Paulownia tomentosa

Hi All,
I hope you are well.
I have 4 of these trees unfortunately the 4th one is not doing very well.
I want to plant these 3 tree and not sure where to start.
The trees are well over 1 meter now and I believe need some maintenance.
Please can you provide some advise.

I am based in East Midlands, UK.
Thank you

 

Are you intending them to be pollarded eventually, or grown as full sized trees.

Either way, you can just plant them out for the time being.

 

Our main one is one that we cut right back in March and allow the new growth (5) to grow that year. We then have those enormous leaves that are lovely to touch. So silky. We have 2 others that we allow to grow into trees and this year after only 3 years they have flowered. Lovely plant and yes get it out of the pots they want to be in the ground.

 

Any special treatment or just dig decent holes and put them in there?
Any nutrients(fertilizer), should I get a better soil in place?

I have chosen Paulownia because it grows quickly and can give me more privacy by covering the view.
I think I would have to prune it at some point to give it a desired shape but it can grow vertically as much as it wants.

 

Depends on your soil, they are tough plants/trees so I think they will probably grow in most soils as long as its not too bad.

 

They are a fast growing, beautiful tree in flower.
Plant asap .
The advise nowadays is not to spoil young trees by preparing the soil/adding fertiliser.
That way the roots grow into the surrounding soil rather than going in circles in a special nutrient rich planting hole.
No need to prune.
They do it all naturally, without any interference from humans.

 

I was talking with an exhibitor at Royal Welsh show the other week who was promoting growing various trees for biomass. Amongst them was pawlonia! He had a sample plant to show farmers but didn't know how beautifully they flower. They were also suggesting robinia, eucalyptus (though the nasty frost Dec22 showed its vulnerability), and miscanthus.