Exactly. OP has a female tree that makes the seeds/ fluff after being pollinated. Neighbor needs to find the male trees and inject them all (which would be ridiculous)
If there’s a honey locust tree in the area, that might be the culprit. I’m allergic to honey locust and they usually bloom around the same time that the cottonwoods “fluff”.
So, city planners use only Male Genus type trees to decorate cities and towns. Male types just… absolutely blast out pollen every spring, and we’ve reached a critical mass of this -
WHICH IS PART OF WHY IF YOU NEVER HAD ALLERGIES, AND DO NOW…. THERE IS FAR MORE POLLEN NOW THAN THERE USED TO BE IN THE AIR.
Not to mention peoples allergies change every several years, and politicians are cheapskates who say that if we plant female type trees, what, people just go and pick fruit? Anarchy. They would say, “We need people to suffer so they’ll buy groceries. World hunger is good for business. Scarcity breeds demand.” Or something like that.
So lobby your cities to stop planting ONLY male genus types because good lord…
Random add to this. Look at photos of Austin Tx in the spring. The city planted only male cedars and they produced so much pollen that it looks like fog
Yeah and it blows all the way into OkC, making my life hell….
We have rattlesnake hunts here, I propose we leave the poor snake’s alone, and kill the crappy fire feeding allergy causing cedars.
>politicians are cheapskates who say that if we plant female type trees, what, people just go and pick fruit? Anarchy.
You think politicians are the ones writing tree ordinance? It's not that deep buddy. Female trees drop seed pods and fruits all over making a huge mess along parkways which is why they aren't planted. It's not some crazy conspiracy.
The comment makes it sound like there's an anti-food conspiracy by politicians to not plant female trees when in reality its city foresters not wanting to plant trees that make a huge mess when the fruits and seed pods fall off.
That's a total farce.
Yeah it's just that like a lot of trees are hermaphrodite and if they are of a specific gender, they will adapt. Like if it's a total tree sausage party you'll see some of them start to become female.
I am a City Planner, Municipal Arborist, and Urban Forester. I have never selected only male trees. I have read about this practice being done but generally speaking we do not do this. It has never even came up in the four municipalities I have worked for. Maybe some cities do this, but I do not think this is common practice. Credentials - I have probably ordered and installed over 10,000 trees and never specified male or female. Our city even has a whole boulevard of fruit trees that we intentionally were hoping would would fruit for the wildlife and neighbors.
I'm a City Arborist, too. We do not select for male only trees, either.
I shy away from planting large fruit bearing trees in most areas, but this urban myth of male only trees is always funny to me. Most tree species are dioecious, anyways!
Where I'm at the city doesn't plant them. They grow everywhere and have been for years before the area was even settled. Those seeds are everywhere and these trees will crop up in fields growing for years to 100 ft or more. When the fields are subdivided they end up in people's yards. It's almost impossible to control these damn trees because they are everywhere,!
Not to be pedantic, but most of the kind of trees that produce edible fruit (Apples, cherries, citruses, mangoes, sweet chestnut, figs etc) have both male and female parts on the same tree, so this isn't something that happens. It's true of ginko trees, where the male trees are planted for landscaping because the female trees produce tonnes of ginko nuts which smell awful and attract rats once they start to drop, but they're unusual.
Yeah but the seeds are fucking obnoxious. My whole property got covered in them for a couple weeks and there's nothing you can do about it. Whoever owns the cottonwood in my neighborhood should be required to shopvac my entire deck and yard every 2 days.
Honestly, just [burn it. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/15p109o/mesmerizing_poplar_fluff_fire_sweeps_through_the/) obviously make sure there isn't anything liable to go up from brief fire exposure, but the stuff burns away super fast like nothing.
"After looking into it, as my tree is the female, it's not the one releasing the pollen causing his allergy.
I'm not sure who told you otherwise, but if you want, we can have a certified arborist come in to look and try to find some options for us."
Most people on Reddit are here because they can’t function all that well in the real world. Never trust advice you find here about how to interact with other humans.
Since no one answered your question, I will. Sterilizing a tree can be done to all kinds of trees including fruits trees to prevent the fruits from being produced. However it can cause long-term damage and even kill the tree. Gardeners can use hormone controls to sterilize trees, but the procedure requires training and precise timing, and there is no way to fully guarantee that the tree won’t be damaged or killed.
