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Fruit & Orchards

Another Paw Paw question

16 years ago

At the nursery today I saw some lovely and healthy paw paw trees, but they weren't a known variety. Was I right to pass them up and mail order some later? I have been for the most part completely unhappy with my mail order bushes and trees, so I would prefer to buy locally -- but from what I understand, these Paw Paws could have any characteristics (including poor fruit). Yes? No?

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Comments (6)

alcan_nw
16 years ago
In other words you want to know of any success stories buying chance seedlings. I bought 2 healthy paw paw seedlings from a nursery at a farmers market. It was a decision I would never regret. It was said that they were selected from commercial parents and would probably be okay. When they grew and fruited I became impressed with the one that didn't have so many seeds and ripened so early. So in Sept last year I lined some up and took pictures and e-mailed them back to the nursery.
Early Okay Paw Paw

I know you can't see the seeds. At the time I never thought to open one because I never knew until October the other one had so many. It was when I was home (SW Washington state) from Alaska.
fonzee
16 years ago
I would try Neal Peterson first at Peterson's Pawpaws (google him). The mail order tree I received from him was outstanding. Also try www.tollgategardens.com Larry sibley sends quality,proven, named varieties. You can't go wrong with either guy.
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I hear they like full sun farther north, as mentioned above, but in my zone 8 location they like a little shade at no matter what age. They are just not happy in full sun in July here. While I never see dark green leaves on pawpaws anywhere, they are most definitely a yellowish green in summer in my yard, seemingly no matter how well I fertilize them (N, Mg, Fe, S, all suspects). They are less yellowish in shaded locations. Of course if specific plants are yellow just between the leaf veins they will respond to fertilization (I sprayed Peters, plus chelated iron, plus some Epsom salt and really don't yet know which is helping). I find it easy to grow pawpaws and get some fruit but hard to keep them looking fully happy. The partial shade helps. As does abundant mulch year after year. And I hand pollinate. This year for some reason was a good fruit-set year even before I got around to pollinating.
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Again, this is not specific to paw paw, but unless you set them directly in the sun or on a heat source, I doubt a week is long enough to kill them. I'd soak them in a bowl of water for an hour or so to rehydrate them before putting them in cold storage. I would guess that paw paw seeds would have less of a mold issue, so you may be able to get away without the long fiber sphagnum. It is hard to find the live stuff which I like best, but you can get the dried long fiber sphagnum at Home Depot and it works too. The link below shows you which sphagnumto use. The stuff that comes in bales comes from a different place in the bog and is fully dead without the antifungal properties of the long-fiber. Here is a link that might be useful: Long Fiber Sphagnum
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Here is a picture: I used a one inch label for the P-Touch Labeler I have. The paw paw stands are a bit wider, but that's the widest label my label machine takes. If I had to do it over again, I'd use the white labels with the black letters. I like the way these look, but in bright sunshine, the letters don't show up as well. Also, I spray painted the label stand so it would blend in with the label color.
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mmmmm yeh well 50% hit rate sounds better than the current rate of about 10% or so of seeds planted turning into female trees. tried the rusty nail routine driven into male trees but that was a furphy lol. anytime i transplanted seedling all the roots looked the same to me but maybe just maybe hey. tried a bi-sexual one once was most dissapointed when it turned out to be a male it did fruit but nowhere near as prolific as female trees can. rang nursery who rang the growers and they said they could only guarantee a hit rate of 20% trees sold being truely bi-sexual or female. of course the red ones are i am told all bi-sexual sorts. have heard of people simply buying a yellow paw paw liking the taste and planting some seeds and getting predominately female trees. anyhow don't know if i have the patience for the pendulum thingy so will plant a wack of seeds and see waht happens. len
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alabamanicole
Original Author
16 years ago
I've heard many recommendations for Neal Peterson, but I admit to be a bit reluctant to purchase a cultivar which are adapted to a significantly different climate. Perhaps I'll send him and email and ask if he knows how his seedlings have been doing in the hotter states.
Bruce_in_ct
16 years ago
There are many great mail order nurseries. A good rule of thumb is that if you receive a catalog from a nursery without requesting it, don't order from there. And don't order from a southern nursery if it has weird photoshopped pictures on its website. Consider the possibility of grafting named varieties onto an unnamed tree. Pawpaws tend to grow root sprouts and you can graft different varieties on them.
gonebananas_gw
16 years ago
Pawpaws have the reputation (which I cannot attest to yet personally) of typically not wandering too far from the seed parent's characteristics in a seedling. Certainly the chances of a good pawpaw from a good parent are far better than in an apple, if perhaps not as good as in citrus or even peach. Even the most select pawpaws are only a generation or two from the wild so they are not highly selected genetically. If the seed came from a selected parent tree you probably have a good item. Maybe use it (them) as the pollinator for a grafted one. Peterson's pawpaws grow well here in Z8 (new map) or at the boundary of 7/8 (old map).
alabamanicole
Original Author
16 years ago
"And don't order from a southern nursery if it has weird photoshopped pictures on its website. "

:D

Been surfing for info and found a guy who grows and sells paw paws just a few miles from here. So there are varieties available that will definitely grow well here. I would not be surprised if he is the source of those trees at the nursery.

"Peterson's pawpaws grow well here in Z8 (new map) or at the boundary of 7/8 (old map)."

Good to know, thanks!

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