Sick Cottonwood?

[umlaf]

We are renting our house and we've only been here since November so I don't know the history of the tree, but I have a lovely large cottonwood in my backyard that seems to be ill. In the fall it was the last of the trees in the neighborhood to loose it's leaves and it took it's time dropping them so I think it was happy and healthy then. But right now my summer lawn looks more like a late fall lawn because it is literally COVERED in leaves falling from the cottonwood, and I just raked a large quantity of them up on Friday. Many of the leaves have some odd looking holes in them, but I see no evidence of bugs, other leaves have some brown/black spots, and most of them that fall are yellow or brown. It's been going on for probably three or four weeks now. Does anyone have any idea what is happening and/or what I can do about it. It's really a beautiful tree and it gives a lot of shade to the yard, I would hate for it to die but at the same time it's not my house and I don't want to pour a whole lot of money that I don't have into it.

Thanks,
Beth

[Connie Tassin]

Beth, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the cottonwood is most likely not dying. The bad news is that it is losing leaves because it is not getting enough water. And likely will never get enough water.

Cottonwoods are usually found alongside creeks and rivers. In our urban setting during the hot dry summer, they lose leaves profusely. Odds are, you could not give the tree enough water to prevent the leaf drop.

Sorry to be the bearer of such news.