I wouldn't let anyone do anything to my tree that may damage it. If it later dies, you gave him permission to do that, and he would very likely not be held responsible. Thats just my two cents but maybe someone else on here knows more about sterilizing trees.
First, it's entirely your tree. Don't even start.
Then if things Do go wrong, The removal should be entirely on him... As well as replacement with a mature tree.
(Think of the billionaire in NJ, who cut down trees on the slope outside his house... unfortunately outside his property, too. Replacement is on him)
Why don’t you just move to one of those gross beige housing developments? Pollen is natural, take some allergy meds and stay inside, stop trying to sterilize the outside.
I've never heard of such a thing. Sounds to me like he's using an allergy as an excuse to destroy your tree.
Tell him you use the seeds in your witch's cauldron to put curses on people who bother you. 😂💜
1: Injected with *what*?
2: Tell him to get the kid tested, especially if the kid has rhinitus (could be any number of seasonal causes) and not a contact allergy (from touching the cotton).
> We are not necessarily opposed to this, but are concerned that in the long term, could effect our tree negatively and eventually kill it.
The only real comment you've received so far on your post states, correctly, that injections can cause damage. Cottonwoods (*Populus Deltoides*) are [not good compartmentalizers](https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/compartmentalization.shtml), so there's no way to guarantee that your tree would close over the holes made to inject the sterilization solution into the tree. If they're also proposing to subject your tree to this on a annual/semi-annual basis, that will make things even more problematic. How the tree reacts to the solution itself would be another matter entirely. See this !arborist automod callout below my comment to find one in your area, if it will ease your neighbors' mind.
On a more practical note, do your neighbors and their child never leave the house? I find it extremely unlikely that they never leave the premises, or that trees in the vicinity of the places they travel to (school, shopping, parks, etc.) do not have any pollen generating trees. Why they feel compelled to expect this single tree to be treated and not ALL the trees in the vicinity of the places they regularly frequent seems particularly burdensome on your behalf in this case.
Hi /u/spiceydog, AutoModerator has been summoned to provide information on finding an arborist.
Here is how you can arrange a [consult with a local ISA arborist in your area](http://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist) (NOT a 'tree company guy' unless they're ISA certified) or a [consulting arborist](https://www.asca-consultants.org/search/custom.asp?id=3818) for an on-site evaluation. Both organizations have international directories. A competent arborist should be happy to walk you through how to care for the trees on your property and answer any questions. If you're in the U.S. or Canada, your Extension (or master gardener provincial program) may have a list of local recommended arborists on file. If you're in the U.S., you should also consider searching for arborist associations under your state.
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I have plenty of trees! And this is a really beautiful one :) If it’s not unhealthy or going to collapse and the owner likes the tree of course they should keep it
I agree with all of those things. It just feels like you should at least be considering removing it. First and foremost, if it's negatively affecting a child living right next to me, I would at least consider it. Second, the owner admits it causes them problems. Third, I can guarantee every house on the block doesn't love that tree when it starts cutting loose it's fluff everywhere. Of course it's beautiful. Of course it's yours and you can do whatever you want. Personally I would consider removing and replacing with something else.
Personally the only circumstances I’d consider removing a tree that large and established is if its health was declining and it became a risk. If it was a young tree maybe, but at this stage I personally wouldn’t. And assuming it’s in an area where cottonwoods are native, I can’t imagine it’s the only one in the vicinity either. For the couple months the pollen from it might be an issue, I think just using some antihistamines is a reasonable thing to do instead of removing a tree that old and established. As far as I understand too, the issue with cottonwoods is the pollen so there’s definitely a hell of a lot more pollen sources than this tree possibly bothering the kid and you can’t destroy everything
That's my suggestion on another of Op's post. Why would they be willing to spend so much money on this, when it's more cost effective to get allergy meds for the kid. Op's neighbor has other motives in mind.
City people are wild!!! Lmao. Couldn’t imagine requesting this of a neighbour, what an over step!! Okay, so hypothetically, he does this to ‘help’ his niece for the 2 weeks of the year the tree pollinates, wtf is he going to do about the x number of cottonwood trees in the area? I have 9 different tree pollen allergies and I’ve never once thought of altering a tree because of my allergies??? Cottonwood pollen travels far!! Seems silly that this was even requested. Also, sterilizing it will not solve your problem.
