Paulownia tomentosa

[parkeey]

heres mine, I hope the stem thickens up . I chopped it right at the bottom, shall I leave it to grow next year now?

[miketropic]

Im super impressed with mine as well its around 12 ft now and was only a seedling in april. I'm really afriad im going to do this pollard thing wrong and kill the guy though.

[Dave Brown]

Mine is around 12 ft also now, up from 5ft back in early July.

Here is the comparison from 7th July to 25th August, exactly 7 weeks apart

[Kristen]

Im super impressed with mine as well its around 12 ft now and was only a seedling in april. I'm really afriad im going to do this pollard thing wrong and kill the guy though.

Just a thought:

Cut it down to 2', say, and then when the buds fatten in the Spring cut it back to a promising looking one, then once the buds have broken and you are sure of them rub out all the other buds just leaving one.

[Kristen]

Really pleased with mine this year too. It's done very well indeed considering it was uprooted and replanted last March. Massive leaves compared to last year and it's around 8ft tall and still going.

Mine too. Planted last year (I had bought it a year before that, but it had sat in its pot).

Stooled it this year for the first time, its got a massively fat stem considering the young age of the plant. I had expected it to take 3 or 4 years before it would be ready for stooling ...

[parkeey]

If I don't chop it this autumn , will the tree flower the following year? will it grow even taller??, I don't think it does, I probably am tempted to stool again for the leaves and growth..

[Dave Brown]

If I don't chop it this autumn , will the tree flower the following year? will it grow even taller??, I don't think it does, I probably am tempted to stool again for the leaves and growth..

I left one of mine for 3 years and reached around 20ft, but can get to 40-ish ft. Mine didn't flower so cut it down. Also the buds can be damaged by frost.

[miketropic]

this whole cutting it down thing scares me to death Can I get a step by step guide to not killing this thing? I should have took a pic of Brian's today..20 ft al and branched like a conifer.

[Dave Brown]

this whole cutting it down thing scares me to death Can I get a step by step guide to not killing this thing? I should have took a pic of Brian's today..20 ft al and branched like a conifer.

Get a pair of loppers, and lop....

Seriously if the base of the stem has ripening bark, as in the pic, then cut it back a few inches above the ground. You can see where previous year's growth has been lopped. I do this in September or October, as I don't like looking at a flagpole all winter and spring, only to cut it down as it starts to grow, but most cut back after the buds have formed. My method forces the buds to form low down, as there is no 'higher up'.

Choice is yours, but as they are hardy in your area, should be no problem.

[DiCasS]

This plant has done well for me too this year after a late start and now leaves are now starting to get smaller.

The one down the bottom of the garden I've left before to try to get flowers, after two years and a third Spring I had no flowers. I couldn't leave it any longer as it got too big and blocked out so much light, so had to be cut down to start again.

Di

[Dave Brown]

The one down the bottom of the garden I've left before to try to get flowers, after two years and a third Spring I had no flowers. I couldn't leave it any longer as it got too big and blocked out so much light, so had to be cut down to start again.

Di

It may be the buds are damaged so the flowers don't form. They obviously start to grow in Feb/March so could easily be subjected to harsh frost.

[Neil Ziemski]

A different question about these plants.
I have 3, two purchases this year, both growing strong and have large leaves.
One I bought last year has much smaller leaves, are there different types?
Neil

[DiCasS]

The one down the bottom of the garden I've left before to try to get flowers, after two years and a third Spring I had no flowers. I couldn't leave it any longer as it got too big and blocked out so much light, so had to be cut down to start again.

Di

It may be the buds are damaged so the flowers don't form. They obviously start to grow in Feb/March so could easily be subjected to harsh frost.

Could well have been Dave, I've tried twice now to get flowers previously without any success This coming Spring will be it's third again, but unfortunately wont be here to see if it flowers. I guess if it didn't, I would have given it the chop again anyway due to its size.

A different question about these plants.
I have 3, two purchases this year, both growing strong and have large leaves.
One I bought last year has much smaller leaves, are there different types?
Neil

There are many different ones Neil, but only tried the tomentosa myself. A couple of members have tried different ones, here's a link I found http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... ia#p231205


Di

[Mick C]

I also suspect that tomentosa can be very variable in their vigour Neil. I bought a couple of seedlings a few years ago, kept one and gave the other away, The one I gave away grew strongly but the one I kept is a weak spindly thing that I'll probably give up on.

[parkeey]

so are these really hard to get to flower,i seen one for sale a large maybe 30litre one with buds on, looks well estalished? just wonder if the buds would make it throught the winter.....