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Question from Cliff, North Ogden, UT (received 5/4/20) -

Hi, my name is Cliff Huss and I live in North Ogden. I have a 30 year old cottonless Cottonwood that appears to be dying and I would like to know if someone could look at it and tell me if that is the case or if it could be saved. There are about 3 branches on the north side that have leaves on them and there are some fuzzies on the tops of several other branches. The tree is about 30 years old. It started as a cotton-less cottonwood but it started producing cotton maybe 5 years ago. Thank you.

Answer from Gabrielle Harden, USU Forestry Extension Educator (sent 5/8/20) -

Cliff,

Unfortunately, this tree will soon be dead. It is almost certainly due to fungal cankers that attack the inner bark and cambium are in the trunk and larger branches, killing everything from that point up. Often times it is cytospora. The fungus attacks trees or parts of trees that are already in stressed conditions. Cytospora girdles the tree and kills everything above the canker. This webpage provides a bit more information about cytospora -

I hope this helps.