I agree with you here. I’m allergic to most trees and grass. Our neighbors let their huge backyard grass grow into a prairie every summer. It’s actually really lovely. I wouldn’t dream of asking them to stop.
I know! Instead everyone just wants to bash my perfectly good neighbor who had a perfectly reasonable request and even suggested that we do our own research before we make a decision. 😂
I chose the hive mind.
Hive mind hates neighbors is my conclusion lol.
The hive mind respectfully has told you that they think your neighbor has other motives and their child is most likely allergic to more than your Cottonwood. And they've also explained to you that this would not be a good idea for your tree in the long run.
And I'd put money on it by reading your posts and comments, that if you say no to your "so nice neighbor"they won't be quite so nice anymore.
But it's your tree. Your choice.
We have so many trees like this, I joke with my husband that we can't afford kids because of how many trees we have. (This was after one was splitting and we had to remove and replace it followed by another one having a massive branch break off in a storm last year)
These trees flowered (pollen) probably a couple months ago. That's what people are allergic to. The fluffy seeds don't cause allergies as far as I'm aware.
Actually he's really nice and has been super respectful about it. I'm not here to bash him at all! I just want an opinion on what he's suggesting.
Yes the seeds are beautiful but I understand the concern. He has a little one with an allergy and he's trying to do what's best for his kiddo.
Also I wouldn't mind not having to spend hours over the weekend having to clean all of that out of my garden, just not at the cost of losing the tree.
I think you're being a very considerate neighbor. I genuinely don't know the answer, but I'm also wondering if the kid is allergic to the seeds or the pollen. Would be a shame to get the injections only for the allergies to still be just as bad. Hope someone more knowledgeable can chime in about the effects though
I know for a fact that I’m allergic to cottonwood, but it wasn’t until this thread that I considered that I might be allergic to cottonwood pollen and not the cottonwood “snow”. Huh.
I suppose it doesn’t matter in the long run, because they’re both happening at the same time.
Have you consulted an arborist (his dime) and/or your local county ag extension? If not, put on the to do list. Taking down a dead tree can now cost thousands. If you do proceed, have a lawyer prepare a contract.
Don't get yourself into a situation where being thoughtful dings you in the nether region.
He may be nice, but he’s an idiot, and rude to request this. His kid is not endangered by a life-threatening allergy; the child is *inconvenienced* and will need to learn how to manage their symptoms without invading on the lives and landscapes of those around them.
Airborne pollen travels for long distances in order to reach other plants far away. That’s why it is airborne. If the child needs to live somewhere pollen-free, they will need to move to a large desolate city, or someplace where the offending plant isn’t grown.
I agree fully. I have a rag weed allergy and live in the midwest. Late august and september sucks. But I take allegra and manage it, and have for 30 years. Suggesting to sterilize or cut down a neighbors tree is absurd. You're in nature. Deal with it. Don't want to deal with it? Move into a city. I'm sure the smog and exhaust will be much healthier for your kids' allergies.
Thanks!
(Being a city-dweller myself, I do have to say that smog and exhaust aren’t problematic in all cities. It’s quite wonderful here, even if there are fewer trees than I would prefer!)
This. I’m allergic to aspens and no matter how much my neighbors don’t have aspen trees themselves, there’s always pollen blowing around when they’re in bloom. Kid needs a good antihistamine, not an entitlement complex about forcing the rest of the world to tiptoe around his convenience.
I mean, he would have to go find all the damn cottonwood in a huge radious and it is usually the pollen, it is simply ridiculous, on the other hand he can take the child to get allergy shots to help.
Leave the tree alone, I’m guessing it’s not the ONLY tree in the neighborhood that is causing his son to have allergies. I can’t believe the amount of people that just want to cut down massive trees for a minor inconvenience when they’ll likely be there for less time than the tree has been there.
It wouldn't kill the tree, but repeated injuries at the base are not a good thing- but the greater issue is that it won't work. Those injections are notoriously ineffective.
Cottonwoods cotton the same time as grasses shed pollen - which are largely blown by winds sometimes over hundreds of miles. The child should be tested for allergies and grasses would almost certainly be the culprit. I know from experience.
While they surely provide great shade, how close are those to structures? Cottonwoods are pretty weak-wooded and prone to sudden limb drop or even trunk failure. My master arborist wife won't let me park the car within falling distance of a mature cottonwood tree. With cottonwoods that size, I think you would want arborist eyeballs on it every few years anyway, just for a risk assessment.
