John from Nolin river is a nice guy, but non of their trees grew for me. I bought 3 different pawpaws in 3 different occasions from Nolin river but non grew. They ship them bare rooted. Two of he trees died above the graft but the bottom sprouted back.
The best way to get the pawpaws to grow is from potted trees. they don't transplant easily, although I know Neal peterson sell them bare rooted and they seem to grow, but they still go through a big transplanting shock.

Bass

That may be, but there's no legal way to get Peterson's varieties in pots, since Peterson pawpaws and Nolin sell barerooted, and they are the only licensed sources of Peterson's varieties I am aware of.

Pawpaws can be transplanted using barerooted specimens, but the success rate is very much nursery dependent. I haven't had trees die, but those from some nurseries have transplant shock that lasts literally for years, while those from others just take right off. Some nurseries just seem to know how to do it, and some don't. With Peterson pawpaws there really now doesn't appear to be any choice other than Nolin River. Considering Bass's experience, I would recommend growing the transplants in a container for a year in partial shade before setting in the ground.

I haven't purchased trees from Forest Keeling but have read about their "RPM" pruning method that's supposed to increase transplant success rates and especially help with hard to transplant, tap rooted trees like pawpaws. Have you checked there? I think they're mostly wholesale but also have retail if you visit there.
They have several pawpaws on their website and I'm sure some of them are Peterson's. I called about Shenandoah last week and they were out, but offered to put my name on a list for spring which I didn't have them do because they were expensive. My garden budget is pretty low. lol I think the price was around the mid 30's. I will have to settle for growing them from seed and would love to get some seeds from Shenandoah. I know a seedling wouldn't be as good as the named cultivar but hopefully better than the species.

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Keeling's pawpaws

I had the same experience as Bonsaist---graft died but root stock lived (X 2.) Doesn't seem like transplant shock since the root stock was fine. Very disappointing. Trees were shaded and pampered.

Ann

All six Nolin pawpaws I puchased this year are doing good in containers. Look forward to ordering the Peterson's from them tomorrow. Thanks Alex.

Christie,

Thanks for the link. Their web site says that "Retail customers are those who visit us at the Garden Center for "cash-and-carry" sales".... do they take small orders for delivery?

Wantonfly,

What size containers, and what kind of potting mix are you using?

Hopefully Neal Peterson gave Nolin some pointers about bare rooting paw paws. I got the impression that he chose the nurseries very carefully.

Alex

Alex,

I'm growing the pawpaws in basic 3-4 gallon nursery pots and plan to transplant either this coming spring or the following. The taproot is quite long and it was a bit nerve-racking chopping a portion of it off to fit the containers.

I mix my own soil, and because I cannot water everyday, decided to go with 3/4 pine bark fines and 1/4 turface. If you haven't already, take a look at the container forum, and in particular search for "Al's mix." All the soil theories and concepts should keep you busy until the plants arrive next spring :) However, I think any premium potting mix without fertilizer will work.

I was late to order the pawpaws last year and ended up with the "small" trees as everything else was sold out. The trees were nevertheless about 3 feet tall and had healthy trunks. I'm glad I got the smaller ones because I think that contributed to the bare rooting success.

I wonder what size trees did catlady and bonsaist ordered?

Ken

My trees were about 2' tall, Taytwo and PA Golden. They seemed fine their first year, but the next spring ('09) the grafts were dead. Lots of nice growth from the root stock! : (

Ann

I've bought pecan trees that came from Forrest Keeling. Their RPM method seems to produce a nice dense root ball and all five trees have done well. I got four of them through a commercial pecan plantation because FK doesn't normally sell to the public anywhere but at their nursery. However, I also got one tree at the University of Missouri chestnut festival. FK had a booth there and were selling various nut trees. It might be worth contacting them to see if perhaps they would be setting up a booth at any functions you could attend, if their location is too distant to consider the trip. I've been happy enough with their products that I would consider the two hour drive if there was a particular plant I wanted. I think their RPM method has been copied by a number of other nurseries....or maybe they copied it...when you read the description is seems pretty logical. For instance, some English walnuts I bought from Stark were in the same kind of pots FK describes. Don't know if Stark buys from them (they are neighbors) or just uses the same pots.

As to pawpaws, some FK pawpaws are listed as Petersons, and if I wanted to try that fruit I'd probably buy from them.

Chuck

how much would a dozen cost to ship to north carolina? the fuit only