Paulownia tomentosa

[parkeey]

I thought this was a monster of a tree, so far I have 2 small buds from pollarding the tree in autumn. So its taken a massive long time to grow again......

How is everyones else Paulownia tomentosa doing??

[miketropic]

tiny..

[Neil Ziemski]

Mine is slow this year
What leaves have come through arnt that big
I've had success leaving them woody and cutting them back
Neil

[parkeey]

yep I thought this was one the fastest growing trees in the world....

[cordyman]

If you pollarded in autumn, it may have used some of its stored energy to try and grow into the early mild winter?

Best to pollard in Spring?

Also how many years has it been in the ground, mine is 2 years, now but i'm leaving it another year before I pollard to build up better root system.

[Kristen]

Best to pollard in Spring?

Dave gave a good justification for why he pollards his in Autumn ... but I can't remember what it was!

Pollarded mine a month ago (first time), and last weekend all the buds were breaking so rubbed out all-bar-two buds, and will reduce to just one when it gets under way.

The 1 yr old seedlings I have in the greenhouse are in full leaf ...

[Barry]

One of ours has two nice buds on it but I think the other one is dead,will give it a few more weeks though.
I think(although I may have this wrong) if pollarded regularly they will eventually exhaust themselves,places like Dixter replenish theirs after a while;otherwise I think you let it grow naturally to re-invigorate it.

[parkeey]

mines been in 4 or 5 years, in this time this is the 2nd time I pollarded as wanted the huge long stem foliage. it took a while to build a thick trunk before I pollarded it. I don't think it matters when u pollard it really, I thought in autumn it gives the roots a chance to spread more. I seen some in Thorpe park that are massive foailage and long trunks over a metre and was hoping mine would get like this but hasn't.

[gabriel]

[quote

Dave gave a good justification for why he pollards his in Autumn ... but I can't remember what it was!.[/quote]
Dave doesn't want to look at the 11ft stick all winter.

[Dave Brown]

Best to pollard in Spring?

Dave gave a good justification for why he pollards his in Autumn ... but I can't remember what it was!

Don't want to look at a 12ft tall stick all winter, and the buds break at the bottom as there is no top, when left they tended to break buds at the top of the stick so you had to cut them off.
They don't appear until May here, but in 6 weeks it will be 4ft tall, 10 weeks 7ft, 14 weeks 10ft, 20 weeks 12 to 14ft Assuming we have a summer.

[cordyman]

Heres my two year planted paulownia tonight for a comparison, not going to pollard till year 3

[grub]

The 12ft lump I've cut off and still not disposed of is sprouting leaves and has been for about 6 weeks, the big fat thing that's still attached to the ground and is therefore theoretically alive is doing absolutely FA!!

[Conifers]

yep I thought this was one the fastest growing trees in the world....

It is, with hot humid summers. But not with British weather!

[Alexander]

I saw a lot in flower in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. Usely ate rocky outcrops.

But they can flower well here also in normal years.

Not with this subarctic current weather though...

Alexander

[GREVILLE]

The cold spring hasn't stopped mine from flowering. Last pollarded mine three years ago. Currently standing about twenty feet high. Due for the chop once the flowers fade.