YOU’VE GOT THE “GALL”

         What do birds, insects and ice fishermen have in common?    “Ball Gall.”  You are most likely thinking at this point, “What the heck is a Ball Gall?”

A ball gall on Presque Isle

        If you visit Presque Isle or any other natural area in northwestern Pennsylvania, maybe even your own backyard, that has goldenrod growing, chances are very good you have seen an almost perfectly round growth in the middle of a goldenrod stem.  It looks like a plant tumor or some kind of strange bulge or swelling in the stem of the plant.  These small globes can be found on other plants, not just goldenrod; however, they seem to be most common on goldenrod in the Great Lakes area.  

            They are not tumors.  They are, in fact, hibernation dens.  Goldenrod and many other plants act as hosts to insect larva.  In the late spring or early summer an insect, usually some form of fly, lays its eggs on the stem of the plant.  The hatching larva digs itself into the interior of the stem.  The swelling of the stem is the plant’s response to the insect living inside.  As autumn fades into winter, the galls become more visible because in summer and fall they have been hiding among the plant’s foliage.  When you are walking on Presque Isle or in your neighborhood, be on the lookout for them.

            You would think this should kill the plant, but no, the plant slowly balloons itself around the new small nub the larva has become.  This fly larva takes a long time to develop, so it will spend the summer inside the stem.  The goldenrod, to defend itself, stimulates the area and creates the Ball Gall, which provides more space and a lot more succulent goldenrod cells on which the grub can now dine all summer.  The grub will usually winter over inside the stem.  In most cases, the new fly does not emerge until early the next spring.

            Safely sheltered within the gall when Erie’s winter arrives, the grub slows its metabolism and begins to replace its internal water with glycerol.  This substance acts as natural antifreeze in the grub.

            Then again, the above is true unless someone invades the gall.  Over the years, I have seen ice fishermen, who ran out of bait, cut worms out of the galls.  One old gent actually collected six or seven galls before he started out on the ice. Of Course, with the No Ice conditions of this year, this is not happening.   Although some fishermen and gettin nice numbers of perch on the bay docks and in one case a small fishing boat just off the Erie Yacht Club.     A father and his two kids caught 12 perch off the rocks of the club yesterday before Super Bowl.

             Other invaders of the galls are birds and other insects. Downy Woodpeckers, for one, love to peck open galls to get the grubs within.  The woodpeckers are often selective and choose only the larger galls, which they know, have the largest grubs.  In the case of the insects, some actually move right into the warm and comfortable den.  Nature provides for all.  Insects, birds and ice fishermen all share in God’s grand design.