"No offense mrtexas, but which fruit do you actually like? I've seen your opinions on several forums and it seems you're always disappointed with some fruit or other (OK, I'm mainly thinking about certain types of citrus, and now pawpaw)." I go thru a continuous improvement program on my fruit trees. Out for various reasons are pawpaws, cherry of the rio grande, barbados cherry, panzarella orange, panzarella lemon, pomona sweet lemon, vainiglia sanguigno orange, republic of texas orange, strawberry guava, goumi, "cold hardy" citrus, mortenson grapes, muscadines, limequats, wekiwa tangelo, tarocco blood orange, ujukitsu sweet lemon, meiwa x nagami seedless kumquat, valencia orange, bloomsweet grapefruit, sulcata(sanbokan) sweet lemon Most are out because they don't taste as good as the best of what is available, don't do well in SE Texas or are over-hyped by certain nurseries. TreeSearch nursery of Houston, TX hypes the sour mortenson bunch grape and the very average Republic of Texas orange for what reason other than to sell them I don't know. There isn't much information on the web for many of these fruit duds. In with me are miho satsuma, fairchild mandarin, sanguinelli blood orange, orlando tangelo, nova mandarin, clementines, cara cara red navel, golden grapefruit, changshou kumquat, norman seedless nagami kumquat. IMHO these are the best of the best. Still under evaluation but promising for SE Texas(I haven't tasted them yet) are xie shan satsuma, miyagawa satsuma,duncan grapefruit, marsh grapefruit, valentine grapefruit, pomogranite, 88-2 lee x nova and 15-150 lee x orlando mandarins, pong koa mandarin, ponkan mandarin. You can't say I haven't tried growing and harvesting a wide variety of fruit. Here is a link that might be useful: mrtexas

Will Paw Paw bear fruit & grow healthily in a large(?) pot in an east facing balcony that only gets direct light from early morning to 10:45am then indirect light for rest of day( less in winter), in West Los Angeles, near Santa Monica(less than 3 miles from the coast? Actually in the past I visited some one's yard about a mile west of me & she had several flourishing fruiting Paw Paws, but she had direct sunlight in a yard & they were planted in the ground. And when I say fruit I mean more than 10 pieces of fruit in a season. I had had hoped to grow other plants, but recently had a reality check given to me by someone working in a nursery who said that things like blackberries, which I had wanted to grow, wouldn't guaranteedly fruit or would fruit negligibly with less than 5 hours of sunlight, especially if its the weaker morning light. I sure thought I'd seen blackberry bushes with alot of fruit in shady areas... but I don't want to invest the time and $ & end up with a weak or sickly plant &/or negligible harvest. Right now I'm still thinking I'll grow a Thimbleberry which everywhere on the internet says either partial shade or partial shade to shade. And I've been told by some that blueberries don't need as much light, but told by others that they do, so not sure about those yet. I read that evergreen & red huckleberries are also shade tolerant as well as some other dark round berries like elderberries & others I haven't heard of... but I've never tasted them, & don't know where I could. And though berries like blackberries, raspberries etc are my favorite I'm less fond of grapes, currents, etc. Its true I have never tasted a Paw Paw, but I love bananas, cherimoyas, mangos, sapote, custardy things, & tropical fruit... so I figure its more likely I'll like it. Plus though its probably out of season, if it isn't I could get a taste from a farmer I will see in a couple of weeks. And of all the fruits I've mentioned, & seen listed on the net, Paw Paw is listed as the only 1 truly loving shade(even if it can flourish in the sun). Thank you for any advice you can give me! ~Diana

I've been growing paw paws from seed for many years. Don't wait until January to put them in the refrigerator. Seeds should not be left to dry out nor frozen. Forget about the styrofoam cups. If you want to plant some outdoors, put them in a protected spot, mulch, and mark where they are. If they germinate you won't see them emerge before next July at the earliest. The best approach I've found is to put them in a container with moist (not sopping wet) potting soil or surrounded by damp paper towels. Put them in the refrigerator as soon as you get them (don't freeze). After about 90 days you may take them out and plant them about one inch deep in separate pots . Use pots preferably at least 10 inches high (25cm). If you see some mold on the surface of the seeds don't worry; it doesn't mean the seeds are ruined. Put them in the warmest part of the house and then be patient. It takes several months for them to germinate once they are warmed up. Doing it this way gives them the whole Summer growing season which makes a significant difference in their size the first season. The seeds will first put out a fairly long root before anything shows above the surface. They may look like they've been broken off when they do emerge because they leave the cotyledons behind in the seed coat and don't have cotyledon leaves like most (dicot) plants. Once the weather warms up, move them outdoors in a protected location with shade during the midday. Good luck

As one could guess, it can be tricky to cut the lawn, having to avoid all those tree seedlings. ==>> first.. remove all grass for 2 feet around.. and mulch properly.. and you will NEVER have mowing or weedwhip issues... next.. with no insult to the root mass.. no otherwise healthy tree will die from cutting it down.. no matter how you do it.. e.g. angry child.. lol .. trees can not be divided.. and very ver few can be rooted from cuttings.. its rarely possible.. but not probable .... if you wont one healthy tree ..... prune out one or the other TRUNKS ... or leave it be so you have double the crop.. the bottom line is you want more fruit.. or a pretty tree ... on my 5 acres.. i mow with a riding mower ... and all my trees have a 3 foot ring around them.. so i can mow at about 15 miles per hour ... and they are all eventually pruned up to at least 6 feet .. so i dont poke my eyes out... if YOU dont build the mulch ring .... then you are not allowed to complain about the children ... ken