toronado3800 - youâÂÂre absolutely right, it does look bad. And, like I said, I think itâÂÂs getting worse. Not very rapidly, but itâÂÂs clear that the bark will continue to fall off. IâÂÂm sure the tree services will have a field day quoting us estimates on the removal of this tree but IâÂÂm more than willing to entertain that at this point. I couldnâÂÂt live with myself if this tree fell on someone elseâÂÂs house and all the devastation that comes along with that. & I like the cloning info - it would be kind of neat to have another one of these trees⦠far, far from the house! blakrab - thanks for the link you provided! I think for most people, a tree is a tree. Most donâÂÂt think about lifespan and what kinds of interesting things they may drop throughout the seasons. My parents said they actually dug up this tree from a field that grows by our house. And they transplanted it to the back of our yard, as you can see. That was back in the early 80âÂÂs. My parents never intended to live in this house for 30+ years. But here we are in the same house with an old cottonwood thatâÂÂs on its deathbed. The good news is that this whole experience will make us think twice about the types of trees/plants that we incorporate into our yard. Ken - Haha, that poor thermometer is probably as old as the tree! But hey, it still works! & yes, lightning was our initial thought as well. We first noticed the damage after a storm so itâÂÂs possible that lightning was involved. We may have a use for the chipped mulch - there would certainly be a good amount of it! Mackel-in-DFW - holy tree! What an amazing sight! Glad thatâÂÂs not the tree IâÂÂm dealing with though! scotjute - I have a feeling cuttings from this tree would do well. The tree seems to be hardy, but, as mentioned before, not long lasting and not suitable to be hanging over the house. If I ever decide to take cuttings of tree roots, I will try your technique!

My Catalpa looks about the same here near minneapolis. it was sold as a northern catalpa but turned out to be southern catalpa. Not sure why if finally succumbed this year because it wasn’t that cold. It made it through several polar vortices with just some minor tip dieback but the trunk did crack one year.

My-brother-law, one of those hands on, turn it to gold guys. Had a fir Christmas tree farm in N.C.. I saw that he mulched his Blue Berries with green saw dust. I told (I was 25)him I had heard that this was a bad thing. He said the small saw mills were all over the hills. That it was not a problem & that he had mulched this blueberry patch for 4 years in green sawdust. Farther more the plants are from Columbia, S.C., they did fine in the mountains, just south of the Tenn. Line. I said,"what everyone talking about?", he said "They do not take care of the plants then blame the GSD. for the harm". He put green saw dust around his trees & some of the vegetables. I now mulch with what I have & do not worry about a little N lost. Another nursery man said he did not see the problem, if the soil is balanced & lose a little N, it will return in a few months. I have no charts or studies to prove this, but both these men have grown plant for over 40 years each. The tree farmer got an offer that he could not refuse & sold the whole 275 acre tree farm. He is now grow 8oo acre muscadines vineyard & has a winery in Ga. The other is 94 this year & often prove that everything that is written, is not a hard fast rule. I was there I saw it for myself. You do not have to believe me, but I was there!

I forgot exactly how fast it was growing earlier, it actually grows a half a inch a day but now it is in a "drought dormancy" because I have not watered in a while so it is currently not growing, and it has also lost some bottom leaves and has formed a temporary bud to conserve water because of the drought. If I water it some more it should come out of it. You can see we have the worst drought in the U.S. here in the southeast which we have had since spring And I over estimated its height, it is actually just over 4 feet tall. We have about 30 more days of growing season left before trees will start to go dormant for winter. So if I keep it watered it should reach over 5 feet by autumn. Eastern cottonwood trees have been known to grow 1.5 inches a day and maybe even 2 inches a day in superb conditions during the heat of the summer. They have been know to grow 16 feet in one year or one growing season. It has no branches yet but it should by next year. This cottonwood is a female and that's why I planted it in the woods where it will be great to view the yearly "snow" :) I'm planning on getting some cuttings of a old huge male cottonwood tree this spring to plant next to our yard in a tilled and mulched area 10 feet wide. It's going to be planted 40 feet out to give room for the huge burst of growth :-D so we can have a quick shade tree in 5 to 10 years in our barren yard plus many other tree types I'm going to plant in the yard from oaks to maples. How it currently looks today: Some of the leaves were huge, a couple of them were 12 inches long. Temporary bud it has formed because of the drought: