars photos - Google Search

[esselcue]

"Fuzzballs in my trees"? If I was a country song writer I could come up with a great song about that, I think!

[sh9730]

Nitram - Thanks - but nope! These are not the caterpillars themselves - just what I BELIEVE to be cocoons - unfortunately my dig camera broke so no pics right now.

Again, they dont appear to be doing any harm, and they are only in my oak tree leave, not on any of my other tree types?

Im not losing sleep over this or anything - just one of those curiosities of life!

[Paleotechman]

Here's a great answer to your question.
MucknMire: Fuzzy growth on underside of oak leaves
We have them in Wisconsin, too, along with several other types of oak galls this year. One looks like hard red-green-tan blisters on the leafs about the same size as the fuzz balls and the other looks like big cranberries and grow next to the acorns. Mother Nature is trying to make sure we don't get bored!

[sh9730]

Paleo -

Wow, this was awhile ago! But thanks...this is exactly right! I have the wolly oak galls just like the big pics in this blog. Just starting to see them again this year right now.

The wasps must not nest around the trees as I cant recall seeing any significant numbers of any wasps similar to the pictures in the links.

But thanks!

Now I ve got to get rid of the "Yucca Moths" that have killed three of my adult yucca plants this year!