It's not often I see something 'new' in the yard. So when I went to get some rain water for a plant, I noticed that the back yard was littered with thousands of pieces of 'popcorn'. Popcorn? Well obviously it was not popcorn, so what was it. Many things fall from the sky……Pine needles, acorns and Oak leaves litter the yard when the season pleases them. Every once an a while an epiphyte falls from a tree. One year, a meteorite appeared under a bush, they fall from the sky. Anyway here is a picture of some I gathered. I have two theories. First is that a stiff wind, 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph, early that morning brought seeds from a neighbors flowering tree. Orrrrr……..the squirrels have figured a way to create puffed acorns…..like the breakfast cereal puffed wheat and puffed rice. As they have not moved yet I figure they are not animal. And the chipmunks usually deposit the slag of there mining operations just outside their mines, so mineral is out. Any guesses? Mystery from the sky? ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden ) Jerry
Since you have Pine trees I would guess they are Pine Nuts. The cones open and drop them, I think usually in the Fall.
Fuzzy.......did I mention they were fuzzy?..... like a caterpillar. The pine nut images on google have a smooth surface. Perhaps I should take a better picture. I dissected one and it's green inside. Jerry
I don't think they are uniform enough to be pine nuts, but I am not sure they are seeds either..... They aren't very uniform and most of the seeds I see are very uniform with in their family. Now, I could be wrong even though it is an unusual occurrence so plant them and see what happens. Do they have a "seed like" interior? or is it hard or spongy or what? can you cut one through and see the "germ" for the new plant if it is a seed?
I might try a three pronged approach to an ID. I will take a bunch and plant them. Take another bunch and put them in the refrigerator for 5 weeks and thirdly, couple a more extensive internet search with an assessment of the drop pattern(to see if I can Identify the source). I suppose that is a 4 pronged approach. So far google has not come up with anything close. Jerry
I found a web site that suggested that to another person who found one under an Oak tree. If indeed they are galls then I will approach the testing theories differently. Several experiments come to mind. My web search will have a gall as an ingredient, I can put some outside in the cold under a glass top to capture anything that hatches. I can still subject some to cold but under more controlled conditions. We don't want bugs flying around in the refrigerator. Good bugs? Bad bugs? I guess I will have to find out what the tree was incasing in the gall. More tomorrow, it's getting late and I'm tired.......good night. Jerry
They do look like galls. Aren't galls more of a fungi ? Likely you would not want those. Pine nuts are more like roasted sunflower seeds.
I mite have found the answer. Erineum gall also called the Fuzzy bead gall is caused by a mite. The plot thickens as the possible candidates are whittled from the list. Stay tuned and we might just find out what is bugging this tree. Jerry
