ANY info on Paulownia trees market/buying please!

[nak0218]

Is there anyone out there that has an idea as to the market for paulownia trees? I am interested in starting my own plantation however the only information I'm lacking is Who will actually buy paulownia. I now it is great wood for furniture, instruments and such but I am very new to this, so anyone that has any info on this, Please HELP!:swoon:

 

[Mike Davis]

I have heard that in our area over most of the South it grows too fast. The growth rings are over 1/4 inch wide and therefor unsuitable for furniture. It seems to be a scam that takes a long time to find out you have wasted your time and money buying the trees and letting them grow on your land.

Another get poor slowly scheme. :rotflm:

 

[nak0218]

Hmmm, thanks for your reply. I just have read so many sites that "claim" it's a wonderful investment, blah blah blah and I have the perfect setup to do it, so it seems/seemed like a great idea! More research is needed. Thanks and if you hear anything else or know someone who may know a thing or two, give me their name :wsmile:

 

[Mike Davis]

If I remember correctly I heard this from the forestry agent in Virginia when I was looking for something to do with my 60 acres. He suggested Christmas trees as a better investment.

 

[charlie jones]

I have some tees on my property and have made some small boxes from it. I can assure you it is to soft for most furniture. I have heard they use it in Japan for small stuff and it is valuable there.

 

[Mike Davis]

Yes, it grows much more slowly there and is a denser, heavier, stronger wood than the fast growing trees produce here.

 

[CarvedTones]

I have seen it in craft stores. Some of the small boxes/chests they sell unfinished to be painted, decoupaged or whatever are made from it. They are very plain looking and not expensive. I have seen the trees in garden catalogs. They are supposed to grow really fast and have flowers. I was spooked by how fast and never tried them. I was afraid that if it was true they would take up too much space and/or need to come down too quickly. I had some fast growing hybrid willows that had to be taken out after only about 6 years. There is such a thing as too fast...

 

[Mark Gottesman]

They are also called queen trees and I believe they are classified as an invasive species around here. Certainly weed trees if nothing else. Check with your local extension office.

 

[DaveO]

I highly agree with all that Mike Davis has stated. If it seems to good to be true, it is. A fast growing tree that is highly valuable for timber is like a get rich without any hard work scheme.
You would be better off growing Poplar, it grows fast and there is a market for the wood.

Dave

 

[BumoutBob]

Here's a different thought--check out the American Chestnut.

http://www.chestnuthilltreefarm.com...ategory.html?gclid=COn9mLexhqgCFc1a7AodySPitA

 

[CrealBilly]

I've made boards from a few paulownia logs. The lumber is super soft, palish white, straight grained, has very wide growth rings and is non attractive. Fresh sawed paulownia smells a like waste matter discharged from the bowels of a pig. It stinks bad, real bad, enough so that you'll want to put on a gag bag when sawing it. I stacked the paulownia lumber I sawed and tried to sell it, no one wanted it so it sat there till PPB and termites discovered it was good to munch on. I ended up tossing the entire stack into the burn pit, it was a big waste of time. Honestly I can't see how a person could use paulownia to build furniture, it's to soft for construction, it may be good for pulp wood or it may have some tonal qualities for stringed instruments?

 

[RobS.]

I always heard it was only good for craft projects like plaques or boxes. There were at least 3 plantations around here, one just south of my house. None of them seemed to have panned out. In fact the one down from me was cut several years ago but they did not harvest the wood. I never considered planting any. I would not plant something like that without knowing first where I might sell it.
I'm still considering planting an acre or 2 of Christmas trees. I'm thinking of a small pick and cut live tree operation.

 

[bert]

The North Carolina Agricultural Research Station in Rockingham County (Upper Piedmont Station) planted a small grove about 20 years or so ago. Although I havent driven by there in the last few months and cant say for sure, the last time I went by they had not done any harvesting. But a phone call to 336-349-8347 might get you some more information.

Bert

 

[zapdafish]

would they be good carving blanks like basswood?

 

[CrealBilly]

The North Carolina Agricultural Research Station in Rockingham County (Upper Piedmont Station) planted a small grove about 20 years or so ago. Although I havent driven by there in the last few months and cant say for sure, the last time I went by they had not done any harvesting. But a phone call to 336-349-8347 might get you some more information.

Bert

There's also a small patch the Agricultural Research Station in Granville county planted. The paulownia trees are located on the oxford loop (RT 15) across the road from that new credit union they built. They sure do grow fast, they ain't been there about 6 years and are pretty tall and fat. Like I said I don't believe there is much commercial value in paulownia logs or lumber but I could be all wet too - it's happened before, just ask the wife, she'll tell you about every time I was wrong :gar-La;.

Doing a little google'in - I found this company ---> http://www.worldpaulownia.com/html/paulownia_faq.html#Market

Looking at the FAQ's I found the following

• If I plant several acres of Paulownia, where is the market?
  If you purchase seedlings from WPI the company will enter into a contract to buy back your trees. If you are not in the Southeast Georgia area we can assist you in organizing the harvest along with a purchaser, this is applicable for 10 acres or more only.

You might want to call them and get the low down... It would be nice if you had the logs sold before you even put saplings in the ground. I'm really curious how much they will "buy back your trees" for. Please let us know how much, if you decide to call them.

If you poke around on the website, you find pictures of the stuff they make with their paulownia. They do have some pics of the lumber too, take note just how wide the growth rings are - it's a crazy fast growing tree.

 

[CrealBilly]

Here is some more info that might be right up your alley - Although I personally think 2004 Paulownia stumpage pices of $2.00 ~ $10.00 per BF Doyle scale shown in the "The Smith Family" example is crazy... Remember stumpage is what's paid to the land owner by the logging company for the trees. But what do I know? obviously not much because I'm not a associate professor forestry or let alone a professor forestry like the two guys that wrote this publication.

One thing I did learn by reading the publication, Paulownia sawtimber is graded not only based on defects (limbs) but also on growth rings per inch. That makes it even tougher to make a good grade, I guess you would almost need to starve those Paulownia trees for several decades, to make the A1 top grade of 20+" diameter with at least 8 growth rings per inch - See page 20 ---> http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1465.pdf

Thanks for the oportunity to learn a little about Paulownia logs and timber, I enjoyed doing the research and learned a lot.

Good luck with whatever you decide on doing and keep us informed on the Paulownia market, prices, etc...

 

[pgellers]

I've enjoyed this post! I have two different perspectives on this....First, as a forester in North Carolina I would definitely discourage planting Royal Paulownia due to its highly invasive nature. Like many of the exotic plant species from Asia (think tree-of-heaven, kudzu, stilt grass, many privets, honeysuckle....etc etc), Paulownia really does well here. Too well. It quickly reaches maturity and is a prolific seed producer. I would always recommend planting a native tree species that is well suited to the soil and other site factors.

On the flip side, my father, who is a amateur woodworker and luthier, recently made an open-back banjo with a Paulownia neck for a fun sort of experiment. It actually sounds great and works very well. The wood is surprisingly stiff and strong for its weight and was suitable for this application (this banjo has nylon, not steel strings). And while the wood is no sugar maple for hardness, it's not balsa wood either.

Here's a link...the Paulownia banjo is the first one shown - the second one has a more conventional mahogany neck:

http://blueridgeluthiers.com/Meeting%20110313.html

Two different perspectives on the same tree! Paul