Pest

Cicada and twig-cutting damage

Magicicada spp., Oncideres and Elaphidion beetles

Female cicadas slit twigs to lay eggs, and twig girdler and twig pruner beetles cut twigs off from outside or inside. The tips die and turn brown all over the tree, which looks alarming, but an established tree recovers.

Signs

• Many branch tips brown and hanging all over the crown, in early summer after cicadas or in late summer and fall.
• Rows of slits on the underside of the dead twigs, from cicada egg-laying.
• Twigs lying under the tree with a chewed, beaver-like cut (girdler) or a smooth, concave cut (pruner).

What favors it

Periodical cicada emergence years (every 13 or 17 years where a brood lives) and young trees; twig girdlers on hickory, persimmon and elm; twig pruners on oak, maple and hackberry.

Prevention

• Hold off planting young trees in a year your local cicada brood emerges.
• Cover young trees with netting of 1/4-inch mesh or finer until cicada activity ends.
• Pick up and destroy fallen girdled twigs in fall.

Crops it shows up on

Shade & ornamental trees; Apple, pear & stone fruit; Roses & ornamentals.

Often confused with

Sources

• Periodical Cicadas in OhioOhio State University Extension
• Periodical CicadasUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Extension
• Cicadas in MarylandUniversity of Maryland Extension
• Twig Girdlers and Twig Pruners on TreesUniversity of Maryland Extension

Why →