Here's one for you - I'm stumped

[M.D. Vaden]

This tree was in a lady's yard. I'm not working for her. We were just talking about it. All trees in other yards, and her other trees, look fine. Only this crabapple, and her other one, have this problem.

Half the twigs green, and half brown - BUT - only half way in, because the entire inner 1/2 is green. No common point of attachment for the brown. Just here, there and yonder.

Those are sprouts - the tree was cropped back a year or two ago from the looks of things. No visible webs, bugs or worms. No visible mold, mildew or residue.

Any ideas??? Again, it appears to be flowering crabapple.

 

[pigwot]

Cicada damage this time of year. The adults do not feed on the upper portions of the tree after they emerge, but egg laying by the female cicadas causes significant damage to small twigs. The female places her saw-like egglaying tube, called an ovipositor, into small branches and twigs that are about the diameter of a pencil. Twigs will die because the branch is split when the eggs are placed under the thin bark. This dead twig contrasts with the surrounding green foliage, a condition called "flagging". Young trees are the most severely damaged by flagging because they have more branches of the preferred size for egg laying by the cicada.
--Pigwot

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Cicada damage this time of year. The adults do not feed on the upper portions of the tree after they emerge, but egg laying by the female cicadas causes significant damage to small twigs. The female places her saw-like egglaying tube, called an ovipositor, into small branches and twigs that are about the diameter of a pencil. Twigs will die because the branch is split when the eggs are placed under the thin bark. This dead twig contrasts with the surrounding green foliage, a condition called "flagging". Young trees are the most severely damaged by flagging because they have more branches of the preferred size for egg laying by the cicada.
--Pigwot

I'm in Oregon.

Do you know if we have any here? I don't recall having those, but I can't say that we don't.

It's always possible that a new problem can come around. Portland, up north, never really had true crabgrass - then it spread all over the place in about 25 years.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

That sure looks typical of cicada damage, but I had thought they were a midwest to eastern bug only. Turns out I'm wrong. I just found references to them all over the world, including Arizona and California.

http://buzz.ifas.ufl.edu/c700home.htm

Can't find a reference to them in Oregon, though. Ah dunno what to tell you.

 

[Ekka]

Have a Captain Cook at this page.

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&q=cicada damage to trees&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[M.D. Vaden]

So do some of you folks have to deal with a lot of trees in your area that look like that?

That could be a pain.

 

[Ekka]

Not me, but you'd know that those cicadas are out coz of the NOISE

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Oh yeah! The noise! You can't miss it. You might think is a fleet of flying saucers if you haven't heard it before, but whatever you think of it, you can't miss it! :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

So do some of you folks have to deal with a lot of trees in your area that look like that?

You don't deal with it. There are too many, especially when the 17 year cycle hits.

You just live with it. Winter comes, leaves fall, next spring all is well.

Until the cicadas come out. {shrug} It's life.

 

[B-Edwards]

I agree with the above, funny thing is I've looked at three customers trees here in NC and they all look exactly as your tree. Off my back deck i look out at a wooded area and the trees have that same look here and there ,,BUT,, I'm missing the familiar noise that usualy comes with the Cicada. I still think thats what it is , here and there.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

It may be fire blight.

Someone elsewhere mentioned that too.

There is no discoloration on any of the twigs. I don't remember if fireblight always causes a bark discoloration.