Cottonwood Blues

July 11, 2020 9:13 PM

I want to be able to use our deck without sweeping inches of cotton off of it every day and having it clog up the screens on the porch. Have you used any common (or uncommon) remedies to eliminate the production of cotton from a Cottonwood tree?

Google indicates two possible solutions: Spraying the tree with an ethephon herbicide at a specific time during the budding / flowering process, and some kind of injection called 'Snipper'.

For the former, the tree is at least 40 feet tall (even though the damn thing is only 15 years old) and would require a specialist to do this for us, and I'd be concerned about cost. The injection method seems easy but I can't find a ton of specific information about it online.

Have you tried either of these solutions, or an alternative remedy, to eliminate this damn snowstorm every year? To what level of success? This is a particularly bad year, and the tree provides such wonderful shade for the porch and deck I'd hate to lose several years of that to replace it with something less messy. We are in MN, in the northern reaches of Zone 4, if it matters.

posted by SquidLips to Home & Garden (1 answer total)

This won't help with the screens - I don't think - but try lighting the cotton on fire. Make sure super-flammable stiff is nowhere near, but the fluff will burn in a flash, leaving only the tiny seeds behind. Try it where (green, well-watered) grass and sidewalk meet first and you'll see what I mean. We used to do it as kids in Illinois.
posted by caryatid at 7:07 PM on July 13, 2020