If you have any Daphnia cultures out side, the weather for much of the US is for a lot of rain this week. If four inches of rain is expected, remove 6 or 7 inches from that Daphnia culture or cultures. I also need to drain two remaining aquariums outside, invert them and bring in a few tubs.

I am late collecting dry oak leaves to sometime put with the killies. The very wet October had a lot to do with that. While walking the dog we usually seek out a little traveled part of the park or a nearby forest preserve. (The dog is pretty much emptied out first.) I bring a new trash bag or a large plastic store bag and select the seemingly most recently fallen and clean leaves. This year, since the leaves have been on the ground a while, it may be wise to soak them in clean water a time or so before using them.

All the best!
Scott

Scott,

It seems to me that you expressed a preference for white oak over red oak leaves. Why is that?

Thanks.

Keith

LOL!

I understand that there are several oak species Keith. I look at them and a little voice goes Oak! You kindly ascribe too much to my selection process. :)

Do white oak drop their leaves in the fall and red oak drop their leaves after the winter? Usually, though not this year (I'm replanting the back yard in rice and getting a water buffalo to do the lawn) it is drier in the fall and leaf collection is more convenient. The Oak leave in the spring around here are more effort to collect.

I suppose the white has some local receptivity. "Illinois school children (about 900,000) were consulted ... In 1973, 333, 964 school children chose to specify the white oak as the state tree. The northern red oak placed second with 142,247 votes." I love it when a sources notes that there are 17 to 20 oak trees native to Illinois. Another source quickly Googled lists 9 species. (And we thought that we have taxonomic problems with killies - though part of that oak discussion probably centers around what was introduced.) Probably at least for species' leaves have been raked up here. The pin oak leaf is more of the more interesting in design.

For those who know their oak leaves what difference is there in the chemical effects of white and red oaks? Next spring can't be much wetter than this fall has been. (We're fitting the dog for a life jacket for walks.) Probably could wander around when it freezes and check for oaks still carrying leaves if they are better for killies.

I've heard that the small mammals that eat acorns prefer white oak to red, black or pin oak acorns. Is there a correlation with how much tannin is in the leaves?

Later in the day the last post was made the schnoodle and I slogged out to "our" oak tree grove. Our park district clearly plants for diversity. Almost all of the oaks had shed their leaves. The exception was one with rounded leaves, indicating that it might be closer to the white oak than the pointy-leaved red oaks.

And a couple of the on-line sources indicate that oaks also have the capacity to hybridize. There too!

At least the killies can sort out males by color pattern and respond accordingly if given a chance. :)