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Nathalie tree farmer ships load to Japan
Friday, June 15, 2007 8:17 AM EDT
Thursday morning marked a momentous occasion at Maynard Rudder’s Paulownia Plantation as the northern Halifax County tree farmer watched workers from Dickey Seed International (DSI) load the mature 12-year-old trees onto a trailer for shipment to Japan.
The container load of logs represents the first trees harvested from Rudder’s acreage and will become the first plantation grown trees of this species to be shipped overseas from the United States, according to Rudder.
Located on a patch of land on Bull Creek Road, just off Highway 40 in the northern portion of Halifax County, Rudder’s Paulownia Plantation was established at a time when native grown Paulownia logs were fetching some of the highest prices of any timber grown in America.
Rudder said he planted the trees in the early 1990s recognizing that it is one of the fastest growing timbers in the world.
Little did he know that his trees would become the first shipment of Virginia grown Paulownia logs to make its way overseas.
Jack Dickie, President of Dickie Seed International (DSI) based in Rome, GA, was on hand for the historic event taking place Thursday morning at Rudder’s Nathalie farm.
“This shipping container load of logs is headed to M. Hasegawa and Company, LTD of Koto—ku, Tokyo, Japan,” Dickey said.
During a meeting with Hasegawa’s president earlier this year in California, Dickie said he learned the Japanese are interested in having Paulownia grown in the Americas for making high-grade plywood.
Hasegawa, one of Japan’s largest wood use companies, is presently planting a 300 to 500 acre “demonstration plot” in Hawaii, which is a little closer to home for them, he explained.
“Before the Japanese get fully into production planting, they want to try out their “state-of-the-art” plywood mill on some American grown Paulownia…hence today’s shipment of Paulownia logs from the farm of Mr. Maynard Rudder of Halifax County,” Dickey added.
Like most of the Paulownia growers in the USA, Rudder is a member of the American Paulownia Association, and he is hopeful that his load of wood being sent to Japan for the making of some sample Paulownia plywood will expand the marketability of plantation grown Paulownia.
According to Forester Robert E. Edney, who also attended the tree loading at Rudder’s farm Thursday morning, Paulownia trees were first brought into the United States and planted on three acres in Polk County, NC in April 1979.
The history of Paulownia dates back some 2,600 years in China and since that time, various species of the tree have been cultivated and utilized.
“Today, China has several million acres of Paulownia, and large industries depend on the wood,” Edney said.
Paulownia tomentosa trees are highly prized by the Japanese and have been exported to Japan for the past 30 years, he continued.
During the 1970s, Edney said he sold quality logs to the Japanese and first became acquainted with principals of small Japanese importing companies.
“They approached me with the idea of planting a faster growing species, Paulownia elongata var. kokonoe. We set some three acres of this using large bare root seedlings,” he said.
The tree grew rapidly and 10 years later were large enough for saw timber and logs.
In 1994, Edney said he was approached by Scott Corbett from Australia and New Zealand with the idea of making some plywood from my trees. Corbett also made the trees into lumber which was used for furniture and crown molding.
Corbett was the man who sold Rudder his Paulownia seedlings which were being loaded onto a trailer Thursday for sale to the Japanese company to be made into plywood.
“If the plywood tests are successful from the Rudder trees, the Japanese may want to grow their own Paulownia trees for plywood,” the forester said.
Currently in the United States, there is no use for Paulownia wood “simply because not enough trees are available,” Edney explained.
“For instance, to supply a large plywood operation, at least 20,000 acres of 10 year old trees within a 50 mile radius of the plant would be required.”
Other possible future uses include crown molding and furniture that can be made using just a few hundred acres located in a single Virginia county to supply such an operation.
“I would like to point out that this tree will not replace our native hardwoods nor our tobacco; however, it is very large in China and currently is being planted in many parts of the world.
“A tree that will produce usable wood in a 10 year or less period is bound to become important,” Edney declared.
“It is hoped that through pioneers like Mr. Rudder and other members of the American Paulownia Association that interest will be stimulated,” the local forester concluded.
With the current interest of the Japanese, American-produced plantation Paulownia for plywood can certainly become a reality, Rudder believes.
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