Never heard of it, and that's saying something. Looked it up and it has leaves similar to a catalpa.
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
We just broke ground on a new place with a little over an acre lot. I've been researching some shade tree varieties to plant around the place and discovered the Royal Empress Tree. It's a hard wood that grows 15 feet the first year and up to another 30 the second. Some varieties are invasive so you'd want to be careful but if you had enough room to plant several, it seems like it might be a way to keep a good stock of hardwood trees for sinking. Anyone know if these have ever been tried out for this?
Last edited by Achiro; 08-09-2017 at 07:07 PM.
Never heard of it, and that's saying something. Looked it up and it has leaves similar to a catalpa.
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
Proud Member of Team Geezer!
I've grown them for their big clusters of purple blooms and huge leaves on first year growth. Not a real dense tree . They do grow really fast so I would think that the wood ought to be pretty soft and not conducive to a pile that would hold up for long.
Everything I've read says it's considered a hardwood.
Since you've grown them maybe you can answer this. Do they have a lot of roots that grow above the surface(like a maple) or would tear up a driveway?
If you decide to get this tree please order from a reputable company like fast-growing-trees.com. They offer a sterile version of the tree. Don’t know if it is a hardwood or not but with a little over an acre how much crappie castles, as my boy would call them, do you expect to harvest from this amount of property??? I always found it out easier cutting and transporting close to lake. I tore my hydro-turf up on my boat transporting stake beds and oak buckets from my house 15 miles to the lake. Easiest solution is find wood close to lake, cut and tie it to a brick, cinder block or rip rap rock. Zip ties help out in this. Also best to sink brush green as possible. Don’t want to sink dead stuff.
Last edited by DrNip; 08-10-2017 at 07:26 PM.
Crappie ciller LIKED above post
Here is some information on the tree. Don’t think you need to worry about root system as you need to worry about non-sterile trees than can produce tens of thousands of seeds which take over a property.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fast-growing-trees.com/blog/royal-empress-trees-invasive-heres/amp/
The roots weren't shallow like a silver maple. I never got to the seed stage with mine so I can't comment on the invasive aspects of the tree.