Abstract: The cotton pickup comprising a self-propelled frame having a rotary gripping means mounted thereon and including a dielectric pressurized cylinder being rotated by a drive and having a plurality of teeth on the outer surface thereof for gathering and retaining the waste cotton, said pressurized cylinder having an electric charge source mounted therewithin and imparting the electric charges to the pressurized cylinder inner surface. The pressurized cylinder wall thickness is selected so that the electric field produced under the action of the charges between the ground and the pressurized cylinder outer surface, is capable of attracting the cotton to the pressurized cylinder outer surface from where it is doffed by a brush means and transported into a collecting tank by a transporting means.