Definitely thinking about doing it, seriously now. I have nothing to lose, other than about $50 for 2 trees. I've had less fun with $50. :) I've narrowed it down to 3. NC-1 - Early Ripener, highest scores on UKY taste test. Shenandoah - Early Ripener, a farmers market favorite. Susquehanna - Mid-Season, very little seed, 5 for 5 on taste testers, even in limited quantity. Considering the short shelf life, I may want to spread out the 2 tree harvest, so I may go with NC-1 and Susquehanna I gotta be honest, the mortality rate definitely scares me a bit (50%?!?!?). Im not a green thumb, but I did plan out and put in 3 apple trees in a difficult sun situation, that now works well, they seem to be OK so far. Apples are pretty easy though. From what I've read, bare root is a no-no unlike apple trees. I am 99% sold on One Green World, even though they are 5 business days shipping away from me, Oregon to New York. Do they come potted from them? I DO want potted plants, and I'll want to essentially bury the contents of the pot into the ground to not disturb the tap root(s). I've got a long time to read about this stuff, it just seems to be different from apple trees, no diseases or pests to worry about other than the above mentioned rabbits, which are scoring the cherry tree I have because the previous owner didnt put up protection, but I have hardware clothed out the apples as a precaution, and I would do the same for the Paw Paws. I understand that I would have to self-pollinate. Learn, learn, learn, apply. Any advice on narrowing down between the 3 varieties to 2, but Im thinking it doesnt matter, they're probably all excellent. Thanks everyone for the posts, its all been really helpful. -Eric

James, I have no issues with the heat because they grow inside my house. I never put them outside, even for a couple of minutes. I grow them in a spare room that has a large window that gets early morning sun. I also have them under cheap grow lights that clip onto something that's near the plants. The grow lights take an ordinary grow bulb or you can use those long square grow light bulbs. Either type will work and the total cost is really cheap. Ever since I found out about the water my plants are growing fast. I use only organic fert. since the other types of fert. can burn the roots. The organic can not burn the roots. A guy that I purchase miltoniopsis plants from told me that since most tap water is purified to get rid of bacteria and other things most tap water contains chlorine and chorline burns the delicate roots. I never thought about this before and since I found out about chlorine being in most tap water, this makes sense plus you can smell the faint odor of chlorine in the tap water. I can't tolerate the heat so I stay inside and I set my thermostat at 70 degrees. If I'm happy with the temps. the plants are probably happy too. I almost forgot one important issue. I have a humidifier working 24 hours. It's a real cheap humidifier that I purchased off of Etsy. The humidifier looks like a fat white stick. I stick it in an old plastic water jug and you can see the mist coming out. Apparently it works real well. I can't tell you the brand because it came in a company box and everything is in Chinese including the instructions. I think that the humidifier cost me around five bucks. My set up is cheap but I haven't killed any plants. I currently have about seven plants putting out spikes. I have about twenty plants and I don't want anymore. I'll probably get another one only if the flower color appeals to me or if it's a cross that I don't have.

I did everything I could think of to help them out. First of all the long first season as described above, following advice I got in the container growing forum (planted in 5-1-1 mix, fertigated weekly with Dyna-gro Foliage Pro) They had leaves well after top growth stopped, so I think they were growing their roots. I prepared the ground where they were to be planted the season before, while they were in pots. To do that, I killed the grass with Roundup in August. A week later I planted a mixed cover crop (Soil builder mix form Peaceful Valley Farm Supply plus alfalfa) and mulched those seeds with maybe an inch of compost. The cover crop was over 3 feet tall by October when the frosts came. I added several inches of leaves that fall (no tilling ever, just put everything on top). I planted the trees that spring as soon as their buds started swelling. I shaded them that first season in the ground with two layers of window screen, and fertilized every couple weeks with Miracle Grow at half strength. They grew well that year, but it was the next season that they really took off, with some of them putting on 4 feet of height that summer (2012). More raked leaves on top of the soil in the fall. The next year I continued feeding with Miracle grow, and they did not put on quite as much height, but had great growth of their lateral branches. I've always kept a diverse herbaceous layer underneath them and in the whole planting plot. This is a great way to add organic matter throughout the soil (through root turnover). I also throw all the prunings/twigs from my yard there. My goal was to mimic the soil of the pawpaw's natural environment, the forest understory, as closely as possible (lots of roots, lots of organic matter, a nice layer of organic litter on top, fungally dominated). The difference in the soil compared to the surrounding lawn, in both color and texture/structure is amazing (started with orange clay). Lots of mushrooms show up in the patch as well. Alex

Hoping there are some of you still following this thread since it's a few years old. I bought some kangaroo paws a few months ago from a nursery. Planted them into pretty dry/sandy soil. (note: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to gardening) They were doing pretty well when I first planted them. Growing new shoots, flowers, etc. Then they appeared to be dying after I planted them. Leaves were browning, flowers were drying out. So without doing any research whatsoever I assumed it was because they weren't being watered enough. So I watered them everyday for about 10 minutes. Now I realize that I was probably killing them. I've since then allowed the dirt dry up and only water 3 times a week for 3 minutes. I have a corrugated metal fence that they are planted against. The metal amplifies the sun's heat and sunlight. So I'm wondering if they are being "burned"? Anyways, the plants do not look healthy and I think they are dying. Anything I can do to save or salvage them? Soil, adjust pH?