So what's the solution?

Yes, I need to know the solution also! (besides cutting them down)

Since the fluff production only lasts a couple of weeks in mid to late spring, it is a very easy thing to overlook. Unless of course you are allergic :-) My complaint with cottonwoods or any other poplar species is their tendency to form large colonies. Not a tree for most suburban gardens :-)

gardengal, my fluff production lasts much longer than two weeks, at least a month or more. I have several enormous specimens on my property and I do happen to be allergic so it is not a pleasant thing. Plus the screens of my gazebo get full of fluff, and the wretched seeds that gather along my perennial beds sprout wretched little seedlings if I do not clean up the ”cotton” promptly enough. I hate them, but I can’t imagine how much it would cost to remove them, they are the tallest trees on my property, and their circumferences, while not quite Michigan record-breaking, are still very impressive.

I am surrounded by forest so a real problem that I just have to put up with. The yellow pollen that comes later from certain conifers is even more of a problem. It is everywhere and coats everything! It was so bad this past summer that the air was a yellow haze for days.

It's about the only thing that will grow here. Many large and stately specimens. W/o the cottonwood there would hardly be any trees. Bless the cottonwood.

And there are cottonless varieties.

They are great and one of our larger natives if you have the room.

Setting the cotton on fire is fun, especially if you're a pyromaniac, but you have to be careful that you dont set your house on fire. Be ready with hose, or extinguisher in hand.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Qg8FgsekjDA?feature=share

@Jay 6a Chicago, oh wow, very cool!! My husband likes to use a blow torch to kill the weeds popping up between pavers, maybe next year I’ll send him after the fluff, too!!!

omg.. the phone rang.. and i forgot all about this. then ran errands.. got drunk.. went to bed.. lol...

actually it just a shorter meme version of jays link ..

ken

ps: actually. it seems i get more vigorous replies on my posts.. when i screw them up.. whats that all about ... lol

Here's my link:.

https://9gag.com/gag/aGE9d4G

And btw...don't scroll down unless you have hours of your life to waste....lol

ken

Somehow that heading doesn't make sense. What could be a "solution for a reason"? The word, "solution" implies a question. The word, "reason" implies a statement. It's a non sequitur. I expect better from you, ken.

bkay

and i didnt spect an engliush lesson from a shef ... lol

whats next.. typing rules ... yeah.. liek thats going to make a difference ... lol ... just ax anyone who knows me ..

I agree that mature cottonwoods are absolutely impressive in stature; but when there’s a storm that results in downed limbs on my property, they’re almost always from a cottonwood. If it’s excessively windy out, my kids know not to go walking through ”cottonwood canyon”, as they called our stand of cottonwood trees when they were small boys.

I have no animosity to cottonwoods, but I can understand how they might be a nuisance (i.e. right plant, right place). That being said, I have become a huge fan of Populus fremontii. Last November I enjoyed them while traveling along the Escalante River in southern Utah, and I ran across this behemoth while visiting SE Arizona recently.

maackia, there was a grove of big cottonwoods (certainly Populus fremontii) in the desert near Fallon, NV. We stopped at a shop and I asked someone about them, and they said they were there because there was underground water (the shop had a well there too). Apparently the cottonwoods had roots going down 100 ft to reach it, and hence their inexplicable size in what was otherwise sagebrush desert.

imagine 8 cottonwoods the size of the tree in the pic above .. not on your property .... but within a 1000 feet of your property ...

interesting they also had mast years... it wasnt every year that we were snowed on ...

also at the old house.. just one monster just on the other side of the fence.. and i was downwind ...

Macckia, the root system makes sense in I jave always heard that the size of the tree above ground equals the root system below the ground…..or am I wrong about this?

debra

some suggest.. in volume.. that below ground might be twice what you see above ...

dont think of it in an upside down tree form ...its more of a pancake radiating out from the trunk ....

ken

Only the female cottonwoods make the fluff. In the spring the little puff balls float through our neighborhood, and at first I thought it was dandelions gone wild!

We have a huge male cottonwood in my front yard (would not recommend) that puts out a lot of pollen and makes a mess of our deck, but I’m fond of it anyway. Lots of good shade in summer.

They don't seem to be common around here. I've only seen them a couple of times when walking along a local pond area that is a popular walking spot. I really found it delightful when I was there when the cotton fluff was coming off the trees there. Mind you I don't have allergies and there wasn't a grove of them, they were growing among other varieties of trees and there was only about 3 in the whole park area.

i could see where visiting some would be delightful ... its living with them that isnt... lol..

they are also rather fragile in wind and ice storms.. dropping huge pieces from over 50 feet up .. not a tree to house under ...

nice park or golf course trees.. not really trees for suburbia ...

ken

Yep, when the winds get up, I am always somewhat nervous in the woods. A branch speared right through the roof of my field kitchen, so I tend to move from my sleeping platform, just under the horsebox roof, and go and sleep on the sofa. Tree surgeons call them 'widow-makers'.

I sometimes wonder if there's such thing as cottonless Cottonwood or if it's an old wives tale. Everyone that has planted one say they are cottonless until they are large and safe from being cut down then begin making fuzz. They are most despised in Texas due to how quickly the fuzz covers outdoor ac units which cause them to stop cooling.

There's several around town here. None closer than ~3/4 mile. We might see a little fuzz floating in the air occasionally. No real buildup of fuzz anywhere that I've noticed.

I've seen some nice specimens in the past when traveling out through the Dakotas.