I am new to planting and growing pawpaws. I will be planting my first ones this Spring. I ordered 4 KSU Atwoods (SKU 2710) and 4 KSU Benson (SKU 2711) trees today for April delivery in Petoskey, Michigan. Like Matt, I would like to know more about these KSU varieties. Size?, Taste, rate of growth, productivity. I ordered them from One Green World in Portland - these were the only Peterson varieties they had available. I may call One Green World tomorrow to ask them these questions but I thought someone on this site might be willing to share their experience or to share what they have heard. I am opening up a standing 2 acre cedar tree lot and have room for more pawpaws ao, when available, I may add several other Peterson varieties this Fall. Any advice or comments would be appreciated. - Bob Wiley

Hi everyone! I've followed this thread with growing interest, and finally took the next step by posting hete :) . I am a professional gardener, and my interests lie heavily on pomology and dendrology (yup, a tree hugger!). I have a vision to introduce cultivars of mulberries, american persimmons, paw paws, nuts, and cornelian cherries to my country of Finland. Now to many it would seem that being as far north as alaska might impose some challenges, but thanks to gulf stream, our southern end is beginning to be the equivalent of USDA 5b/6 ..but of course that's regarding only the low temperatures. At Köppen-Geiger climate we at the south are at Dfb , for those who use that. I'd like to talk about all potential plants, but let's focuse on paw paws...now we have of course insane amounts of light at the peak of the summer, will that help or hinder paw paws, I'm not sure. Last two summers have been wet and cold, and I suspect that no paw paws would have ripened. But then again, I remember summers with +30 Celsius (86 F) , and some winters that went as low as -30C (-22F) . Most of the time however we stay near the -20 C (-4F) at winter, so the low temperatures really are not an issue. However the growing degree days might be...and so I am especially interested in trying the absolutely most earliest cultivars! I really don't care about the size right now, I just want to PROVE to me and to others here that you can actually grow paw paw in the open and outside :D The excel sheet that someone posted is most excellent tool and I thank for that. Now to questions: -Do you have any special recommedations to try? -Should I also focus on growing seedlings ( I have four one year old seeldings, and 50 seeds in the fridge, all from Oikos) to find special case that grows well here? -Do you think that root stock will make a real difference? -When do you think is the best time to graft paw paw, and how thick the trunk should be before I try that? I thank everyone for any help bringing paw paws (and others) to my country :) -Janne

Hello, since it was in 2002, I am wanting to know how your Lychee tree is doing? By the way my name is Angie. As of now I have 20 Lychee seedlings planted. At different intervals of course. After soaking them in water for 3 days, that includes changing the water daily. I did mine by keeping them wrapped up in a paper towel and keeping them moist. When they started sprouting I planted them. I did it that way so that I knew the roots started growing. I couldn't just plant them, due to the fact I wanted to make sure they started sprouting. I started mine in styrofoam cups. Yes I put holes for drainage. I made a makeshift greenhouse for them. It's working good for keeping it warm and moist in there. I still have 5 more I'm waiting to see if they start germinating. When your seedlings sprouts enough you replant it into a 3 gallon pot with drainage holes of course for all pots. The following year, transplant it into a 7 gallon pot. Again the following year a 15 gallon pot, then a 25 gallon pot after that. Then you'll get a 5 year break from all the yearly transplanting. They say after 5 years in the 25 gallon pot it should be ready to be planted in the ground. Just think, I have a total of 25 to do. I hope I helped a little. Please let me know how your Lychee tree turned out. Thanks Angie

Well, the pair came by again today. They've found another delicacy in the yard, the seeds of a terribly invasive vine with gorgeous pink flowers. I have no idea what it is, I'm constantly pulling it, probably because birds eat the seeds and drop them in my yard. But watching the two of them in the very tippy top of the little oak, toppling over head-first to get to their seeds, was pretty cool. I'm still pulling that vine and the Virginia creeper in the cabbage palm next to it, but maybe I'll leave it for another week, just in case I get to see "my" pair of Amazons. Funny was watching them look down completely unconcerned at the hunter cat with the bell. He's small for a cat and they're big for birds and he sulked by, making it clear he knew he was outmatched and wasn't happy about it. He stalked off to the neighbor's yard to terrorize their cats, who haven't figured out he's declawed and fixed. They think he's one bad kitty because when they first tried to defend their food, the giant yellow lab barked at the commotion. They seem to have decided that my little guy has a bodyguard. We need to give our neighbors cat food for Christmas.