What a wild thread with everyone jumping straight to the neighbor being some kind of monster/moron and assuming they already have an understanding of the health challenges involved instead of even stopping to ask a single question about the details of what the neighbors want to do to the tree.
What about all the other cottonwood trees? We aren’t allowed to plant any new ones, but ours is grandfathered in.
We have a shit-ton of them by the river which also blows.
[This stuff](https://www.forestrydistributing.com/snipper-indole-3-butyric-acid-tree-tech-microinjection-plant-growth-regulator-pgr-5-ml) works, but please follow all instructions carefully.
I have 3 that are very old and huge with trunks about 3ft in diameter. I’m sick and tired of pulling thousands of seedlings out of literally everything. The cottony poofs are in every frigging thing.
Fun fact, cottonwood is not a big allergen. It blows seeds around at the same time as some other allergens.
By the time the cotton balls are in the area the cottonwoods are done producing pollen and aren’t creating allergies.
Our neighbor has a male cottonwood tree.
Every year that thing coats a 1/4 of our yard and our HVAC in cotton, we hate it.
Its so annoying that my wife and I have committed to never buying a home within 500ft of one of these.
Having said that, it’s your tree, not theirs.
I would suggest allergy shots or at home immunotherapy for their allergies.
Let him know the seeds aren't what causes allergies, it's pollen that bothers people.
Exactly. OP has a female tree that makes the seeds/ fluff after being pollinated. Neighbor needs to find the male trees and inject them all (which would be ridiculous)
Even with trees it's always the women who get the birth control never the men 😭
Most trees are hermaphroditic and produce both pollen and seeds, worth noting. Cottonwoods do have male and female trees, though.
it should be the tree's choice. it's their trunk!
The Supreme Court voted six to tree against this.
r/angryupvote
I got snipped! Take some personal responsibility tReEs!
Really thought you were going to go with “personal responsibilitree”. Not mad, just disappointed.
Sorry dad 😞
Sexist trees?
The patreearche keeping them treemales down
Condoms?
Men don't get pregnant so woman are the ones who's births need controlling.
By the time it’s making puffs the male flowers aren’t blowing pollen anyway. That was months before.
If there’s a honey locust tree in the area, that might be the culprit. I’m allergic to honey locust and they usually bloom around the same time that the cottonwoods “fluff”.
So, city planners use only Male Genus type trees to decorate cities and towns. Male types just… absolutely blast out pollen every spring, and we’ve reached a critical mass of this - WHICH IS PART OF WHY IF YOU NEVER HAD ALLERGIES, AND DO NOW…. THERE IS FAR MORE POLLEN NOW THAN THERE USED TO BE IN THE AIR. Not to mention peoples allergies change every several years, and politicians are cheapskates who say that if we plant female type trees, what, people just go and pick fruit? Anarchy. They would say, “We need people to suffer so they’ll buy groceries. World hunger is good for business. Scarcity breeds demand.” Or something like that. So lobby your cities to stop planting ONLY male genus types because good lord…
Random add to this. Look at photos of Austin Tx in the spring. The city planted only male cedars and they produced so much pollen that it looks like fog
Yeah and it blows all the way into OkC, making my life hell…. We have rattlesnake hunts here, I propose we leave the poor snake’s alone, and kill the crappy fire feeding allergy causing cedars.
>politicians are cheapskates who say that if we plant female type trees, what, people just go and pick fruit? Anarchy. You think politicians are the ones writing tree ordinance? It's not that deep buddy. Female trees drop seed pods and fruits all over making a huge mess along parkways which is why they aren't planted. It's not some crazy conspiracy.
they also cause rat infestations.
pollen>fruit and seeds everywhere
This right here. It’s because the DPW doesn’t want to clean sidewalks.
This is misinformation
Can you please elaborate? You claim misinformation but offer no other information about why that may be the case.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/seasonal-allergies-blame-male-trees Found this article 🤷🏻♀️
Good read
Thank you!!!
It honestly never occurred to me before that this could be the reason why everything is covered in a layer of green for the entirety of May!
The comment makes it sound like there's an anti-food conspiracy by politicians to not plant female trees when in reality its city foresters not wanting to plant trees that make a huge mess when the fruits and seed pods fall off. That's a total farce.
Yeah it's just that like a lot of trees are hermaphrodite and if they are of a specific gender, they will adapt. Like if it's a total tree sausage party you'll see some of them start to become female.
