Rod Laurence has been growing Paulownia trees near Hamilton for about 30 years. The timber produced from paulownia has long been in demand for specialist applications due to its unique qualities (https://www.nzffa.org.nz/specialty-timber-market/showcase/paulownia/).
Rod’s plantation was hit by storm damage recently, leaving him with a lot of wood-fall to clean up. This lead to a busy day of biochar production … just the 2nd run in a new WarmHeart 2000L flame cap kiln (search “warmheart” for other posts on this kiln).
Paulownia bark & leaves are ‘animal ice-cream’ but it also produces a very interesting biochar and is very easy to process (rocket fuel). Rod will have pawlownia biochar available for clients soon. Do get in touch if you want to connect with him.