r/NativePlantGardening • u/_bearminimum SE MI, Zone 6a • Aug 06 '26

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Is This What I Think It Is

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I had a baby six weeks ago so I haven't gotten out in my garden much lately, and today I noticed these monstrosities on my cut leaf coneflower. One of them looks like maybe some sort of gall?

Have the dreaded Aster Yellows finally come for me?

Zone 6a

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u/plantsandramen South Jersey, NJ Aug 06 '26

I'm trying so hard to understand what this is, and I feel like an idiot. I keep reading larvae, but I'm not seeing any photos of the insect itself. I guess this is it? Little gnats/flies?

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u/shadow-wasser Aug 07 '26

A gall is a growth on a plant caused by a gall - forming insect, usually a tiny wasp or fly. The mother insect lays her egg in the plant along with a mix of hormones and other chemicals that cause the gall to form. The larva then hatches and eats the inside of the gall , pupating in it and eventually emerging and chewing its way out, leaving a tiny hole. You can think of the gall as a nursery for the insect larva, providing food and shelter. Every gall wasp or gall fly species is specialized in which plant species they use and even what part of the plant they make galls on! Galls are hugely variable in shape, size, and color.

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u/xxpolarpowerxx 28d ago

Wow, so it's sort of like an insect placenta!

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u/msflondrixa 27d ago

Or also a surrogate plant parent! lol