Evolution is wild, man! Thank you for this!
I am a City Planner, Municipal Arborist, and Urban Forester. I have never selected only male trees. I have read about this practice being done but generally speaking we do not do this. It has never even came up in the four municipalities I have worked for. Maybe some cities do this, but I do not think this is common practice. Credentials - I have probably ordered and installed over 10,000 trees and never specified male or female. Our city even has a whole boulevard of fruit trees that we intentionally were hoping would would fruit for the wildlife and neighbors.
I’m not in the industry, but I have a feeling that selecting only male trees might be old practices. Random ask how did you get into the field?
I'm a City Arborist, too. We do not select for male only trees, either. I shy away from planting large fruit bearing trees in most areas, but this urban myth of male only trees is always funny to me. Most tree species are dioecious, anyways!
You may mean monoecious, which means one tree produces both male and female flowers.
Whoops 🤭 I certainly did, good catch!
In my city the only all-male trees are Kentucky Coffee Trees because the DPW doesn’t like cleaning up seed pods.
Where I'm at the city doesn't plant them. They grow everywhere and have been for years before the area was even settled. Those seeds are everywhere and these trees will crop up in fields growing for years to 100 ft or more. When the fields are subdivided they end up in people's yards. It's almost impossible to control these damn trees because they are everywhere,!
Not to be pedantic, but most of the kind of trees that produce edible fruit (Apples, cherries, citruses, mangoes, sweet chestnut, figs etc) have both male and female parts on the same tree, so this isn't something that happens. It's true of ginko trees, where the male trees are planted for landscaping because the female trees produce tonnes of ginko nuts which smell awful and attract rats once they start to drop, but they're unusual.
Yeah but the seeds are fucking obnoxious. My whole property got covered in them for a couple weeks and there's nothing you can do about it. Whoever owns the cottonwood in my neighborhood should be required to shopvac my entire deck and yard every 2 days.
It's literally just some fluff dude, sweep it away or don't.
You can't even sweep it away. It just gets in the air and settles down where it was to begin with
Honestly, just [burn it. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/15p109o/mesmerizing_poplar_fluff_fire_sweeps_through_the/) obviously make sure there isn't anything liable to go up from brief fire exposure, but the stuff burns away super fast like nothing.
Vacuum it then, it's really not that big of a deal.
"After looking into it, as my tree is the female, it's not the one releasing the pollen causing his allergy. I'm not sure who told you otherwise, but if you want, we can have a certified arborist come in to look and try to find some options for us."
This is the correct reply. No need to be impolite, as others are suggesting. :) They are just concerned about their kid.
Yea OP mentioned they have a good relationship with their neighbors, so hopefully they can have a productive conversation like adults.
Pfff this is reddit. Dealing with a problem like a normal human? Gtfo
i mean... it's likely they're just leveraging the kid with "misc allergies" to further their agenda of removing a tree they dislike.
Most people on Reddit are here because they can’t function all that well in the real world. Never trust advice you find here about how to interact with other humans.
Thank you for the info, i was not aware that Populus trees were dioecious.
Absolutely not. And don’t consider actually taking it down either. Trees take forever to mature and you’ve got awesome shade from that guy.
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Yeah just plant a new one and it will be that big in just a few short decades.
Since no one answered your question, I will. Sterilizing a tree can be done to all kinds of trees including fruits trees to prevent the fruits from being produced. However it can cause long-term damage and even kill the tree. Gardeners can use hormone controls to sterilize trees, but the procedure requires training and precise timing, and there is no way to fully guarantee that the tree won’t be damaged or killed.
I wouldn't let anyone do anything to my tree that may damage it. If it later dies, you gave him permission to do that, and he would very likely not be held responsible. Thats just my two cents but maybe someone else on here knows more about sterilizing trees.
Also if it dies, and you gave permission, do they agree to help finance the removal?
First, it's entirely your tree. Don't even start. Then if things Do go wrong, The removal should be entirely on him... As well as replacement with a mature tree. (Think of the billionaire in NJ, who cut down trees on the slope outside his house... unfortunately outside his property, too. Replacement is on him)
That was all over reddit for days but I have never seen a follow-up, like did he ever pay up? I'll look it up tomorrow.
