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Powton/Paulownia Trees
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Posted by Sarah1 Perth - Aust (My Page) on Sat, Apr 12, 03 at 18:15
| For the last 10-11 years we have had two magnificant specimens of these trees growing on our front verge, which give wonderful shade in summer and a magnificent display of their mauve flowers in spring. They were both about 30-40 feet tall and quite the envy and talk of the neighbours. Last Friday we had quite stormy weather and one of our beautiful specimens was ripped (literally) from the ground, and fell across our front picket fence, squashed our garden arch which had a lovely pandorea jasminoides growing (not any more!), narrowly missed the house, and has pushed the other powton over on an angle. This tree will now also have to be removed. The whole root ball with the grass still attached came out of the ground and we now have a lovely crater in our front lawn. I can't believe the whole tree has been uprooted. We have had the occasional branch come away before in windy weather, but the whole tree?? It was a very healthy tree with no sign of disease and the roots certainly don't seem to have been damaged in any way. There is one big root (maybe the tap root) which is still embedded in the ground, but it has now caused the garden edging to be cracked and broken in places. I thought they were quite deep rooted trees. My husband and a couple of neighbours with the help of a chainsaw or two have removed the majority of the tree, but I am at a loss to understand what happened. My first thought was to replace the trees with 2 more powtons, but if the same thing might happen again down the track, maybe I should be thinking of something else? I really loved the trees, they were different to what everyone else had growing and certainly made a change from the usual palms that seem to grow in everyone's gardens. The fact that they are such fast growing trees too was a bonus. I would be interested to read anyone's thoughts on this. Do you think there might have been some disease within the root system which caused it to weaken, or do you think we were just unlucky and we should try again? Thanks for your help. Sarah |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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| My neighbour has a copse of about four Paulownia on my boundary at Marysville - they're about 20 meters tall!! The leaves flatten my perennials when they fall in the autumn. Can't encourage him to poll them though. They look best and are more attractive if kept at about 2-3 meters. |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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| The timber is worth a few bob. In it's cured state it is much sought after by cabinet makers. |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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They are a weed in some Shires in Qld.
Jane |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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- Posted by leyla Central Vic (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 2, 03 at 23:09
I have been told they sucker like anything, is this true??
They do look lovely
Leyla |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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Leyla,
Paulownia fortuneii will definitely sucker at the first opportunity... to encourage suckering, drive a spade into the earth circa 50cm from the trunk. When suckers emerge, you can safely remove them without adversely affecting the tree. Paulownia also respond well to coppicing, if you dont get the desired height in the first years growth, coppice in the spring as new growth commences. I have achieved 6m growth from coppiced specimens, and have seen much greater heights achieved in a single growing season on a commercial plantation (around the 8m mark..heaps of fertilisers)
Hope that helps a little,
mrgnome2u
p.s. what is the soil type where your Paulownia were planted..this may have attribute to their demise/falling.. particularly if they were planted in a heavy clay.. |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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- Posted by mak1 z5 ny (My Page) on
Mon, Jun 21, 04 at 10:36
| Too bad you cut them up. They will sprout especially from damaged roots. If you have the stumps left, stand them back up in the whole asap and wait. Care for them as a new planting. Pulling the whole tree upright (get a tree remover to use the tools of his trade, bucket truck and all) to pull it up and compact soil, cable to "hold fasts" etc... Given the time spent in growing them, some time in saving them would have been well worth the efforts. And if for no other reason than to get sprouts! Transplanting sprouts, be careful to keep all "fine" roots and don't let them dry out! If it's windy the day you do this, immerse them in water as soon as they are lifted and right up to the moment you heal them in. As for your luck; Tree size means weight considerations. Soil type and depth, soil moisture, wind strength, time of year, condition of tree all and more play into a domino effect as to whether your tree stands or not. When managing a forest, consideration is given to the likelihood of the average tree surviving and growing well. When managing a single tree or small group of trees in an urban setting or personal landscape, efforts are multiplied by the value attributed to the tree by the people benefiting from the tree. In short (you would have liked this sooner) a single tree in your yard can be worth thousands of times the same tree in the forest. |
RE: Powton/Paulownia Trees
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| Was there lots of rain around the time your tree fell? That would probably have causes the roots to weeken do to fungas and mold growing on them wick make them weeken considerably, paulownias HATE water. |
unlucky / lucky
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we had 4 large trees growing down the side of our house (euc, pine, beech and poplar)
In one storm they were all completely destroyed - struck by lightning! all of them! unlucky to happen, but lucky they all fell mostly down the side and not on the house. |
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