POLLARDING TREES

Nods.

I prefer the natural look.

Edit: I love to see the wonderful fractal shapes of a tree without leaves. Pollarding screws that up, IMO.

how bout pawlonias, since Oz is now the biggest grower of them. Does one violate the trees lumberness by pollardization ?

I'll just cringe and leave you to the googleing.

Wrong Dad.

oops sorry, Dapad is the Ozzian tree guy.

I've no idea if it is good or bad for the tree. I just hate the look (will have to look at green witch's link). Mulberries are, or were, blamed for bringing allergies to desert areas like Arizona and Riverside County in CA. In Hemet, they were planted in narrow parking strips, when if let grow naturally, they'd be more appropriate in a more expansive planting bed, given one chose to plant them.
On top of being allergenic and planted in a small tree well, they looked like hell for many months of the year, sort of like a row of gnawed on chicken drumsticks.

To explain my post about Cal Berkeley, they had a lot of pollarded sycamores. Nearly makes me weep.

I think Ive been convinced that pollarding (to Pollard) really sucks. I dont want to raise a herd of Baobab looking trees so Im not gonna do anything but lightly prune the leafing branches but try to retain the "treeness" of the PAwlonia. K?

K!!

I'm a little late to the party but I have heard mention of coppicing with pawlonia. coppicing means cutting the main trunk off at ground level. in general however I would disagree with this method for a timber tree. I think this started because in the first year or two in prepared well fetilised soils the crown can outgrow the support available from the rootballs thus (sometimes) causing the tree to lean especially in windy conditions.

lemme see what else i can come up with.

Northern rivers private forestry group have a good reputation

Young trees (the first years growth) can be cut to ground level in spring to encourage coppicing if the stem is even marginally unsatisfactory. This results in straighter, better formed stems.
My notes
Only coppice if the stems are unsatisfactory. Cut back the unsatisfactory stem(s) in late winter before bud burst to about 3 inches above the ground several new shoots will form, later you will be able to select the straightest leader to grow on and remove the other shoots

Paulownia trees are generally pruned (removal of lateral branches) to produce a knot free butt log. This is carried out in the second and third years to a height of between 4 to 6 metres. Pruning should not be too heavy so that the rate of growth is maintained. Pruning increases the wood quality and value of the timber. Pruning is carried out throughout the growing season as new branches emerge

Reference material
http://www.cropdevelopment.org/paulownia/Brochure.pdf
http://www.privateforestry.org.au/paul.htm


My question to you is who will do the 6 meter pruning?

During winter dormancy, the tip tends to die - more commonly in P. elongata than in P. fortunei, and more commonly in areas with winter frosts. When growth resumes in spring, new side shoots develop below the tip. Various pruning techniques can be used to encourage one of the new season's shoots to grow vertically and continue to extend the trunk length. A long, straight trunk free of side branches, is needed to produce high quality, knot-free logs suitable for veneers and joinery.

Coppice method of forming straight trunks.
...is to plant seedlings or cuttings in the field at the required final spacing, allow them to grow for one or two years to establish their roots, then cut them back close to ground level in winter, when dormant. In spring, vigorous new shoots appear from the coppiced stump. The best new shoot is retained, to produce a single, tall, straight stem. In this method, the tree's established root system supports the rapid regrowth of the selected stem.

Trees which grow poorly, have poor form, or are damaged, can be coppiced again (in winter) until a tall, straight stem is produced.

Large (thats a reletive term) amounts of NPK fertiliser are needed for young trees, to produce rapid growth and a tall, straight stem in the early years. Once established, the trees may need less fertiliser, depending on the fertility of the site and the desired growth rate. Minor elements may need to be applied.

REF http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/content/LWE/VEGT/TREES/TREENOTE9.HTM#sil

BTW there is a world of difference between pollarding and coppicing.

Pollarding refers to cutting a mature tree at (usually) chest height. It was often used to keep fodder trees low enough for stock to access the leaves.

Coppicing referes to cutting the tree at ground level and regrowing shoots from the old stump.

It's contrary to the laws of evolution. End of story.

Anybody who thinks otherwise is operating the Biblical dictum that man has dominion over nature which is a sufficient inspiration for science if ever one jumped out of the sea and down your trouser front biting your dick.

A great deal of the Bible is story-telling, man's greatest art because without stories, and stories good enough to be listened too, we all start out from square one without the benefit of the recorded experience of others. So the Bible is spiced up in order to render the audience gobsmacked. I have seen thousands of miracles in movie story-telling. Like when John Wayne ran through a hail of machine-gun fire and wiped out the source of it despite there being half a dozen enemy all firing the latest kit aimed directly at his chest from close quarters. Walking on water has nothing on that.

And plenty of movies are bloodthirsty.

As long as the message gets over is all that matters. Man has dominion over nature and the American male is heroic respectively. Without the aid of smart bombs fired from an underground bunker somewhere over the horizon. And the American male believed that. Still does it seems.

Man has dominion over nature inspired science and the American male is heroic inspires tittering.

Pollard those innocent trees at your peril effemm. Is it the same outreach of the ego that also wishes to control education which, with religion in the background, offers a host of choices whereas strict science offers no choices? It is fact bound.

One has to admire Green Witches taste in control techniques. Beta minus I would say. Fancy suggesting that effemm might be seeking to create a bush like effect.

Thanks dadpad. I think that Im gonna do neither. To recount, Im gonna plant some PAwlonias in a bare field and I was looking for a way to keep the damn trees from getting all gnarly looking. A neighbor suggested pollarding and I asked for advice from the tree savvy guys here. You seem to make the cirxcle complete and Ive learned a lot in the techniques to keep trunks straigh. We have a lot of volunteer PAwlonia around hiays and they all look like hell escpet for the brief time (around Mothers day (fist weekend in MAY) when they all bloom with their grape hyacinth like flowers).

Ive had one tree from which Ive gotten seed and other little trees. Ive replanted several in a random expanse in a field so they get more dense looking and(I thought) by sort of crowding, Id force them to grow straighter.

ooooeeeww!! How aesthetic.

Planting at a density of 1200 stems per ha (3 m row spacing and 2 m tree spacing will encorage straight trunks, however you will need to thin out trees progressivly as they grow most probably at end year 2. Thining down to around 500 stems per ha would give you about the right stocking rate. this will remove most of the bent stems leaving the straightest to grow on.
Alternativly planting at your final stocking of 500 stems then coppicing at ground level at end of year 1 will probably save labour and money. The root systems will be established and provide the power for the crown to grow tall and straight very quickly.
Pawlonia will be unsaleable and probably unuseable if not pruned as they grow due to defects (knots) caused by the branches.

I would recomend that you purchase vegetative cuttings that have been selected for straight stems and fast growth rather than grow from seed.

My adventures with Pawlonia isnt to grow board feet but to make stuff . SO , If I can get some sections of 6' long, Ill be ok. Actually the big reason for growing PAwlonia is to provide quick shade for growing an understory of ginseng plants (Ginseng needs dappled shade). Also, Im growing a small plot to act as a visual screen towards a new "Grossdawdy" house that was built by my Amish neighbor as a residence for his parents.