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Fletcher Wildlife Garden | all galleries >> Previous FWG blogs >> 2011 Blogs >> FWG blog: September 2011 > Insects on red oak
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23-SEP-2011 Barry Cottam

Insects on red oak

Barry noticed that the red oak near the pond was attracting lots of insects with its sticky sap. Here an Asian ladybeetle dwarfs the fly and the ant also seeking sap. Barry said the tree "was alive with ladybeetles, wasps, bees and flies, apparently feeding on the sap of buds near the ends of branches."

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Guest 27-Sep-2011 12:07
Interesting series of photos of insects feeding off oak sap. Any reason why the trees would be producing excess sap at this time of year? One would think the tree would have withdrawn the sap from the leaves and be trying to conserve sap in the buds. Or are these insects somehow damaging the buds which then release sap. I wonder if this was just one tree or does this happen to most oaks or trees in general at this time of year. Very interesting observation by Barry and gives the rest of us something to be on the lookout for.
Claudia Burns
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