Question
I have an oak tree,not sure which type, but we have all over the branches little BB looking things and they crunch when you pinch them.Called local office and they say it may be scale.Can you tell us more.tThanks.

Answer
Hello

I am not sure if this is scale.  It almost sounds like Gall Wasps.  With out seeing the larva I cannot give you an accurate answer.  However I can tell you why this is happening.  Your tree has sent off signals that it is weak.  Insect can detect when a tree or plant is weak and is ripe for a good reproduction area so that all of there babies can hatch and eat away on your tree.

There may be a buildup of amino acids from an over-fertilization.  This means that the tree will only synthesize nutrients at a certain rate.  When a tree is heavily fertilized it sometimes causes a nutrient traffic jam.  This will lower the Brix levels of the tree and here come the insects.
The low sugars can also be caused by overwatering, roots damage, improper trimming from an inexperienced tree trimming company.

There is a new product on the market called Atomic Grow.  It is sold at www.crowleynursery.net.  Atomic Grow is a foliar spray.  It will take a little work to clean your problem but whats neat about this product is that not only will it clean off all of these larva safely.  It will clean the leaves so well that they will begin to produce more sugars for the tree thus raising your brix levels back up and basically repairing whatever is wrong with it.  It is non-toxic so its not dangerous.  You can just blast away.

Your other option is to see what happens.  These larva are going to hatch into something soon and probably infect your other trees as well.  It is very possible you will have another infestation on your hands.  

Hope this helps you.

James