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I planted one of these trees a few years ago and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I can't get over how absolutely huge the leaves get. A lot of people hate the

I planted one of these trees a few years ago and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I can't get over how absolutely huge the leaves get. A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds.

ksec 7y ago
>A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds. I reread the article and I see no mention of it?
- Maximus9000 7y ago
  It's in a caption of one of the images: > "After the first year of growth, trees are cut down to the stump, the rest sold for timber. This process, called coppicing, promotes bigger and straighter growth the following year."
  - nashashmi 7y ago
    That should be a method of carbon sequestration.
- olliej 7y ago
  They mention it’s “easy to regrow from the stump” what that means is cutting it down doesn’t kill it. Additionally many trees that easily regrow from a cut stump also regrow/produce new tree from their roots. Seems like a recipe for an invasive plant (much like those awful pear trees the were used for landscaping)
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    It also seems handy for growing timber. There seems to be a growing market for it too. https://thisnzlife.co.nz/how-a-small-waikato-farm-harnesses-the-power-of-paulownia-the-fastest-growing-tree-in-the-world/ https://thisnzlife.co.nz/how-a-small-waikato-farm-harnesses-...
  - olliej 7y ago
    After one research it seems like only one variant of Paulownia is "invasive" - as in super aggressively spreading, but it does make me wonder if have acres and acres filled with them will result in some mutant offspring developing the super aggressive spread that the species is clearly capable of. Very much like what happened with that invasive pear [1] [1] I dug up the article https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-we-turned-the-bradford-pear-into-a-monster/2018/09/14/f29c8f68-91b6-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html?utm_term=.5c4ec3628ee1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-we-tur...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- throwaway542134 7y ago
  This page has a good overview: http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/paulownia-tomentosa http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/paulownia-tomento... >...its ability to sprout prolifically from adventitious buds on stems and roots allows it to survive fire, cutting and even bulldozing in construction areas; making it difficult to remove from established areas. >... > Cutting or girdling trees with power or manual saws are effective at preventing seed production, but an herbicide treatment is necessary following cutting since Paulownia readily re-sprouts. Hand pulling may be effective for young seedlings. Plants should be pulled as soon as they are large enough to grasp. Seedlings are best pulled after a rain when the soil is loose. The entire root must be removed since broken fragments may re-sprout. Cutting or pulling is the preferred mechanical treatments of the Paulownia tormentosa; do not use fire because this species is able to survive fire and then quickly proliferates and out-competes native tree species post-fire.
LeoPanthera 7y ago
> you can't kill them If you're trying to do carbon capture, maybe this is a feature? Assume you mean that literally, and you can just chop one down and another will grow in its place, that's pretty great, since trees only capture carbon when they are growing.
- CyanBird 7y ago
  That's exactly what they say in the article, if you cut the tree down, another will grow from the stump, they are quite literally grass-trees And yeah, this is actually a huge bonus for carbon capture!
  - nashashmi 7y ago
    Then it will be great to constantly log them down and sell them as carbon credit.
    - tylerhou 7y ago
      To sell them as carbon credits, you’d have to bury the logs or something — otherwise they might burn, or their mass would be absorbed by other animals/fungi/bacteria which would eventually convert the carbon into CO2.
      - LeoPanthera 7y ago
        I beleive the traditional solution is to turn them into furniture. Or houses! Building with farmed wood is very eco friendly since it produces a negative amount of CO2.
        bufferoverflow 7y ago
        That just delays the CO2 release. Furniture breaks. Houses get old and get demolished. Even if it takes 100 or 500 years, it will happen. You need to store wood long-term somehow. Or burn it and store CO2 underground, turning it into rock.
sp332 7y ago
All I remember about empress trees is the extremely strong smell of the flowers. Not very pleasant, to me.
georgestephanis 7y ago
Yup. Looks like they're often classified "invasive" -- http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on...
homonculus1 7y ago
Huge leaves creep me out for some reason. I think it's because small leaves are normal in my region--I associate big ones with tropical regions, rainforests, jungles, etc. When I see a fast-growing tree with a narrow stalk and big leaves, it can't hurt me of course, but it vaguely arouses the same disgust as a parasite or fungus.
marchenko 7y ago
They are beautiful, grow absolutely huge at maturity, and produce lovely (enormous) bluish-purple flowers. The leaves are comically huge, and the seed casings form a sort of organic baby rattle. It's wild.

ksec 7y ago

>A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds. I reread the article and I see no mention of it?

