Typically the best time to take the cottonwood cuttings is in late winter around late February to mid March in the south before the buds open up but early February will probably be OK as long as you keep the cuttings good and moist so they won't dry out. Usually cuttings 1 to 2 feet long is good, but longer ones can be better to help anchor them better in the ground and so they will have more roots. Keep them in some water or very moist place and keep them cool until you can put them in the soil. The straighter the better but curved branches can be OK though. You can stab the cuttings all the way into the ground and only leave the top bud showing is best, but only if the soil is very soft, hard soil such as clay soil could easily damage the cuttings if you try to shove them in the ground. If you want help them better especially if the soil you have very hard clay soil, till the soil which can help with the establishment then plant the cutting and water and mulch well Or plant the stick in a pot in some good moist well draining potting mix and mist and or water every day until leaves start to bud open and enlarge then you can plant them outside in the ground with soil, roots, and all before the roots start circling inside the pot. When you see the leaves emerge from the buds on the cuttings the roots will grow right along with them. Make sure you keep rabbits and deer away and remove all grass in a 3 to 10 ft wide circle around the cutting. Mulch around the cottonwood 3 to 10 feet wide and 3 to 4 inches deep to make them grow good and healthy, this is very important if they are out in the open in a grassy area.

Later when the cottonwood leaves emerge on the parent tree, the the flowers will emerge at the same time also, so you can go back and find out if the Cottonwood you took cuttings from is a male or a female (if the tree is old enough to make flowers). If you don't want the 'cotton' for a yard planting do Not plant a female.

Cottonwoods grow and look the best and have a better form in a sunny area near a creek, but they will survive and grow on high ground as long as you follow good planting and caring instructions over the first years of establishment. And it can be expected on higher ground for them to shed many leaves much earlier on higher ground in a dry summer or fall to compensate for water, survive, and be healthy.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm planting the cottonwoods tomorrow, and a bunch of loblolly pines and paw paws as well. This is the "maintenance & addition" stage of a reforesting project I started on my land a little over 2 years ago. The cuttings were purchased from a state nursery, so I don't have access to the parent tree. I don't know of a single cottonwood tree on my entire property ... but there are going to be some tomorrow :)

What part of the cottonwood tree are cuttings taken from?
Are they just branch material or do they need to be "shoots"? I have a couple of mature cottonwoods on my property, but don't remember any shoot growth low enough to access, but will go back and look.

Any branch part will root, but the longer straighter shoots at the top would be more preferred if possible because they are straighter and have much more younger wood than the slower growing lower branches, so the shoots would likely grow many more roots and can be planted better in the ground. But again any twig will root off a cottonwood.
Cuttings from old cottonwoods are usually somewhat harder to root, but cuttings from younger cottonwoods usually have a success rate of 70% to 90%.

Thanks for the info. Will take a try at it if I have any accessible shoots.

Well, they are all in the ground. I planted all the other species first while the cuttings soaked in a 5 gallon bucket. I planted the cuttings all over the place in various areas and soil types, and it will be interested to see how they do. The ground was moist, but still way too hard to stab the cuttings in, so I just used the dibble bar. It worked well, because there were were a few buds above ground with the cutting sunk all the way into the hole the dibble made.

On a side note ... gorgeous day today ... low 60s and sunny. Weather so perfect I didn't want the day to end. I had to stay outside and work on other projects after all the trees were planted.

This is a very interesting blog, i appreciate the information you provided
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I have some cuttings of Populus deltoides rooting this year, and was wondering what everybody thought. One of the cuttings bloomed, is this a male or a female flower? I feel pretty sure it's a male (about 90 to 99% sure) because of the structures on the ends, but it never did turn red (just yellow/green and then wilted), I guess because not enough water supply to the cutting? But I'm not sure.

Male or female in this picture? And does anybody have a picture of a newly emerging/blooming female flower so I can compare? Thanks.

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You got it - a male.

Thanks, I found some pictures to confirm them also:
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It worked! I cut 2 shoots off of a lower branch and stuck them in a pot and kept them moist. One did nothing, the other sprouted and has grown 2-3" and so I assume it has roots and has taken hold.

Way to go Scot.

I also need to drop by my land and see how the cuttings are doing. I planted 25 cuttings as a "test" in February and they should have started doing something by now. We have gotten lots of rain lately and that will only help them.

I see this is an old blog, about 8 years old. But it came up in a search about Cottonwood trees, of which I have a current interest in.

I rent an a duplex apartment in the High Desert of So. California and the Cottonwood tree in the next yard has roots running under our unit and two of them have sprouted up in front of our living room window. Over the last 2-3 months it has grown to about 4-1/2 - 5 ft tall. I would like to take it out and transplant it in my backyard.

My questions are:

Can I do it now (late July)?

Or wait until winter?

What do I need to do to ensure it takes root and not die off?

Do I take just one of these little branches, or do I dig out as much of it as I can to replant in the backyard?

Please Help!

Thanks