Every day a School Day

Today I popped down to my allotment. The last visit just before new year I had a fall. Well it was more a slip followed by a half twist and a belly flop to the ground! Today I survived all dangers but came away a little more educated.


I have a juvenile oak tree growing on my plot. It appeared 2 years ago and I'm hoping the management will allow it to grow, some allotments have strict rules about trees.


Juvenile oaks keep their dead leaves over winter until they are about 10 yrs old. From a distance it looked as if it had grown acorns for the first time, I was wrong. Research suggest it has quite a few Oak Apple Gall Wasp, Biorhiza pallida, setting up home. These are tiny wasp that causes growths, or 'galls', on oak twigs.


They are quite harmless and have an interesting life cycle. These are the second galls produce during the year and house both male and females eggs. The first are made on the roots of the tree and produce only females. The cycles continues up and down the tree each year. 


I have a full list of jobs to do next week. The main job is winter pruning of my wayward apple and plum trees.