I have two of these trees and one of them is the fastest growing tree I have, far outgrowing all the other trees in just a few years.
I purchased my first Eastern Cottonwood from a mail-order nursery in Pennsylvania, Go Native Tree Farm, which arrived as a tiny stick. I planted it in November 2014, and it didn't leaf out until April 15th which is late for this part of Texas. By the end of 2015 it had grown quite significantly. |
Eastern Cottonwood #2 (early July 2021). Becoming an enormous tree.
Eastern Cottonwood #1 (left, hidden) and #2 (right), early July 2020
Eastern Cottonwood #1 (left, hidden) and #2 (right), end of June 2019
Eastern Cottonwood #2 (July 2018)
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By July 2016, it had grown even more. One branch which sprouted about 1.5 feet from the ground had grown at least 6ft in just a couple of months.
Then in 2015, Lowes started selling "cottonless cottonwoods", which I presume are male versions. I purchased one of them (15 gallon pot), and planted the sparsely leaved and spindly, but already fairly tall tree, on May 2nd 2015.
This tree grew VERY rapidly and quickly started to look very large and healthy with a vastly thicker trunk and fuller canopy since planting. The Cottonwoods both suffered some leaf damage in June from the "cottonwood leaf beetle". The growing buds of the Cottonwood trees are also visited by bees that are collecting resin to help make "propolis" which is a sealant they use to plug unwanted gaps in their hives. The abrasion caused by their mouthparts seems to be causing multiple black legions on the buds and stems, which leads to distorted leaves when they grow. In mid-July 2016 the new leaves were severely skeletonized by a new pest - a small green caterpillar that uses silk to wrap a leaf over itself during the day. It really caused quite some destruction, especially to the upper canopy of the larger tree. I don't know what type of caterpillar it was but the systemic imidacloprid was not helping. On March 11th 2017, Cottonwood #2 was starting to leaf out in places with pink new growth.
...and on March 14th 2017.
In early April 2017, the growing tips all had highly distorted leaves - like many other trees, it looked like some kind of fungus, though the weather had not been cool and damp.....
On June 17th I found a Cottonwood Borer beetle under my cottonwood - a beautiful insect, but an ominous sign. The bees were buzzing around the tree as usual, collecting propolis - perhaps this is what was leading to the heavily distorted new growth on every branch. The picture below is from June 24th 2017.
By August 2017, Cottonwood #2 had become gigantic - by far the fastest growing tree in my yard. The distorted leaves (which someone suggested may have been caused by herbicidal drift from a neighboring lot) had been replaced by new healthy ones, and the tree continued to grow. Cottonwood #1 had suffered badly again from attack by the green caterpillars.
In August 2018, Cottonwood #1 was almost completely defoliated by a fungus - looks to be something like Drepanopeziza populorum. Even though this tree is growing next to and touching the much larger Cottonwood #2, the latter tree had only a mild case of this fungus. Early March 2019 was the first time I had seen catkins on this Cottonwood tree (tree #2), confirming it is a male.
In early May 2019, the smaller cottonwood became infested and severely defoliated by cottonwood leaf beetle larvae.
In August 2019, Cottonwood #2 was even more enormous, and Cottonwood #1 had lost almost all its leaves due to a return of the fungus from 2018. This time the fungus spread more prolifically to Cottonwood #2.
End of December 2020, I finally bit the bullet and cut down Cottonwood #1. Despite spraying with Daconil, it suffered again terribly from fungus during the 2020 summer, and this time it spread even more to Cottonwood #2. By mid summer, #1 was almost completely defoliated. My guess is that due to the fact it spends most of the time in the shade of the larger Cottonwood, the leaves don't dry out fast enough from the morning dew and fungus thrives. Below is a last picture of both Cottonwoods together about a week before I cut down the smaller one. |
Eastern Cottonwood #2 (July 2017)
Eastern Cottonwood #1 (July 2017)
Eastern Cottonwood #2 (July 2016)
Eastern Cottonwood #2 (summer 2015)
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