Maximus9000 7y ago
It's in a caption of one of the images: > "After the first year of growth, trees are cut down to the stump, the rest sold for timber. This process, called coppicing, promotes bigger and straighter growth the following year."
- nashashmi 7y ago
  That should be a method of carbon sequestration.
olliej 7y ago
They mention it’s “easy to regrow from the stump” what that means is cutting it down doesn’t kill it. Additionally many trees that easily regrow from a cut stump also regrow/produce new tree from their roots. Seems like a recipe for an invasive plant (much like those awful pear trees the were used for landscaping)
- lostlogin 7y ago
  It also seems handy for growing timber. There seems to be a growing market for it too. https://thisnzlife.co.nz/how-a-small-waikato-farm-harnesses-the-power-of-paulownia-the-fastest-growing-tree-in-the-world/ https://thisnzlife.co.nz/how-a-small-waikato-farm-harnesses-...
- olliej 7y ago
  After one research it seems like only one variant of Paulownia is "invasive" - as in super aggressively spreading, but it does make me wonder if have acres and acres filled with them will result in some mutant offspring developing the super aggressive spread that the species is clearly capable of. Very much like what happened with that invasive pear [1] [1] I dug up the article https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-we-turned-the-bradford-pear-into-a-monster/2018/09/14/f29c8f68-91b6-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html?utm_term=.5c4ec3628ee1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-we-tur...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
throwaway542134 7y ago
This page has a good overview: http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/paulownia-tomentosa http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/paulownia-tomento... >...its ability to sprout prolifically from adventitious buds on stems and roots allows it to survive fire, cutting and even bulldozing in construction areas; making it difficult to remove from established areas. >... > Cutting or girdling trees with power or manual saws are effective at preventing seed production, but an herbicide treatment is necessary following cutting since Paulownia readily re-sprouts. Hand pulling may be effective for young seedlings. Plants should be pulled as soon as they are large enough to grasp. Seedlings are best pulled after a rain when the soil is loose. The entire root must be removed since broken fragments may re-sprout. Cutting or pulling is the preferred mechanical treatments of the Paulownia tormentosa; do not use fire because this species is able to survive fire and then quickly proliferates and out-competes native tree species post-fire.

LeoPanthera 7y ago

> you can't kill them If you're trying to do carbon capture, maybe this is a feature? Assume you mean that literally, and you can just chop one down and another will grow in its place, that's pretty great, since trees only capture carbon when they are growing.

CyanBird 7y ago
That's exactly what they say in the article, if you cut the tree down, another will grow from the stump, they are quite literally grass-trees And yeah, this is actually a huge bonus for carbon capture!
- nashashmi 7y ago
  Then it will be great to constantly log them down and sell them as carbon credit.
  - tylerhou 7y ago
    To sell them as carbon credits, you’d have to bury the logs or something — otherwise they might burn, or their mass would be absorbed by other animals/fungi/bacteria which would eventually convert the carbon into CO2.
    - LeoPanthera 7y ago
      I beleive the traditional solution is to turn them into furniture. Or houses! Building with farmed wood is very eco friendly since it produces a negative amount of CO2.
      - bufferoverflow 7y ago
        That just delays the CO2 release. Furniture breaks. Houses get old and get demolished. Even if it takes 100 or 500 years, it will happen. You need to store wood long-term somehow. Or burn it and store CO2 underground, turning it into rock.

sp332 7y ago

All I remember about empress trees is the extremely strong smell of the flowers. Not very pleasant, to me.

georgestephanis 7y ago

Yup. Looks like they're often classified "invasive" -- http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on...

homonculus1 7y ago

Huge leaves creep me out for some reason. I think it's because small leaves are normal in my region--I associate big ones with tropical regions, rainforests, jungles, etc. When I see a fast-growing tree with a narrow stalk and big leaves, it can't hurt me of course, but it vaguely arouses the same disgust as a parasite or fungus.

marchenko 7y ago

They are beautiful, grow absolutely huge at maturity, and produce lovely (enormous) bluish-purple flowers. The leaves are comically huge, and the seed casings form a sort of organic baby rattle. It's wild.