{"id":28921,"date":"2024-05-31T14:15:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T18:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=28921"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:13:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T21:13:56","slug":"cottonwood-seed-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/cottonwood-seed-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Cottonwood Seed Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eastern<\/a>Populus deltoides<\/i>, more commonly known as the Eastern cottonwood, becomes a topic of conversation & complaint every year around this time.\u00a0 <\/span>A member of the willow family, this tree is found along rivers, roads, in parks, and around residential areas.\u00a0 <\/span>It grows to heights of 75 to 100 feet spanning up to 75 feet wide.\u00a0 <\/span>It prefers moist to wet well-drained soils but tolerates many types of sites.\u00a0 <\/span>Cottonwoods also produce small seeds with a tuft of cotton fluff (to assist with dispersal) that can number in the millions for a single tree.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, we are in the season of the cottonwood seed.\u00a0 <\/span>You may be walking or driving around or just looking out your window and it can look like winter is trying to attack with one last blizzard before summer sets in.\u00a0 <\/span>Seed production occurs between May and June for about 2 weeks with the floating cotton balls accumulating on roads and paths, in yards and parks, and in other locations with a little bit of grab.\u00a0 <\/span>Seedlings easily germinate, but are delicate, and in urban areas with an abundance of lawn care, many do not survive or are killed by excessive heat or rain.<\/p>\n

Many concerns that I hear about are clogging of waterways or air filters, and the worry of fires.\u00a0 <\/span>Seeds usually flow easily downstream without the volume or mass to clog waterways.\u00a0 <\/span>They can accumulate on air conditioner units or other filters but are easily cleaned off.\u00a0 <\/span>Cottonwood seeds are highly flammable, can pose a risk in drier climates, and should not be ignited to clean them up.\u00a0 <\/span>They can be cleaned like leaves with fine-tined rakes or picked up in clusters and bagged.\u00a0 <\/span>The good news is this usually only lasts for about 2 weeks.<\/p>\n

If you do have any questions about managing your cottonwood trees, feel free to contact your local extension office or you can search for ISA-certified arborists in your area at Find an Arborist<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resources:
\n<\/strong>ID That Tree<\/a>, Playlist, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR YouTube Channel (Invasive White Mulberry, Siberian Elm, Tree of Heaven)
\nEastern Cottonwood<\/a>, Article, Purdue Fort Wayne
\nFind an Arborist<\/a>\u00a0video, Trees are Good-International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)
\nA Woodland Management Moment<\/a>, Playlist, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR YouTube Channel (Against Invasives, Garlic Mustard, Autumn Olive)
\nWoodland Stewardship for Landowners<\/a>, Playlist, Purdue Extension \u2013 FNR YouTube Channel (Common Buckthorn, Japanese Barberry)
\nTrees and Storms<\/a> \u2013 The Education Store, Purdue Education\u2019s resource center
\nPlanting Your Tree<\/a>, Video, The Education Store
\nTree Installation<\/a>, The Education Store
\nIndiana Invasive Species Council<\/a>
\nIndiana Department of Natural Resources: Invasive Species<\/a>
\nSubscribe<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Purdue Extension-FNR YouTube Channel<\/p>\n

Ben McCallister<\/a>, Urban Forestry Specialist
\nPurdue Forestry & Natural Resources<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Populus deltoides, more commonly known as the Eastern cottonwood, becomes a topic of conversation & complaint every year around this time.\u00a0 A member of the willow family, this tree is found along rivers, roads, in parks, and around residential areas.\u00a0 It grows to heights of 75 to 100 feet spanning up to 75 feet wide.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,53],"tags":[1399,943,60,408,71],"class_list":["post-28921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forestry","category-urbanforestry","tag-eastern-cottonwood","tag-fnr-extension","tag-forestry","tag-trees","tag-urban-forestry","audience-for-enthusiasts","audience-for-homeowners","audience-for-landowners","audience-for-professionals"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 10:05:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28921"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33879,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28921\/revisions\/33879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}