One of the most-common galls to spot this time of year is the oak apple gall, created by a wasp, called the oak apple gall wasp. Don’t worry about this wasp trying to sting.

A more commonly seen gall formed by a different type of wasp is the brown, papery oak apple gall. The size of a ping pong ball, it’s found on oak leaves.

Small bumps on oak leaves are jumping oak galls, which are caused by a very tiny, native, stingless wasp that lays eggs in leaf buds.

When gall wasps are in the larva stage, they grow inside the balls until they mature. While inside, they feed off the nourishment provided by the ball and tree. Eventually, a full-grown gall wasp will ...

Adult gall wasps will inject a chemical into the leaf buds as they're forming, and these little green balls form in that spot, providing us with these funky-looking mini-apples.

Unless of course, a competing kind of wasp manages to penetrate the shell of the oak gall and lays their own eggs inside. So even inside the cozy home of the oak gall, the larval gall wasps are not ...