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Found out a single oak can support over 500 different species of insects and I had no idea
I was reading through a guide from the Arbor Day Foundation last night while looking up pruning tips and stumbled on that stat. 500 species! I always knew oaks were important but that number blew me away. Made me look at the old red oak in my client's yard totally different. Has anyone else run into a fact like this that changed how you talk to customers about tree value?
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ellis.faith6d ago
Funny you mention that, I actually just heard a podcast with Doug Tallamy where he talked about the exact same thing. He said the 500 number comes from a mix of insect species that use oaks for food and shelter over their whole lifecycle. Not all at once, but across the year. I started paying more attention to the little moths and beetles around my own backyard oak after that... it really makes you wonder what you're missing when you look at a tree. And yeah, I get that clients mostly care about safety and mess, but I've had a few who were genuinely interested when I brought up how oaks are basically a whole little neighborhood for bugs and birds.
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morgan.rose6d ago
Maybe it's just me but I'm not sure I buy the 500 species thing. I've seen studies that say more like 250-300 for a mature oak. Arbor Day Foundation is great but they might be rounding up for effect. I'd be careful throwing that number around with clients unless you've got a source handy. Most people I talk to just want to know if the tree is gonna fall on their house or drop acorns in their pool.
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