Been burning Cotton wood for a couple weeks now. The heat is the same flavor as Oak and Cherry.:hmm3grin2orange:
Cottonwood splits better frozen, or bucked up and left for a couple months in a pile. Green, it can be stringy but no where near as bad as Elm.
Get it up off the ground once split. By early spring around late March, when it starts getting to be mud season, it should be 50% seasoned and not too bad to run, but still not optimum. For some reason Cottonwood seems to dry to a certain point real quick, and then takes longer to get the last bit of moisture out and stabilize, or at least it seems that way.
After a year in the stack, it goes up pretty quick but not real bad. There is worse.
If kept off the ground and with air free to move around the stack it dosn't rot real quick and can be kept for a couple years around here where humidity is kinda nuts.
One of my favorite mixes this time of year, is 2-3 big splits of Cottonwood or sassafrass put right on the coals for a restart, with 2-3 bigger splits of Oak or Cherry on top. It takes right off and makes for less overlap and then settles in with a nice medium fire and coal bed that can cruise for 4-5 hours overnight and have a good amount of coals left for a restart in the morning.
Some of the snobs scoff at cotton wood, poplar, Sassafrass, and silver Maple, but the lesser species will preserve the good stuff in the stacks longer and heat just as well with a little thinking and a few more steps to the stack.
Burn it!!
Propane and Fuel Oil ain't getting any cheaper, and wood heat is Tax free!
Stay safe!
Dingeryote