Amen, brother! As an HVAC technician myself, you wouldn't believe how often, and all summer long I have to wash out that stuff from the condenser coils.
My personal opinion is, if you have room on your property, sure, go for it! But if you have limited space like me, then you can afford to be picky. I have enough Green Ash(species name) and Red Elm that I will pass it up for now. But in a pinch I'll grab it.
Cottonwood is actually considered a hardwood, but obviously, very low quality in comparison to other hardwoods.
Yes. Technically any deciduous tree is considered hardwood regardless of how "hard" and dense the actual wood is.
Ok so that statement didn’t hold true very long. This standing dead cottonwood was in my back yard near the stacks, haven’t been to concerned about it. But in about a month, I am going to have a long term renter at my RV spots and they are going to be parking a storage trailer up against the row of cottonwoods. So it had to go. saved about 1/2dozen rounds off the trunk, 8-9” the rest went to the dump
That stuff looks like the weird "Hybrid Poplar" They grow fast and look like cottonwoods, but they only live like 20 years.
I guess I'm in the minority on cottonwood. I have burned almost only cottonwood for several years. Last year it was the only wood I burned. I can get about 4 hours on a load keeping the 1080 sq ft at 75 or so. I have about 11 years worth of fire wood c/s/s and stashed in several locations. Most of it is cottonwood, pine and elm. I started burning it when I discovered oak, ash and maple we're hard to scrounge. Seems like everyone wanted them and no one wanted cottonwood or elm. So I burn what I can get easiest.
My house is only 920 sq ft and old and my stove is oversized, technically, but it'll heat my house as hot as I want it with cottonwood. Truth be told, once I move into the country, I'm gona be burning a lot of cottonwood again, because town will just be too far away. Plus there's a creek and "river" 2.5 miles south, that veers around and goes to the east 2.5 miles. So, 5 miles round trip, 180 degrees from the farm, there's years and years and years worth of big dead cottonwood to get.
I have burned cottonwood for years now. I mix it in with my pine. I am retired so I really do not worry about burn time. Put the wood in and when I need more I add to it. I heat my upstairs which is 1500 sq ft with no problem even with the wind at 40 mph and 5 degrees out. I would like better wood but I make due with what is here.
I would take cottonwood over white fir. I think there is cottonwood almost everywhere in the US. There is alot of it on the farms and ranches, in Central and eastern oregon. I like cottonwood better than the poplar we have here. The poplar has very low heat and leaves alot of ash.
All I can reference is within my own area. Fremont cottonwood as well as any hybrid cultivar is no match for ponderosa or pinon pine. Cottonwood stinks of the barnyard and the larger it gets the more difficult it is to split and that includes the best hydraulic splitters out there. It also doesn't put out the heat like the pine.
