Prelude:
son not stung by a paper wasp
oaks are slow growers, produce great roots. up to 3X the diameter if the canopy
don’t like high nitride fertilizer (white oaks)
can drop 3 million acorn it its life time
You need oak trees for the health of your yard
oaks support life monthly tally
OCTOBER
blue jays bring oak acorns into your property
jays can plant over 4,500 acorns and can remember about 1/4 of them
sometimes an animal will visit a tree once per year
blue jays were bringing seeds to his property
a long list of animals like acorn (from oak plants)
Oaks are wind pollinated. Female plants on oaks need to be open.
talk about masting (food supply) For “pollination”
making acorns takes lots of energy
NOVEMBER
look out for acorn weevils (appears to have a large nose)
a weevil puts a larval into the side of an acorn
ants use acorns for their colony
DECEMBER
Why do oaks hold their leaves
nature is complicated
talk about browsing animals
eating live leaves with dead noisy leaves
traps more snow creates more nutrients
JANUARY
there are caterpillars on oak trees in winter
sun flower seeds are not the best
finches and doves need bird seeds
song birds need insects
insects are produced by plants
insect decline means bird decline
host plant specialization
some caterpillars can only eat oak leaves (dager moth)
you need keystone plants to support more life.
hundreds of species were found on an oaks property.
oaks support more cattepillars
they have adapted to the oak
FEBRUARY
Quiet times of year
yard planting
oak size (most) are like understory trees) dwarf type oaks (native resident)
look for the depth of the roots (deep rooted)
MARCH
Now, most leaves have fallen from the oak trees
talk of litter mites
nematodes are the most animals on earth.
plant collect energy from sun that’s used for soil energy
jumping worms in soil – eat all organic material
leaf burning will turn property in a “dead zone”
leaves are good for mulch
APRIL
oak buds open
hundreds of thousand buds
Ants have a sweet tooth and is also a good protector
discuss galls
oaks are wind pollinated (for acorns)
moths need native plants to eat once born
MAY
birds that migrate to oak trees (P. 71)
they eat at the oaks
birds can fly 300 miles per night
birds like the fresh insects
there are 650 species if birds that breeds.
they get their energy from eating insects
birds need insects and spiders
caterpillars are like walking leaves
gypsy moths kill oak plants
Oak leaf shape is at it’s max by mid-May
Leaves need carbon to make sugar (??) for photosynthesis
leaves at the bottom of the tree is because of shading
JUNE
Cicadas is like a tree hopper (like a grasshopper) either 13 or 17 years
40-41%
tree hoppers breeding P.92
some insects only lay on “batch” of newborn P.93
Caterpillars in June is at its Nadar in June
oaks support 897 species of moths
collecting a caterpillar can be notched off a branch by just tapping
a bird shoots for the head of an insects for a quick kill
dead leaves are not good for leaf litter? The life of every creature is their blood P. 101
JULY
mistletoe is questionable to oaks P. 103
more talk about moths P. 105
talk about katydids and mating (they sit in oak trees)
talk about natural selection for katydids (they can’t fly in the fall)
talk of slugs, saddlebacks, and other caterpillars (author like the larvae)
look for the yellow-neck caterpillar in July
Acorn size:
small is too dry
intensity of competition (parrie plants)
size produced is the relationship with animals and environment
AUGUST
have heavy rain (good for oaks)
healthy ecosystem
watershed management
scrub water clean it will evaporate
Fixes carbon issues produces the most hard wood
fast growing trees will take carbon out of the atmosphere
thus we need large trees…we need to plant oaks
healthy oaks will grow for the next 300 years
Leaf miners on oaks are little moths
caterpillars are good for prey items
page 130
caterpillars look like damaged oak leaves, or like twigs
discussed lace bugs p. 136
lace bugs are excellent jumpers??
most animals don’t think anything about child care
male wasps have no stingers, but females do!
SEPTEMBER
Oak leaves are the lowest nutrient of the year
walking sticks look like real sticks P. 143
they move like a stick, it quivers and shakes like a normal stick
need leaf litter for the caterpillars life cycle for development
a “snowy tree” cricket is common on oak trees
an equation was written about the chirping of crickets p. 148
seeds are the most abundant in September
bird take seed and hides them for later use
Jays like to feast on these hidden seeds
The oak trees are “on the rope” they are diminished in numbers
talk of browsers and prairie plant fields
we need to start the process of returning the action of extinction…what supports us!
MG Buds book club 
I really enjoyed reading/listening to this book. In fact, it’s inspired me to do a little study of planting a dwarf oak in our yard. What inspired me was the talk of caterpillars and small insects that attack birds. I also like the idea that a plant can grow 300 years plus the collection of carbon. Again, a serious study needs to be done. 🙂
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