# Paulownia tree



## Eduardo Gomes

This exotic species and poorly known in Portugal was authorized its planting by portuguese official entities.

The information I need to know is whether the species has an interest in dramatically increasing the production of honey in order to make decisions about its planting. Thank you in advance.


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## Michael Bush

I have no personal experience, but I have done some research. Some of these are sold as being cuttings from sterile stock whose seeds will not germinate. In that case they are not so invasive though they still grow new trees from the roots and can be hard to get rid of if you decide you don't want them. But they are not nearly as invasive as the ones with fertile seeds. They apparently are not cold tolerant enough for my climate, but may be for yours. They apparently grow at an unprecedented rate compared to any other tree. Like a newly planted sapling growing 15 feet the first year. They sell for high prices for lumber here in the US.


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## Eduardo Gomes

Thank you Michael Bush. As far as I know in my country we can only plant the stock whose seeds will not germinate in order to prevent their uncontrolled proliferation.


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## RayMarler

I found this link...

http://www.paulowniatrees.com/html/orn.html

From the second paragraph...

"The Americana Elongata species is unsurpassed in beauty and growth. They will flower in year three with loads of fragrant, vanilla like blooms that are lightly lavender in color with yellow throats. Honeybees will come from miles around to make honey of the blossoms. Blooms last 4 to 5 weeks"

The article does not say anything about honey flows, but it does bloom in year three and draws bees to it.


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## RayMarler

I'm so glad to see this thread, I'm going to get some of these to plant as shade trees around my house and yards!


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## c-bees

There are more than enough reasons to grow these trees. Shade, nectar, the protein content of the huge leaves (for animal feed), the value of the lumber, etc...

You can harvest them in one third the time pine trees take to mature, and you get triple what pine gets per board foot. And you don't have to tear out the stumps to re-plant, you can cut them down to ground level and the root system will just send up a new tree.


I started a handful of seeds in moist sphagnum moss and germinated literally hundreds of them, way more than I could plant. And yeah, the bees work them. 

If anyone wants an envelope of seeds, pm me your mailing address.......


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## Slow Drone

We have a lot of Paulownia in middle TN. Yep the bees sure do like them but they bloom at a time everything else is blooming so can't tell you much about the nectar. Just so you know the Japanese love Paulownia wood that's who the locals around here sold all their wood to.


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## Eduardo Gomes

Slow Drone said:


> We have a lot of Paulownia in middle TN. Yep the bees sure do like them but they bloom at a time everything else is blooming so can't tell you much about the nectar. Just so you know the Japanese love Paulownia wood that's who the locals around here sold all their wood to.


Slow Drone I do not know if these data are credible but here they are:
"The flowers are highly popular with honey-making bees. Being a good honey-bearing tree, it produces more honey than acacia (1200-1500 kg / ha)." source http://www.paulowniaeuropa.ro/en/why_paulownia.html

"It is a good tree melliferous, being more prolifically than the acacia in the production of honey,
the flowers are very appreciated by the bees for the production of honey, which is flavored, light
coloured, of about 700-1000 kg of honey / ha, (a single hive producing 10-15 kg of honey of
highest qualityduring the flowering season,compared to that of acacia). " source http://annals.fih.upt.ro/pdf-full/2016/ANNALS-2016-4-11.pdf


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## Kuro

Apparently beekeepers in the Henan province in central China make Paulownia honey (桐花蜂蜜). 
https://world.taobao.com/item/54952...ain&ft=t&spm=a21m2.10192351.0.0.56f8d679JZHmM


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## Slow Drone

Eduardo Gomes said:


> Slow Drone I do not know if these data are credible but here they are:
> "The flowers are highly popular with honey-making bees. Being a good honey-bearing tree, it produces more honey than acacia (1200-1500 kg / ha)." source http://www.paulowniaeuropa.ro/en/why_paulownia.html
> 
> "It is a good tree melliferous, being more prolifically than the acacia in the production of honey,
> the flowers are very appreciated by the bees for the production of honey, which is flavored, light
> coloured, of about 700-1000 kg of honey / ha, (a single hive producing 10-15 kg of honey of
> highest qualityduring the flowering season,compared to that of acacia). " source http://annals.fih.upt.ro/pdf-full/2016/ANNALS-2016-4-11.pdf


Thanks for the info Eduardo!


