paulownia cuttings

[daz]

Hi guys and dols i hope you are all well.Spring on the way .Can any body tell me if its easy to take a cutting from a paulownia tree?Thanks

[Blairs]

A cutting from green shoots root easily in water after a few weeks. Root cuttings also work.

[daz]

Hi

Thanks Blairs that's great.

[bodster]

actually cuttings from the roots is easier. I find mine send up new plants every time i stick a spade through a chunky root

[daz]

Hi

Thanks for that mate.I would like to see a video of how to take root cuttings.I have never done this.

[bodster]

I dont know how to do it either All I know is that if I do any deep digging round my trees new plants come up afterwards. Also the same happens if you move an established plant

[daz]

MMM sounds easy enough then mate.So if i just dig around my established tree and jig some root out and then do i just plant them?Also would this damage the mother plant?Also when is it best to try this?
Thanks mate

[bodster]

I really dont know. I can tell you the only time I'd be dinnig round the roots is in summer. exactly how much root I cut off doing that is unknown. I gave a plant to my mum who moved it after a year. It was 6 foot high then and she commented a new one grew back where the origional had grown so I dont know how much root she'd left behind. I could say that these can be grown from aseed to a tree in about 4 years so thats another way. The tree in the pic was seed grown and only about 5 years old I think

[derrick]

Hello Bodster it has been a long time . Your Paulownia must be a monster by now ?

[bodster]

strangely no. They grow really quickly for the first few years then as they get big, the leaf size gets smaller and they get slower growing.

[derrick]

Oh I see .You cant beat the flowers on them .Don't they grow them for timber in some country as they grow so fast .Are you enjoying the mild wet winter ?

[bodster]

I expect there must be a specialist use for the wood. Its quite spongy so I would't have thought it was something you could plane and use as a plank. The flowers on them are one of the nicest of the hardy trees. The buds form in autumn sit on the bare branches like little balls waiting to open before the leaves in spring. On a bad winter they can get frozen off. Strangely enough I was looking at the trees today and theres no buds. I'm not sure whether for some reason last year the tree didn't set any or that they've been blown off by the storms. Its going to be a flowerless year for them

Mild winters OK but quite a lot of storm damage in the garden. The fish have been eating all winter which was unusual. Nice not to have lost plants to the cold though

[derrick]

Bodster do you still grow Proteus with the big flowers ?

[bodster]

Yes. see my post under the king protea cultivation

[derrick]

I will take look cheers