A: That is called ‘flagging’, and it could be from female cicadas laying eggs. As they burrow into thinner limbs, it kills everything out from where they’ve invaded. This is nothing to be too concerned with as far as the tree’s overall health.

There’s also the black twig borer - a beetle whose presence presents the same damage (pinhole entrance pictured). They will bore into healthy or stressed trees, and flagging is noticeable beginning in early spring. Water is cut off from the tips of those branches, and the leaves die and brown quickly.

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