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## Beebeard

After a few years in the sawmill industry and now an arborist, I can tell you that "high value" paulownia lumber is a bit of a misnomer. Its an incredibly fast growing tree with astounding harvest intervals, but the fast growing trees are no where near the value of the slow growing ones found in a forest environment. Paulownia is graded largely by ring count: narrower growth rings=higher value. Most plantation grown ones are grown for pulp and fiber and are worthless to higher end wood products. 
We have some here, but as stated, they bloom with everything else during the main flow.


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## c-bees

Beebeard said:


> After a few years in the sawmill industry and now an arborist, I can tell you that "high value" paulownia lumber is a bit of a misnomer. Its an incredibly fast growing tree with astounding harvest intervals, but the fast growing trees are no where near the value of the slow growing ones found in a forest environment. Paulownia is graded largely by ring count: narrower growth rings=higher value. Most plantation grown ones are grown for pulp and fiber and are worthless to higher end wood products.
> We have some here, but as stated, they bloom with everything else during the main flow.


Interesting. I have read that wild-grown Paulownia are even more valuable than plantation-grown Paulownia. But how would you compare plantation-grown pine with plantation-grown Paulownia, just from a financial standpoint? 

Seems like some folks know how to make money with them:

*Paulownia trees are the new tree plantation tree, particuarily the fast growing paulownia clones that are used for timber, land reclamation, biomass, poles and pulp. Paulownia trees harvested at 100 board feet each typically bring in about $45,000 wholesale and $90,000 retail per acre. *

https://www.treeplantation.com/paulownia.html


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## Beebeard

Plantation production of timber is basically the same as any other form of industrial agriculture. When choosing a crop to grow, the farmer has to consider soil, water, climate, processing equipment, and market. Tree farming is a bit different in that harvest intervals come into play that don't exist for corn and soybeans, but market forces are similar in most other respects. 
Comparing them to pine is a bit of an apples and oranges, as the end products for a hardwood species and a softwood species are different. Manufacturing needs both, but for different reasons. I did spend some time in the southern pine plantations and the VERY few mentions of paulownia plantation production had them going for paper pulp only. I'm not as in tune with the lumber markets as I was when I was buying timber, but I'm just not aware of much of a paulownia specific market.
Tree farms have to anticipate the markets years in advance. The hot ticket item this year with promises of huge profits per acre may be all dried up by the time the trees that were supposed to grow the money leaves are ready for harvest. This happened big time in my area with poplar. During the housing bubble the prices skyrocketed. Housing market crashed, demand disappeared over night. I personally know one logging firm that lost 85k on a contract for standing timber. Markets fluctuate, trees don't so much. Your source gives a price, but the page content is from 2000, and there really isn't any source given for those numbers. You can find current stumpage prices for standing timber from various state and industry organizations, but its usually split between pine and mixed hardwood. Hardwood commands higher prices most of the time, and paulownia gets tossed in the hardwood mix.
Digression from honeybee talk aside, planting a few in your yard for your bees will give you and the bees some good forage trees really quick. It will also give your neighbors lots of trees really quick too.


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## Chi

great wood for surfboards!


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## max2

Paulownia ( non- seeding type) are grown around here.
It is a very fast growing tree from root cuttings - I have seen 21 feet in 11 months!
The bees do like them and do work them. A mild honey - pleasant.
As a lumber tree it has been a failure here. The timber is very soft and feature-less. One reason maybe the acid soils here - I'm told it prefers more lime.

Cattle love the leaves.


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## beepro

I like to try it too but was afraid of the invasive seedlings all over.
Would be nice to have some non-seed type to try. Too bad we don't have
it here.


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