Empress Splendor Trees

[Ford_man]

Has any one had any experience with the Empress Splendor wood? It is supposed to be a hard wood that grows real fast. It is told that it can be timber size in 7 years. I saw a pic of a 3 yr old tree that looked to be about 12 in. would these make good firewood

[DanG]

That's the first time I've heard of Paulownia being referred to by that name, so I had to look it up.  I guess it got such a bad reputation by its original name, they had to call it something different.  I don't recommend messing with it, personally.

[Tom]

I sawed it one time.  Got 1x6's out of a 3 year old tree.   It's almost a weed, having become a nuisance in the Appalachians.  It does grow fast, but to get a sawable log, it is quite labor intensive.  The pine growers here who tried it, put it aside and went back to pine.

I'd leave it alone too.

It's balsa wood light, poplar fibrous, has a hollow pith when young (like milkweed) and produces a very strong board that appears to be rot resistant.  But, to grow it, you spend all of your time in the field suckering it, like you would a crop of tobacco. You cut down the first year to generate the tree from the second years stump sprouts.  You don't dare leave any of the residue laying around or it will take root.  I heard a lot of negatives.

[Ford_man]

Thanks guys. Don't want no more weeds, got too many now without planting them.

[WDH]

There is also no viable market.  It is more of an advertising thing than a reality.

[Ron Wenrich]

We used to sell Pawlonia logs all the time, when we found them.  They were sold to the Japanese for the use in hope chests.  Prices were pretty comparable to walnut, at the time.  They've certainly slipped since then.  The last one I saw in the yard was about 10 years ago and it went to the export market.

I'm not sure that the market is still there.  Our Pawlonia grows slower than that and I don't know if that makes a difference.  I once talked to a veneer buyer about hybrid walnut that was supposed to be 18"+ in 25 years.  His reply was who would want it.  No grain pattern.