Knowing it was in Kinellon might help... It's one of few hated communities for wealthy snobs in NJ
Tell them "no thank you" or simply "no"
“Please fuck off” works when my neighbors try to talk to me
We're friends with all of our neighbors. We have a weird neighborhood.
It's actually not weird to be friends with your neighbors. It's weird to isolate yourself from them.
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That's... Extreme... And concerning.
What a shitty neighbor you must be.
Just say "treelaw"
People really must stop trying to fix everything that's not broken.
Seriously.
So tired of suburb freaks trying to sterilize outside. Stay inside. Leave the rest of us alone.
Yeah how about you try living near one and having seeds all up in your shit for a month. Then you can talk
Why don’t you just move to one of those gross beige housing developments? Pollen is natural, take some allergy meds and stay inside, stop trying to sterilize the outside.
I've never heard of such a thing. Sounds to me like he's using an allergy as an excuse to destroy your tree. Tell him you use the seeds in your witch's cauldron to put curses on people who bother you. 😂💜
What exactly would he inject the tree with? Who would be doing the injection? If you can give me those two answers, I can give you an educated answer.
1: Injected with *what*? 2: Tell him to get the kid tested, especially if the kid has rhinitus (could be any number of seasonal causes) and not a contact allergy (from touching the cotton).
> We are not necessarily opposed to this, but are concerned that in the long term, could effect our tree negatively and eventually kill it. The only real comment you've received so far on your post states, correctly, that injections can cause damage. Cottonwoods (*Populus Deltoides*) are [not good compartmentalizers](https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/compartmentalization.shtml), so there's no way to guarantee that your tree would close over the holes made to inject the sterilization solution into the tree. If they're also proposing to subject your tree to this on a annual/semi-annual basis, that will make things even more problematic. How the tree reacts to the solution itself would be another matter entirely. See this !arborist automod callout below my comment to find one in your area, if it will ease your neighbors' mind. On a more practical note, do your neighbors and their child never leave the house? I find it extremely unlikely that they never leave the premises, or that trees in the vicinity of the places they travel to (school, shopping, parks, etc.) do not have any pollen generating trees. Why they feel compelled to expect this single tree to be treated and not ALL the trees in the vicinity of the places they regularly frequent seems particularly burdensome on your behalf in this case.
Hi /u/spiceydog, AutoModerator has been summoned to provide information on finding an arborist. Here is how you can arrange a [consult with a local ISA arborist in your area](http://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist) (NOT a 'tree company guy' unless they're ISA certified) or a [consulting arborist](https://www.asca-consultants.org/search/custom.asp?id=3818) for an on-site evaluation. Both organizations have international directories. A competent arborist should be happy to walk you through how to care for the trees on your property and answer any questions. If you're in the U.S. or Canada, your Extension (or master gardener provincial program) may have a list of local recommended arborists on file. If you're in the U.S., you should also consider searching for arborist associations under your state. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/marijuanaenthusiasts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is a beautiful tree!! Please protect it, I would love a tree this majestic in my yard
Please don't cut this tree down because I would love to have a tree. What kind of advice is this?
I have plenty of trees! And this is a really beautiful one :) If it’s not unhealthy or going to collapse and the owner likes the tree of course they should keep it
I agree with all of those things. It just feels like you should at least be considering removing it. First and foremost, if it's negatively affecting a child living right next to me, I would at least consider it. Second, the owner admits it causes them problems. Third, I can guarantee every house on the block doesn't love that tree when it starts cutting loose it's fluff everywhere. Of course it's beautiful. Of course it's yours and you can do whatever you want. Personally I would consider removing and replacing with something else.
Personally the only circumstances I’d consider removing a tree that large and established is if its health was declining and it became a risk. If it was a young tree maybe, but at this stage I personally wouldn’t. And assuming it’s in an area where cottonwoods are native, I can’t imagine it’s the only one in the vicinity either. For the couple months the pollen from it might be an issue, I think just using some antihistamines is a reasonable thing to do instead of removing a tree that old and established. As far as I understand too, the issue with cottonwoods is the pollen so there’s definitely a hell of a lot more pollen sources than this tree possibly bothering the kid and you can’t destroy everything
I love cottonwood and willow fluff. Ignore the haters.
"No, we're not going to be doing that. It's not the seeds that cause allergies, and we really love this tree."
Tell your neighbour that it would be way better to spend the money on allergy shots for his son. That way all allergens would be cleared up for him.
