Help needed diagnosing dogwood

[Megan]

My three year old dogwood has developed what looks like rows of tufts on the underside of many of its branches. (Pictures included). I can't seem to find a comparable example by Googling. Does anyone know what is affecting my tree and how I can treat it?

 

[Woodtroll]

That looks like cicada damage, as best as I can tell from the photos. They split the bark/twigs where they lay their eggs. The twig past that damage often dies, but it doesn't usually kill the tree unless it's a small one with a lot of damage.

Were you in the cicada cycle zone this year, by chance?

 

[Megan]

That looks like cicada damage, as best as I can tell from the photos. They split the bark/twigs where they lay their eggs. The twig past that damage often dies, but it doesn't usually kill the tree unless it's a small one with a lot of damage.

Were you in the cicada cycle zone this year, by chance?

Was definitely in the cicada zone. This type of damage exists on a lot of the branches and it's a young tree. Is this something you could prune out?

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Looks ruff.

 

[Woodtroll]

Was definitely in the cicada zone. This type of damage exists on a lot of the branches and it's a young tree. Is this something you could prune out?

Yes, the limbs can certainly be pruned back behind the damage. If it's a small tree with a lot of damage, my thought would be to wait until spring and see how many of the branch tips are dead, then prune just those back, in order to keep from losing too much of your leaf canopy at one time. The eggs hatch a few weeks after being laid, so the damage already done to the limbs won't get any worse or spread, and it's better to leave as many live limb tips and leaves as possible if some are dead already from the damage. The nymphs, however, burrow underground after hatching and will be sucking sap from the tree roots until they're almost mature, so the tree is doubly stressed. Small trees with heavy infestations can have a hard time. Many survive, though, and you can always prune more limbs later as needed to remove the rest of the damage if the swollen limbs look too bad.

I hope your tree does well, good luck!