Cicada Damage to Fruit Trees

Now that the cicadas have all but died off, we are starting to see the damage they can do. The sawing action by the female, when she lays her eggs, severely weakens the twigs. These twigs snap off very easily in any kind of wind or with a fruit load.

There is not much you can do now except prune out the broke branches. Young trees may have to be retrained in order to get them back to the way they should be. In extreme instances you might have to start all over on newly planted trees and head the tree back.