Hello, my first post on Gardenweb. On my property there are many wild apple trees, but a couple years ago I decided to plant an orchard of known cultivars. Then last year I got into rare and exotic fruits. One of which was the pawpaw. I planted about 30 small trees last year, and another 30 this year. Generally they are all doing well, I have only lost one tree, a Rappahannock. Fastest growers are the Pennsylvania Golden and the Overleese. One of my PAG's just passed 5 feet tall. I have found that you never want to take a Pawpaw that leafed out under low light conditions, and plant it in full sun. If the tree leafed out in full sun, then it can handle it. I water them quite a lot, which seems to make them grow faster, and resist large amounts of sunlight. Like Ken said, the taproot is very sensitive, but a good healthy taproot will make the tree much resistant to less than ideal conditions. When I dug the holes to plant the trees, I bored out a 3 foot by 4" diameter hole down the center and filled it with topsoil. This gives the taproot a big boost to grow deep. I mulch around the trees with grass clippings, and they seem to like this. Maybe next year I will get some fruit.

Dancinglemons, you've got mail~ Rain2Fall, I know there are a couple of places that mail order pawpaws, though I'm not remembering who they are right now. I've been to the websites in the past...Maybe since your in Oregon you could visit the One Green World nursery and see if they have fruit to sample. Alexander3, I ordered from Forrest Keeling Nursery. I'm not sure what their policy is on Peterson pawpaws, as I was on Neal Petersons waiting list he sent to the 2 nurseries, and I am a gardener as my profession so that might have gotten me in the door. They say they are wholesale except for pickup orders. I've eaten a number of early ripe stage pawpaws since my first post, and they are all delicious, especially cold. I cut them in half, spoon out the pulp, and spit out the seeds. The only bitterness I notice is when I squeeze the last of the pulp from the skin.

It should be showing growth by now. Unfortunately the graft may have died but it may very well send up sprouts from below ground so you may leave it and see a while longer. Of course if it grows from below the graft it will not be shenandoah but it still "may" produce good fruit. Grafted named trees are the best because you know they will have good quality fruits. Seedlings are like a crap shoot and you will not know the quality of the fruits for many years. Many wild pawpaws are nasty tasting - even a few named varieties are not all that great.

Nice pictures, Sherry! He/she is absolutely beautiful. Zebras are my favorite butterfly. I've always loved red and black together. The red on the butterfly really sets it off. I also love the extra long tails on that kind of butterfly. Ever since I've seen pictures of it online and in my butterfly guides, I've wanted to get the Zebra Swallowtail here. As I said in another thread, several years ago I had ordered two paw paw trees online. I don't think they ever were alive from the time I got them. I had the same thing happen again with more that I ordered, so I gave up on buying them from people. I think small ones in pots would be okay, but I'm leery about the bareroot ones. I had also tried to start them from seed a few years ago, but I hadn't done my homework and didn't know that they needed shade the first couple of years. They came up and were a few inches high but then died. After I found out that they should have been in shade, I knew that's what killed them. A friend saw that someone had seeds for sale online last year and so I decided to give it another shot and planted some that I can plant out in the backyard. They're about half a foot tall, and they're getting planted next month. I've never seen a Zebra Swallowtail here or anywhere else as far as I know (unless I saw one before I got into butterflies and just didn't know what it was at the time). None have been reported for my county. I was told that they hang out around the river several counties away. If only I could make a trail of paw paw trees from there to here! I sure hope that I'll be able to attract them here sometime. We live fairly close to a creek, so I'm hoping that will help. Do you have a body of water right near where you are? I think you mentioned that you only have one or two paw paw trees, didn't you? You said you're going to try to raise them again. Do you have any type of strategy? I didn't know if you'd try a different method. I'm still baffled over why I have so many GSTs die when I feed them rue. The eggs get laid on those plants, so it's not like I switched them from one kind of host plant to another. I want to try raising them on wafer ash some year. Right now my couple of trees are in flower pots and are only a few inches high, so I think it will be quite some time before I can feed them wafer ash leaves. I even thought about moving them to a more open location instead of keeping them in small storage containers. If I had potted plants of rue, I could sit them in my butterfly cage and see if that makes a difference. Rue has a pungent odor, and so I was thinking maybe they can't stand that in a pretty tight space. I figure it's worth a try to raise them in a more open space. So I didn't know if you were going to try something different with your Zebras. I certainly hope that they do well this year for you. Cathy