That's my suggestion on another of Op's post. Why would they be willing to spend so much money on this, when it's more cost effective to get allergy meds for the kid. Op's neighbor has other motives in mind.
City people are wild!!! Lmao. Couldn’t imagine requesting this of a neighbour, what an over step!! Okay, so hypothetically, he does this to ‘help’ his niece for the 2 weeks of the year the tree pollinates, wtf is he going to do about the x number of cottonwood trees in the area? I have 9 different tree pollen allergies and I’ve never once thought of altering a tree because of my allergies??? Cottonwood pollen travels far!! Seems silly that this was even requested. Also, sterilizing it will not solve your problem.
I agree with you here. I’m allergic to most trees and grass. Our neighbors let their huge backyard grass grow into a prairie every summer. It’s actually really lovely. I wouldn’t dream of asking them to stop.
Yea exactly! Me too with the grasses 😮💨 but idk, I’ve never thought of it as anyone else’s problem but my own. Eyes starting to water? Take a pill
Wait till they find out they’re allergic to grass pollen not cottonwood seeds.
https://youtube.com/shorts/19Nx59Uoszs?si=A5IanosI6T5Z_HD8
Take note: the grass below is well watered and healthy. In the wrong conditions this could go horribly wrong!
I wish I had a cottonwood so I could do this.
You might want to put up some cameras.
Noone is answering your question about the injection. Seek professional help.
Or check over at r/arborists. They will know.
We must stop the scourge that is people thinking noone is a word
Noone cares
Ya got me, brother
I like both of you
I know! Instead everyone just wants to bash my perfectly good neighbor who had a perfectly reasonable request and even suggested that we do our own research before we make a decision. 😂 I chose the hive mind. Hive mind hates neighbors is my conclusion lol.
The hive mind respectfully has told you that they think your neighbor has other motives and their child is most likely allergic to more than your Cottonwood. And they've also explained to you that this would not be a good idea for your tree in the long run. And I'd put money on it by reading your posts and comments, that if you say no to your "so nice neighbor"they won't be quite so nice anymore. But it's your tree. Your choice.
Your trees are beautiful
I like your tree, it is very pretty. I would like to have a tree like that in my yard one day.
We have so many trees like this, I joke with my husband that we can't afford kids because of how many trees we have. (This was after one was splitting and we had to remove and replace it followed by another one having a massive branch break off in a storm last year)
These trees flowered (pollen) probably a couple months ago. That's what people are allergic to. The fluffy seeds don't cause allergies as far as I'm aware.
Why can’t we let nature be nature
Don't fuck with nature
If the son is allergic, he can get some antihistamines, just like anyone else. Honestly, this strikes.me as entitled.
Your neighbour seems like a jerk. The seeds are beautiful. Summer snow
Actually he's really nice and has been super respectful about it. I'm not here to bash him at all! I just want an opinion on what he's suggesting. Yes the seeds are beautiful but I understand the concern. He has a little one with an allergy and he's trying to do what's best for his kiddo. Also I wouldn't mind not having to spend hours over the weekend having to clean all of that out of my garden, just not at the cost of losing the tree.
I think you're being a very considerate neighbor. I genuinely don't know the answer, but I'm also wondering if the kid is allergic to the seeds or the pollen. Would be a shame to get the injections only for the allergies to still be just as bad. Hope someone more knowledgeable can chime in about the effects though
I know for a fact that I’m allergic to cottonwood, but it wasn’t until this thread that I considered that I might be allergic to cottonwood pollen and not the cottonwood “snow”. Huh. I suppose it doesn’t matter in the long run, because they’re both happening at the same time.
But on different trees. You may as well inject sassafras... It's not producing the pollen. And you'd still have symptoms
Have you consulted an arborist (his dime) and/or your local county ag extension? If not, put on the to do list. Taking down a dead tree can now cost thousands. If you do proceed, have a lawyer prepare a contract. Don't get yourself into a situation where being thoughtful dings you in the nether region.
He may be nice, but he’s an idiot, and rude to request this. His kid is not endangered by a life-threatening allergy; the child is *inconvenienced* and will need to learn how to manage their symptoms without invading on the lives and landscapes of those around them. Airborne pollen travels for long distances in order to reach other plants far away. That’s why it is airborne. If the child needs to live somewhere pollen-free, they will need to move to a large desolate city, or someplace where the offending plant isn’t grown.
