Some of you might remember an outbreak of itch mites a few years ago. Itch mites are associated with oak leaf marginal gall. I’ve seen a fair bit of oak leaf marginal gall activity this year. I’m not saying there’s an outbreak of the itch MITE – this is just a “heads up” and reminder that if you are seeing oak leaves with marginal leaf gall, take the cautions outlined in the links below.
Definitely do NOT rake those leaves up into a pile and jump into them!
KSU Entomology has an article here (scroll down to see):
http://entomology.k-state.edu/doc/Newsletters/2014/KSInsectNewsletter24.pdf
and a fact sheet here:
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/MF2806.pdf
and here is some more:
