Bubbles on trees
Just when I think I’ve figured out what all the strange stuff is in the Gabriola forest, I find another weird thing. This time it’s bubbles on trees. It looks as if somebody’s gone out with some dishwashing liquid, squirted it on trees, and added enough liquid to make bubbles.
I’ve seen these bubbles on all kinds of coniferous trees – these ones were spotted during the downpour a few days ago, while we were hiking through the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve. What on earth makes them?
Filed in Gabriola Island,trails 4 Comments so far
4 Responses to “Bubbles on trees”
cheryl on 20 Oct 2009 at 10:08 am #
I googled foamy bubbles on trees and up came a picture of a Pine spittle bug nymphs.
They cover themselves with frothy mass of spittle and air bubbles in the
winter and hatch out in the spring. The bubbles look just like the ones
in your picture.
Gabriolan on 20 Oct 2009 at 11:57 am #
Cheryl, I’m looking at the Insects and diseases of Canada’s forests – Pine spittlebug page on the Natural Resources of Canada website. They list the bug’s distribution as and say that it is
So the pine spittlebug is not our region, according to this. Have you found any sources that indicate otherwise?
Another thing to consider: I saw the bubbles on different kinds of coniferous trees, including cedar.
cheryl on 20 Oct 2009 at 2:21 pm #
We may not have eastern white pine, but the article also says other hosts
are Balsam, Hemlock, Jack Pine and Spruce which we have all of here.
cheryl on 20 Oct 2009 at 2:33 pm #
The article was written on resources back east and said it is common in Ontario
but it did’nt say thats the only place the bug is found. I’m not saying your
wrong it’s just that the article didn’t specifically state it was only in Ontario.