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Paulownia trees??

Started by flip, September 21, 2005, 10:23:58 AM

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flip

I orderd a few trees with some people at work here and wanted to get a few opinions.

Has anyone ever heard of Paulownia trees? 

What I know about them is they grow to full maturity in 5 years.  Convert CO2 to O2 twice as fast as an oak.  Half the weight of oak.  Twice the insulation value and twice the flash point of oak.

I held a piece of the stuff and it felt like balsa but was much harder.  Growth rings were about 1/4 inch apart.  I was told this thing is a Chinese tree crossed with a type of poplar.  Wood will dry without kiln drying. 

We got onto these by one of our customers that is a retired farmer that works closely with Purdue University ag. dept.

This thing is crazy looking, leaves are the size of elephant ears when the tree is small and get smaller as the tree grows.  Tree will grow to about 50 ft with  50ft canopy in 5 years?  Doesn't seem quite possible. ???

Flip
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SwampDonkey

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beenthere

flip
You should have fun growing the Paulownia trees.

""Growth rings were about 1/4 inch apart"" you stated.  Now that translates to 1/2" diameter growth a year. Seems in 5 years that will add up to a 2-1/2 inch diameter stem.    ???

Jus pullin' on your leg here.  :)
south central Wisconsin
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Tom

It's been touted as the tree of the future.  It got loose in the appalachians and is on every roadside right of way and considered a weed now.

A tree Farmer I know here experimented with it some.  It is very labor intensive if you  are trying to make saw timber.  It must be suckered at regular intervals and protected from cold and sun scald.

One technique is to start a tree and cut it down after a full year of growing.  Pick the strongest root sprout the next year and develop it into your crop tree. 

It is a highly prolific regenerator and all scraps must be destroyed.

flip

So I take it you can transplant a sucker or a stem?  I don't know about trying to get timber out of them just wanted to put out some nice shade trees.  So, are these junk weeds not worth messing with or nice fast growers?  Remember, I live in the armpit of America in southwest Indiana where it can be super hot and dry in the summer and nasty cold in winter.  Any recomendations on where to plant them?
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

Tom


Arthur

flip

the Paulownia tree is pure chinese.  They have been used in china for many many years.

They do NOT have structural status but being water based sap are extreamly fire resistant.

The leaf is used for fodder and plantations are best grown where animals can keep the runners under control.

The flowers are normally pink and look good in spring.  They mature at about 20 years but can be harvested at about 8 year although you do get very imature wood.

Dries in about 6 weeks although you should wash the wood for about a week in flowing water to remove any tannins.  This can however poison the water so best done in some sort of bath.

The wood wet is about 1200kg per cubic meter and dries to about 200kg.

any waste will grow so it is somewhat a extreame weed if not kept under control.

lots more infor if you need.

arthur

Ron Wenrich

There has been an active pawlonia market in Japan for quite some time.  Seems they use the wood for dowary chests.  At one time, the wood was worth more than red oak.  The market has cooled off somewhat, since the Japanese economy hasn't been all that good.  Also, a lot more on the market on this side of the pond.
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fencerowphil (Phil L.)

AT least in Georgia climate, the growth claims for Paulownia are true,
I have milled several six year old yard Paulownia logs which were 18 -22 inches in diameter
BUT...    :P

I have yet to see any plantations in my area who paid attention to the
20' by 20' grid planting pattern suggested.  (They need tremendous root
space.)    Around here the growers seem to read the directions, plant them
close like pines anyway, and then wonder why they don't grow.    Setting
up and tending a Paulownia plantation (or even a grove) is not a plant-em-and
forget-em proposition,  ...

no, notatall!    :(

Phil L.

Bi-VacAtional:  Piano tuner and sawyer.  (Use one to take a vacation from the other.) Have two Stihl 090s, one Stihl 075, Echo CS8000, Echo 346,  two Homely-ite 27AVs, Peterson 10" Swingblade Winch Production Frame, 36" and 54"Alaskan mills, and a sore back.

thurlow

About 15 years ago, they were "hotter" than the current meth labs;  everybody with a saw, a truck and a piece of a trailer was riding the back roads buying them.  What they couldn't buy, they stole.  As Ron pointed out, the market has cooled, at least locally.  Maybe because those of marketable size are gone.  A neighbor down the road planted a couple of small groves; he has since passed away and no one is tending them.  They still look pretty good, but the growth rate is not nearly what he'd been led to believe.
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Phorester


A big YEP! to what has already been said. 

Close to my office there was one growing at the base of a wall where it joined the paved parking lot.  Grew there for years.  It's get 8 or 10 feet tall and somebody would cut it down.  It'd sprout back and grow again.  They'd cut it again.  It finally died.

Here they grow most often on road banks and other open spots with plenty of sunlight and good soil.  There are a few little patchs of paulownia that were planted in my area.  As Phil said, they need very intensive management.  The owners never really cared for them like they should, so they are now very dense and slow growing.

In the 80s when the market was real good, paulownia yard trees would be stolen during the night.

fencerowphil (Phil L.)

I like the thought from "Down-under" of using animals to control sprouts.

I wonder if Emus would do it.  (I like to call Paulownia the Emu of the
forestry world.)  Just joking.

Horses, for example will lay waste to the bark of the trees.  One experimental
grower I know raises deer for stocking hunting plantations.   He had some red tails
simply decimate his Paulownia grove nearby.  Goats would probably be just as bad.

Phil L.
Bi-VacAtional:  Piano tuner and sawyer.  (Use one to take a vacation from the other.) Have two Stihl 090s, one Stihl 075, Echo CS8000, Echo 346,  two Homely-ite 27AVs, Peterson 10" Swingblade Winch Production Frame, 36" and 54"Alaskan mills, and a sore back.

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