Pawpaws, Asimina triloba, a native fruit. Anyone growing?

18 years ago

Pawpaws grow, sometimes abundantly, in damp places near streams or rivers in Georgia and the Carolinas, but while everyone has heard of them ("Pickin' up pawpaws, put'm in your pocket") few seem to know about them. Nationally they are regaining some attention, after a short flurry about 90 years ago.

They are reputedly the largest native edible fruit (almost but not quite right: the related tropical pond apple in south Florida is larger, if you consider it truly edible) and they are a cold hardy small tree of tropical affinity and look. They have fine tasting fairly large to large custardy fruit.

Does anyone here grow them? (I know of one regular poster from Georgia.)

What grafted selections have worked best for you? "Mango" (selected at Tifton) and "Overleese" do pretty well for me in a sandy backyard in hot central South Carolina.

What ones do at least OK for you?

Is your success or disappointment in shade or full sun? On good soil or dry sand?

Are yours (as mine) on the yellowish side in leaf color when in full sun, even with apparently plenty of soil iron and nitrogen?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

jennifratrix
18 years ago
I've got 3 baby trees-- well this is their fourth year in the ground, anyway, and one coming back from the roots (I hope) after being brutally killed by an errant weed-eater. But none have flowered yet. They're doing really well though, in decent if heavy soil and (formerly) partial shade. I just cut down the pine trees that were shading them so they'll be in full sun now. Yellowy? Well, more a bright spring green.

It is my hope that some year soon I'll see a flower. They're all just random seedlings though. I plan on putting in a few Mango or Overleese grafted trees this fall...
yomamanem
18 years ago
I have had two dismal failures that come to mind: I have a pomgranate that won't bloom but seems quite robust and I have two paw paws that have been about a foot tall for three years! I planted them at the edge of the woods. They just won't grow. Gonebananas says that they like to grow in damp areas near streams or rivers. That's the first I have heard of that requirement. I am sure that mine are dry more than damp, but gee whiz, they don't grow.
Related Discussions
does anyone know where i can get named asimina triloba
Q
Comments (15)
Brandon7 writes: "I can't imagine why maintaining them in pots would be preferable to growing in-ground" In my experience I've found that pawpaws are more adversely affected by shipping bare-root than many other types of fruit trees - it appears that their root systems, consisting of many fine rootlets are more vulnerable to the various stresses inherent in this process, and transplantation shock to a greater or less degree is the rule. The focus should be to prevent, or if necessary, to decrease the severity of the shock. So buying container grown plants shipped in their container would be best; these can be planted directly in the ground with good results. But if the tree is sent bare-root, there will of necessity be root damage and transplantation shock, and this setback can reduce the vigor of the plant for years. The best remedy I've found to lessen the shock is to provide an optimal environment for the stressed and damaged roots to allow quick recovery. This goal is much better achieved in a pot, where growing conditions, including most importantly the medium and the moisture content, are more readily controlled. It really makes no sense to plant a struggling shocked pawpaw in topsoil with resultant loss of many of the damaged roots and prolongation of the shock state. The focus here is on the short term problem of allowing roots damaged by bare-rooting to recover; once this has occurred, evidenced by vigorous vegetative growth, the tree is ready for planting in the garden.
...See More
HAVE: Freshly collected Pawpaw ( Asimina triloba )
Q
Comments (2)
I didn't get your email, so I wrote to you. Anyone have any neat tree or shrub seeds or Asclepias incarnata, purpurescens, variegata, or viridis?
...See More
Anyone tried Asimina triloba - pawpaw tree seeds?
Q
Comments (2)
Last year for the first time I tried pawpaw seeds. When I got the fruit I cut them open and took out the seeds and washed them off. I think I then put them in a moistened paper towel inside a glad sandwich bag. This would have been probably sometime around October I would think. They remained in the fridge until this spring when I took them out and planted them in flower pots. Nothing happened for quite some time, but then one day I noticed that I had two little green shoots above the soil!!!! Altogether I had 7 seeds to work with. One of my pots seemed to have had the soil disturbed by some animal. I checked in the soil and found another seed that was starting to sprout but this seed has so far not made an appearance above the soil. I don't know if some of these seeds have to make a taproot the first season and then poke above ground next season or not. I do believe though that it is important to keep them in a cold moist environment until you are ready to plant them out. I did not nick the seed coat. I hope this helps.
...See More
Pawpaws (native fruit Asimina triloba) -- Anyone Growing?
Q
Comments (11)
I had one that I bought from one of the plant sales at NCSU Arboretum maybe 3 years ago. I have no idea what (if any) cultivar it is...I planted it at the edge of the wooded area of my back yard and gave it a good start (amended soil, Osmacote, plenty of water the first year and...Miracle Gro to light a fire up under it) and it took off. This year, it flowered for the first time. Probably 20 flowers and the tree is around 5 feet tall. I bought a partner for it this spring from Raintree Nursery, and the cultivar is 'Wells'. I planted it in the same general area, about 8 feet away from the other tree, pruned off a section of the tip that got broken in shipping, and did the same send off for it that the first tree got, minus the Miracle Gro (because I'm busy in other parts of the yard, and I've become sort of opposed to MG in the past few years). It's been about a month, and the little thing has really taken off. I'm really impressed with the vigor of this one, especially compared to its neighbor. Even if you weren't going to be anticipating fruit at some point (I am!), these are really handsome, small trees. I am also hoping for some zebra swallowtails at some point. These two trees are in the understory of a really large American persimmon, and I've finally figured out that's where the luna moths that appear in the summer are probably coming from...I digress. :)
...See More
gonebananas_gw
Original Author
18 years ago
I too find that they don't grow very fastly in the ground, even plants that were fairly fast growing when still in pots, including at larger size in big pots. I don't know why.

I now mulch mine pretty heavily, with whatever finer debris I rake up in the yard, and that seems to help. They definitely prefer reasonably moist soil, but don't need wet conditions.

Mine start out as that light spring green, but by July or August's intense Carolina sun they are a hair yellowish-green. I will spray with urea to foliar feed this year to test if it can possibly be nitrogen deficiency.

Pawpaws, Asimina triloba, a native fruit. Anyone growing?

Comments (3)

jennifratrix

yomamanem

Related Discussions

gonebananas_gw
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Pawpaws, Asimina triloba, a native fruit. Anyone growing?

Comments (3)

jennifratrix

yomamanem

Related Discussions

gonebananas_gwOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

gonebananas_gw
Original Author