Has anyone grown a Paulownia tree? (Royal Empress)

Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6235

Supposedly it grows wicked fast, is a good wood and you can about cut the whole damn tree down and it will grow back.

Sounds like a damned fine firewood tree. Before I go dropping some on my property though I would like to get some opinions on it. I dont need an overly aggresive tree trying to grow all over the damned place.
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skyemoor

If this is about firewood, then ask this question in the firewood thread.
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Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6235

Blake · Coal Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 7

I grew 5 from seed about 6 years ago, they are now about 30 feet
tall and are blooming for the first time, extreamly fast growth after the 2nd year . I can't believe they would make a good fire wood as the wood is quite soft.

rattleshirt · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 109

In my area (southcentral Indiana) they die back too far in winter to be really useful so far. That said I am growing a few that I dug from the roadside as test trees. The wood is very soft and light. I recomend coppicing black locust, sycamore, oak, hickory, even tulip poplar for firewood over paulownia.

Ludi

I would favor a native tree over an exotic, personally.
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skyemoor

bobaloo · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 476

I've got one the wife planted for the flowers. It's been in the ground about 3 years and is maybe 10 feet tall, not particularly fast growing, but the purple flowers are pretty in the Spring.

In the midwest (I seem to remember you being in the Kansas area), various Locust trees were fast growing and pretty good firewood, I burnt a lot of it when in lived in Missouri. There was one type of locust that had enormous thorns, some were nearly a foot long with smaller thorns growing around the base. It was a pain to work with but the best firewood I ever had. Very solid, like oak, but split like cedar, just popped apart.

rattleshirt · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 109

Skyemoor-
I would ask that the thread not be combined-I don't have time to comb through the wood heat thread etc. all the time I just scan thread titles to see if anything is relevant for me to contribute to.

skyemoor

The problem then occurs that 1000s of threads are created, no one then bothers to read even the titles of 1000s of threads and then the same questions get asked over and over again. We are trying to create a knowledge base here, instead of a forgetfulness in the same vein as 50 First Dates.

If this is about firewood, then it will be merged into the Wood Heat thread. If it is about growing and selling 35 yr old Pauwlonia trees as fine craftsman stock wood (something I considered once), then that's a different forum.
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TheDude

I used to lug slabs of the stuff around at a lumber yard. You had to be careful not to dent it - 'bout twice as firm as balsa.

Read in a woodworking group about some Japanese businessman tooling around Indiana, they saw a stand of paulownias, went aha! It's prized there for furniture, I think. Sort of the Nipponese mahogany.
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pstarr

If you are in the right climate there is nothing like Eucalyptus or Monterey Pine. They are both rocket ships. I don't know how mother nature makes them grow? And Eucy is very hard very dense.

There are a bunch of paulownias at Real Goods (the solar energy place) they were planted about 10 years ago. Some are more than a 18 inches, approaching two feet, across.
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Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6235

rattleshirt · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 109

Skyemoor-
Oh well, that makes sense.
Specop-
Paulownia needs to be fed if it is cut often as it does not fix nitrogen. also if used for firewood at least a part of the ash needs to be returned to the soil near the tree.