Hemnancy, It sounds like you've got basically a wild-type tree. Two inches long is considered rather small. The flavor may be fine, but once you eat one of the large cultivars, you won't be satisfied with a fruit that's more seed than flesh. Your tree may have dropped its fruit because it was ripe. Usually it's ripe when it drops on its own, but it's often better to pick just before it's finished ripening and let it finish up inside in a day or two. As was stated by wild forager, the nose knows when it's time to pick. When they start to give off their characteristic odor, you can pick them and let them sit on you counter top. Pick too early and they may never ripen at all. Too late and they turn black on the outside and bitter on the inside. A light frost is OK, but fruit that has not started the process of ripening can be prevented from ripening at all by a freeze in my experienc. By all means get some grafted cultivars, but don't buy those little one year old grafts that most nurseries sell for $24.95. You'll wait another 8 years for fruit. Since you have two established trees, buy or trade for some scion wood and graft to your trees. It will get you fruit faster and cheaper. If you encourage a few root shoots that inevitably come up around your trees, you can graft onto them, or you can topwork your non-productive tree or one of its branches.

Thanks Noogy for the wild harvesting tips. But sad to say that they do not grow in the wild here in my zone4 location. It sounds like you are onto something really good there for yourself, so congrats for that. 6 - 7 inchers you say - WOW! The longest one in my Integration Acres shipment was 3 inches. 10 days in my refrigerator at 34 degrees didn't effect them at all either. Looks to me like 3 weeks of refrigerated storage may well be within the realm of possibilities. I just finished up my shipment of I/A Paw Paws. Except for one last one that I am holding back on in order to let it ripen to its max. The riper ones were definitely best in my little home trial of about 9 or ten fruits. As far as for final taste/flavor notes goes, I will say that they tasted like, um, well - Paw Paws! The banana/pineapple/mango analogy all seems to have pertained to some minor degree. But overall there is a more overwhelming presence. And that is it's own unique Paw Paw flavor factor that has to be experiences for oneself in order to fully appreciate. I am just glad that I finally got that opportunity. And am quite pleased with the results. I would definitely recommend them to curious sorts of folks or any self described fruit connoisseurs to give them a try!

I've used them on two cats. They weren't too bad to put on, but having a helper to hold the cat for you is helpful. Here is how I put them on: 1. Have helper hold the cat while you trim the nails. 2. Have the helper hold and pet the cat to keep it calm while you prepare the Soft Paws by putting the super glue in 5 of the caps. Be careful not to over fill the caps or you will glue the cap to the cat's skin. (Having them already glue-filled makes it easy to get them on the cat quickly.) 3. Put the Soft Paws on one of the cat's paws. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all the paws are covered. The cats don't like them, at first. So, the caps don't last as long because the cat will work on pulling them off. You have to check them once a week or so and replace the missing caps. After a month or two, the caps will start lasting longer because the cat will leave them only to come off naturally. The caps are expensive, but they do work. Good luck with which ever method you choose.

Carla, I had a scary experience with SoftPaws, stopped using them, and had my cat declawed, which I now regret. It wasn't the SoftPaws which were at fault - just wanted to share my story so that you would know to be careful to keep your blinds (and anything else in which your kitty could get stuck) out of reach. I'm glad you are starting early - I did, too, and it wasn't hard to put them on. Hope all goes well - I'll bet you will like SoftPaws. Here is a link that might be useful: Declawing post