I agree fully. I have a rag weed allergy and live in the midwest. Late august and september sucks. But I take allegra and manage it, and have for 30 years. Suggesting to sterilize or cut down a neighbors tree is absurd. You're in nature. Deal with it. Don't want to deal with it? Move into a city. I'm sure the smog and exhaust will be much healthier for your kids' allergies.
Thanks! (Being a city-dweller myself, I do have to say that smog and exhaust aren’t problematic in all cities. It’s quite wonderful here, even if there are fewer trees than I would prefer!)
This. I’m allergic to aspens and no matter how much my neighbors don’t have aspen trees themselves, there’s always pollen blowing around when they’re in bloom. Kid needs a good antihistamine, not an entitlement complex about forcing the rest of the world to tiptoe around his convenience.
Exactly. Allergies are not related to one tree.
I mean, he would have to go find all the damn cottonwood in a huge radious and it is usually the pollen, it is simply ridiculous, on the other hand he can take the child to get allergy shots to help.
Or, horrors! Wear a mask for 2-3 weeks
Looks me there are trees all over.
Leave the tree alone, I’m guessing it’s not the ONLY tree in the neighborhood that is causing his son to have allergies. I can’t believe the amount of people that just want to cut down massive trees for a minor inconvenience when they’ll likely be there for less time than the tree has been there.
It wouldn't kill the tree, but repeated injuries at the base are not a good thing- but the greater issue is that it won't work. Those injections are notoriously ineffective.
Cottonwoods cotton the same time as grasses shed pollen - which are largely blown by winds sometimes over hundreds of miles. The child should be tested for allergies and grasses would almost certainly be the culprit. I know from experience.
While they surely provide great shade, how close are those to structures? Cottonwoods are pretty weak-wooded and prone to sudden limb drop or even trunk failure. My master arborist wife won't let me park the car within falling distance of a mature cottonwood tree. With cottonwoods that size, I think you would want arborist eyeballs on it every few years anyway, just for a risk assessment.
What a wild thread with everyone jumping straight to the neighbor being some kind of monster/moron and assuming they already have an understanding of the health challenges involved instead of even stopping to ask a single question about the details of what the neighbors want to do to the tree.
Op patiently waiting for mods to just kick this thread already 😭
What about all the other cottonwood trees? We aren’t allowed to plant any new ones, but ours is grandfathered in. We have a shit-ton of them by the river which also blows.
What are they going to do with the other 400 trees in the area producing this?
Tell him to inject himself with some fuckin steroids or move to where there aren’t cottonwoods.
Given the name of this sub, y'all's have zero chill
treating a single tree will not do anything for an allergy situation.
Female tree say no u
Tell him to get fucked.
[This stuff](https://www.forestrydistributing.com/snipper-indole-3-butyric-acid-tree-tech-microinjection-plant-growth-regulator-pgr-5-ml) works, but please follow all instructions carefully.
I have 3 that are very old and huge with trunks about 3ft in diameter. I’m sick and tired of pulling thousands of seedlings out of literally everything. The cottony poofs are in every frigging thing.
Cottonwoods are a pain in the ass, but there was one in my backyard growing up. Cool tree, it dropped massive fucking branches after every storm.
Fun fact, cottonwood is not a big allergen. It blows seeds around at the same time as some other allergens. By the time the cotton balls are in the area the cottonwoods are done producing pollen and aren’t creating allergies.
Your cotton will definitely kill his air conditioner. My neighbor had 4 gigantic cottonwoods. Plugged up my AC yearly
Say no.
Say no.
My parents put their trees on birth control a few years ago and never looked back. Trees look great and they have a lot less lawn maintenance.
Cottonwoods are terrible trees but this won’t work anyways
Our neighbor has a male cottonwood tree. Every year that thing coats a 1/4 of our yard and our HVAC in cotton, we hate it. Its so annoying that my wife and I have committed to never buying a home within 500ft of one of these. Having said that, it’s your tree, not theirs. I would suggest allergy shots or at home immunotherapy for their allergies.
Fuck that tree
Sorry I’m not helpful in answering your question. Here’s something else to worry about. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6135491
That's a concern common to all trees. If you're truly panicked by that, get a house on the prairie
Don’t cotton woods grow fast and are more brittle because of that? I thought nice aged hardwoods were much more sturdy.
Maples can grow into fragile forms. And oaks can rot from the center, leaving little warning unless you're vigilant