What’s going on with my Pagoda Dogwood? On many branches, the top looks normal but the bottom seems to have been attacked by some critter. After last night’s talk, my first thought is bees, but our speaker didn’t mention any bees using live branches for nests. There seem to be little pockets along the bottom side of the stem with tufts sticking out. Some stems have a narrow line along them. Always the outer-most portions.
Here are some images – click the thumbnails for a larger version.
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- The upper side of the branches look normal
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- The underside of the branches, showing damage
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- Little pockets along the bottom of the stems
It’s over a large part, but not all of the tree. Some smaller branches are yellowed and appear dead. Can anyone help me out?
Betty Struckhoff
Maybe cicadas from last spring laid eggs in the twigs.
Interesting thought. In that case it has 13 years to recover! Thanks.
Further follow-up. I googled “cicada twig damage” and the first link was this one: http://www.agriculture.utk.edu/news/releases/2011/03-si-Cicadas.html
It has a photo that looks a lot like my twig and the write-up notes that dogwood is one of the favorite hosts of cicadas (along with apple, pear, oak and hickory). Now I feel reassured that this is not something that will continue to spread, and I may just have to prune out a few dead branches in the spring.
Thanks, again, Sue.